RESOURCES · FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to common questions about regulated waste, compliance, transportation, sustainability, and how WTS manages programs for manufacturers.
What does WTS do?
WTS manages regulated and hazardous waste programs for manufacturers, from characterization and profiling through transportation and final disposition, plus the reporting and downstream vendors around it.
What is a non-asset-based, provider-agnostic waste company, and why does it matter?
A non-asset-based provider owns no treatment or disposal facilities, so it has no incentive to route waste to a particular outlet. WTS is provider-agnostic, so recommendations are built around your operation and the best outcome for each stream.
What industries does WTS serve?
Chemical manufacturing, pharmaceutical and life sciences, food and beverage, and industrial manufacturing, plus adjacent markets such as consumer products.
Where does WTS operate?
Across the United States and Canada, for single facilities and national multi-site programs.
Is WTS part of Northstar?
Yes. WTS is a Northstar company, pairing specialized regulated-waste expertise with enterprise reporting and a national qualified-provider network.
What is total waste management?
A single coordinated program covering all of a facility's waste streams, providers, and documentation instead of managing each piece separately.
What types of hazardous waste does WTS manage?
Spent solvents, off-spec and expired chemicals, reactive materials, corrosives and caustics, D-code and listed wastes, lab packs, and PFAS-impacted materials.
Does WTS handle PFAS waste?
Yes, including on-site treatment where feasible. In one project WTS treated about 1 million gallons of PFAS-contaminated water on-site, cutting waste shipped off-site by about 99.93 percent.
Can WTS recycle or find beneficial reuse instead of disposal?
Yes, and it is often the better answer. WTS weighs recycling, treatment, and beneficial reuse against compliance, logistics, and cost, and will change the process that creates the waste when that produces a stronger outcome.
What reporting and analytics does WTS provide?
Visibility across waste generation, facility-level activity, sustainability performance, provider activity, and program trends, drawing on sources including EPA e-Manifest data.
What is RCRA, and does it apply to my facility?
RCRA is the federal law governing how hazardous waste is generated, handled, transported, and disposed of in the United States. Most manufacturers that generate hazardous waste fall under RCRA, with requirements that vary by generator status (VSQG, SQG, or LQG); WTS helps confirm your status and obligations.
What is a hazardous waste manifest and e-Manifest?
A manifest tracks a shipment from generator to receiving facility, and e-Manifest is EPA's electronic system for creating and tracking them. WTS prepares and manages manifests and documentation so shipments are accurate and audit-ready.
What is waste characterization and profiling, and why is it required?
Characterization determines what a waste is and how it is regulated, and the profile is the documented result used to approve it for transport and disposal. WTS handles sampling, testing, and classification first.
What is a TSDF, and how does WTS choose downstream vendors?
A TSDF is a permitted treatment, storage, and disposal facility. Because WTS owns no facilities, it qualifies and audits downstream providers on their merits and selects the right outlet for each stream.
What is Responsible Care® and is WTS certified?
Responsible Care® is the American Chemistry Council's framework for safe, ethical, sustainable operation. WTS is a Responsible Care® Partner Company, independently certified to RC101.04 for more than a decade and a nine-time ACC Partner of the Year.
How do we get started with WTS?
It starts with a conversation and a review of your operations, waste streams, and objectives, after which WTS characterizes the streams, develops objective recommendations, coordinates execution, and measures performance.
Does WTS work with a single site or multi-site programs?
Both, applying consistent processes and reporting so performance is comparable across every location.
Still Have Questions?
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