Illinois Environmental Law

The Bureau of Land protects human health and the environment by regulating the transfer, storage, and disposal of waste and by overseeing the cleanup of contaminated properties. The Bureau of Land permitting programs regulate a wide range of waste related activities, including those involving municipal waste, landscape waste, composted material, construction and demolition debris, potentially infectious medical waste, and hazardous waste.

Includes links to Illinois EPA Bureau of Land regulatory and cleanup databases.

Search the Illinois EPA Agency inventory for facility information.

Search the Illinois EPA Bureau of Land inventory for facility information. Data results are cross-linked with all on-line database system applications from IEPA Bureau of Land as well as USEPA FRS database. Results are also cross-referenced with images of recorded NFR (No Further Remediation) letters. If available, links will be provided to the other data systems as appropriate.

Application to allow Illinois EPA to determine that a material otherwise required to be managed as waste may be managed as non-waste if that material is used beneficially and in a manner that is protective of human health and the environment.

Clean construction or demolition debris (CCDD or Clean CDD) is uncontaminated broken concrete without protruding metal bars, bricks, rock, stone, or reclaimed asphalt pavement generated from construction or demolition activities. When uncontaminated soil is mixed with any of these materials, the uncontaminated soil is also considered CCDD. Uncontaminated soil that is not mixed with other CCDD materials is not CCDD. What constitutes "uncontaminated soil" for purposes of CCDD and uncontaminated soil fill operations is defined in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 1100. 35 Ill. Adm. Code 1100 was last amended by the Illinois Pollution Control Board in its Final Opinion and Order dated August 23, 2012.

Information to help businesses decide if they need to apply for a land permit.

Forms related to registration under the Consumer Electronics Recycling Act for manufacturers, collectors, recyclers, refurbishers, and counties.

You may need a permit or approval from the Division of Land Pollution Control of the Bureau of Land if you manage municipal or industrial waste. The type of permit you may need, if any, is dependent on: (1) the type of waste you manage; (2) how you manage the waste; and (3) where you manage the waste in relation to where it is generated.

Title XV of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act (Act) establishes statutory requirements to ensure that Potentially Infectious Medical Waste (PIMW) will be handled in a safe and responsible manner.

The Division of Petroleum & Chemical Safety was created to manage the problems caused by the thousands of underground storage tank systems containing petroleum or hazardous chemicals. The division regulates petroleum and chemical storage tanks through registration to ensure the protection of public health and safety. Other duties include issuing permits for all tank installations, removals, repairs, upgrades, relining and abandonment-in-place. Eligibility and deductibility determinations are also made to determine if a tank owner can access the leaking underground storage tank fund.

In general, a Hazardous Waste Permit is necessary if you store, treat or dispose of hazardous waste. However, no Hazardous Waste Permit is necessary if you only accumulate hazardous waste in containers, tanks or containment buildings at the facility where it is generated and the waste is on-site no more than eighty-nine days.

The off-site storage, treatment, transfer, landfilling or composting of non-hazardous waste must be carried out in accordance with permits issued by the Division of Land Pollution Control. This includes composting and landscape waste facilities as well as landfill operators.

The Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program is a federal program established under the provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) of 1974. Since groundwater is a major source of drinking water in the United States, the UIC Program requirements were designed to prevent contamination of groundwater resulting from the operation of injection wells.

EPA’s universal waste regulations streamline the hazardous waste management standards for certain categories of hazardous waste that are commonly generated by a wide variety of establishments. The streamlined regulations: promote the collection and recycling of universal waste, ease the regulatory burden on retail stores and other generators that wish to collect these wastes and transporters of these wastes, and encourage the development of municipal and commercial programs to reduce the quantity of these wastes going to municipal solid waste landfills or combustors. Federal universal waste rules cover batteries, pesticides, mercury-containing equipment, fluorescent lamps, and aerosol cans.

Illinois EPA regulates the generators, transporters, processors, and end users of waste tires to ensure all are operating in compliance with applicable statutes and regulations. They also operate a cleanup program to remove waste tires from public and abandoned dump sites. Both programs have been effective due in part to the dedicated funding the legislature has provided through the $2.50 per tire user fee collected from retail customers.

Links to information about waste disposal by type of waste.

Brownfields are abandoned or under-utilized industrial and commercial properties with actual or perceived contamination and an active potential for redevelopment. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Remedial Project Management Section (RPMS) manages the Brownfields loan programs and offers technical support to communities through the services of its Brownfields Representatives.

The Federal Site Remediation Section (FSRS) is involved in all aspects of implementing the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, as amended (CERCLA or Superfund) program in Illinois. The FSRS is responsible for the oversight of cleanup activities at contaminated sites that are subject to the provisions of CERCLA.

The Leaking UST Section oversees the remedial activities after a release from an UST has been reported to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. Leaking UST Section staff review the technical adequacy of plans, reports, and budgets. This includes the development and evaluation of the appropriate remediation objectives for each site. Once the site has met its remediation objectives and program requirements, the Illinois EPA issues a No Further Remediation Letter for the leaking UST incident.

The Site Remediation Program (SRP) provides Remediation Applicants (i.e., any persons seeking to perform investigative or remedial activities) the opportunity to receive review, technical assistance, and no further remediation determinations from the Illinois EPA.

The main objective of the State Response Action Program is to clean up hazardous substances at sites that present an imminent and substantial threat to human health and the environment, but which may not be addressed by other federal or state cleanup programs.

Tiered Approach to Corrective Action Objectives (TACO) is a method for developing soil and groundwater remediation objectives that protect human health and take into account site conditions and land use.