Hazardous Waste Generator Environmental Repair Fee

The Environmental Repair Fee for Generators of Hazardous Waste was changed with the 2009-2011 Biennial Budget that went into effect on July 1, 2009. The base fee portion of the fee was increased to $470 for a Large Quantity Generator (LQG) and $350 for a Small Quantity Generator (SQG). The budget language also eliminated the exemption from the base fee for generators who met certain criteria. (For example, under the previous statutory requirements, generators that recycled or reused their wastes did not have to pay the base fee.) Beginning with the 2009 report year, all large and small quantity generators must now pay the base fee. The tonnage fee portion of the fee remains unchanged at $20 per ton and the tonnage fee exemption language is still in place. The maximum total hazardous waste generator fee that may be assessed is $17,500 per year, regardless of the amount of hazardous waste generated.

The Fee Worksheet FW Form calculates a hazardous waste generator fee according to the statutory language that requires the fee (s.289.67(2), Wis. Stats.). The total fee is estimated by adding a site's base fee and their tonnage fees. The base fee is determined by the site's hazardous waste generator status during the report year (indicated on the reporting requirements screen of the hazardous waste annual report). Tonnage fees are based on the amount of hazardous waste generated minus the amounts of tonnage fee-exempted wastes.

By statute, no tonnage fees may be assessed for the following:

• hazardous wastes recovered for recycling or reuse;
• hazardous waste-contaminated leachate transported to a wastewater treatment plant or discharged directly to a sewer pipe;
• hazardous wastes removed from a site or facility to repair environmental pollution;
• household hazardous wastes collected by a municipality under its household hazardous waste collection program; and
• hazardous wastes collected by a county under its agricultural chemical waste collection program.

The FW Form collects information about the amounts of these tonnage fee-exempted wastes so that fees are not assessed for them. For more information, see ss. 289.67(2)(a) through (e), Wis. Stats [PDF 282KB, exit DNR].

Do not send an environmental fee payment to the DNR until you receive a cumulative environmental fee statement in June.

Contact Information

For questions and assistance in completing the hazardous waste annual report, contact your local Environmental Program Associate.

For general questions and comments about the hazardous waste generator environmental repair fee, please contact:

DNR Waste Materials@Wisconsin.gov