07/22/2026
The hopper's full. Where is that dust actually allowed to go?
Most shops never get a straight answer before the system is installed. The short version: your collected dust is a mixture of everything you've cut this quarter — and the classification rules care about the mixture, not the material. Zinc isn't a federal TCLP metal, but lead in older coatings and chromium from stainless jobs are. And California runs its own stricter rulebook.
The full plain-English walkthrough, including when wood dust can just go in the dumpster: