Asbestos Removal in Delaware: Notice, Disposal, and Penalties

Asbestos removal in Delaware requires a licensed inspection before the work starts, a certified abatement contractor to do the removal, written notice to the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control at least ten working days in advance, strict containment and air-clearance during the job, and disposal at an approved Delaware Solid Waste Authority landfill. The one meaningful exception is for homeowners working on their own single-family home. Everyone else who skips a step risks fines that can reach $40,000 per day under state environmental law, plus possible criminal charges.

Who Has to Hire a Licensed Contractor

Delaware’s certification rules exempt the owner of an owner-occupied single-family dwelling doing the work on their own property. Under 19 DE Admin. Code 4103, that work falls outside the state’s definition of “asbestos abatement,” so the homeowner does not need a certification to perform it.¹ The exemption does not reach landlords, developers, flippers, or anyone who hires workers to do the removal for them.

Federal law exempts residential buildings with four or fewer dwelling units from the asbestos NESHAP’s notification and work-practice rules, but the exemption disappears if the owner is demolishing multiple residential buildings as part of the same project, or if residential and non-residential structures come down together. EPA has also warned that owners cannot break a project into pieces to avoid NESHAP.²

Being allowed to do it yourself is not the same as being safe doing it. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends leaving asbestos-containing materials alone when they are in good condition. Sanding, scraping, sawing, or drilling releases microscopic fibers that cause lung cancer and mesothelioma.³ If the material is intact and nothing is forcing a renovation, the safest move is often to leave it alone.

For everyone outside the homeowner exemption, Delaware recognizes two contractor classes. Class A (Unlimited) is for firms whose primary business is asbestos abatement or who can expect to encounter all types of asbestos projects, including removal from pipes, ceilings, structural members, and floors. Class B (Limited) is for contractors in other trades, such as roofers handling asbestos shingles or plumbers dealing with three square or linear feet or less of pipe insulation, who may run into asbestos during their regular work.⁴ Certifications are issued by the Division of Facilities Management and must be renewed annually.⁵ Before signing with any contractor, ask for the current certification and confirm the class matches the scope of your project.

Get a Licensed Inspection First

Before any renovation or demolition in Delaware, the building must be inspected for asbestos-containing materials by a person licensed by the state to identify them.⁶ This applies regardless of the building’s age, though structures built before the 1980s carry the highest risk, with asbestos commonly found in insulation, floor tiles, roofing, pipe wrapping, joint compounds, and textured coatings.

If the inspection confirms asbestos is present, the owner must have a plan for how those materials will be contained or removed. Only licensed professionals can perform the actual abatement. Professional inspections generally cost between a few hundred and several thousand dollars depending on the size of the property and the number of samples pulled.

Give DNREC Ten Working Days’ Notice

Delaware requires written notification to DNREC at least ten working days before any activity that may disturb asbestos-containing materials, whether that activity is a renovation, a demolition, or a stand-alone abatement.⁷ The ten-day window matches the federal NESHAP notification period under 40 CFR 61.145.⁸

The notice has to include the facility location, scheduled start and completion dates, the nature and quantity of asbestos-containing material involved, the planned removal methods, and the licensed contractor’s information. Emergencies caused by fire, storm damage, or structural failure allow expedited notification, but DNREC still needs to be contacted as soon as possible with documentation supporting the emergency classification. Local municipalities may add their own notification rules, so check with your city or county before work begins. Missing the ten-day window can shut a project down until proper notice is given and the waiting period runs.

How the Removal Must Be Done

Delaware’s emission standards for asbestos at 7 DE Admin. Code 1121, Section 10.0 spell out what the work area has to look like before any material is disturbed. Floors, walls, windows, and other large surfaces must be covered with plastic sheeting sealed with tape. Portable negative-air equipment with HEPA filters runs continuously, providing at least four air changes per hour and keeping the work area at a minimum negative pressure of 0.02 inches of water relative to the surrounding space.⁹

Wet removal is mandatory. All asbestos-containing material must be kept wet during removal to keep fibers from going airborne. Workers put on protective clothing and respirators in a designated clean room before entering the work area.⁹ The friable/non-friable distinction matters: friable material crumbles under hand pressure and poses the greatest risk, while non-friable material like intact floor tiles or roofing shingles becomes dangerous when sawed, drilled, or broken. Delaware’s rules apply whenever non-friable material will become friable through handling.¹

Air monitoring happens before, during, and after removal. The clearance threshold for reoccupying the space is 0.01 fibers per cubic centimeter, measured through aggressive air sampling performed by a certified industrial hygienist or qualified professional after the contractor finishes visual inspection and cleanup. If a sample comes back above that level, the contractor repeats the cleaning with HEPA vacuums or wet-wiping while negative air equipment keeps running, and the visual inspection and aggressive sampling sequence starts over. No one reoccupies the space until the clearance level is met.⁹ Third-party clearance testing typically runs from several hundred dollars to roughly $1,500 depending on the number of samples and the project size.

Where the Waste Has to Go

Asbestos waste generated in Delaware goes to a Delaware Solid Waste Authority (DSWA) landfill. Cherry Island (Northern Solid Waste Management Center) in Wilmington accepts all types, including friable, Category I non-friable, and Category II non-friable material. The Central (Sandtown) and Southern (Jones Crossroads) landfills accept Category I and II non-friable material, but contractor loads larger than five cubic yards must go to Cherry Island.¹⁰¹¹ The waste has to be generated in Delaware. The disposal site requires at least 24 hours’ advance notice by phone to schedule an appointment, and asbestos is accepted only Monday through Friday during daytime hours. On arrival, the driver notifies the weighmaster that the load contains asbestos-containing material.

Packaging depends on the type of waste. Friable asbestos must be thoroughly wetted and double-bagged in 6-mil plastic (or placed in plastic-lined containers or drums), sealed with waterproof tape, and labeled with a danger warning and the generator’s name and address. No direct truck dumping is allowed; bags are hand-unloaded to avoid damage, and workers unloading wear disposable protective clothing and at minimum a half-face, dual-cartridge respirator with high-efficiency filters.¹⁰ Category I non-friable waste (intact floor tiles, packing materials, gaskets) must be wetted and covered, and direct truck dumping is allowed for this category only. Category II non-friable waste (roofing felt, siding, transite panels) must be wetted, wrapped in at least two independent layers of 6-mil plastic, sealed with waterproof tape, and labeled the same way as friable waste.¹¹

All vehicles carrying asbestos, other than homeowner vehicles, must display a danger placard during loading and unloading. A completed Asbestos Disposal Form or Waste Shipment Record must travel with every load, creating a chain-of-custody record from the removal site to the landfill.¹⁰

If You’re Selling or Renting the Property

Federal law does not require a home seller to disclose asbestos.¹² Delaware does. Under Title 6, Chapter 25 of the Delaware Code, sellers of residential property must disclose in writing all known material defects at the time the property is listed or before final settlement, and the state’s official Seller’s Disclosure of Real Property Condition Report includes a specific question about asbestos-containing materials.¹³ Landlords and commercial property managers also have an obligation to inform tenants about known asbestos-containing materials in the building and to notify them of any planned removal work. If you’re buying a property and the seller marks “unknown” on the disclosure form, a certified asbestos inspection during your due diligence period is a reasonable precaution for anything built before the mid-1980s.

What It Costs to Get It Wrong

Three penalty frameworks can apply at once, and they stack.

Under Delaware’s asbestos statute, Title 16, Chapter 78, the Office of Management and Budget can immediately suspend, revoke, or refuse to renew a certification for any violation. Certified contractors or workers face civil fines of $100 to $1,500 per day of violation. Uncertified contractors or workers face $500 to $1,500 per day, plus an additional penalty of at least $5,000 per day for uncertified contractors. A contractor who intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly violates the chapter faces criminal fines of $2,500 to $25,000 per day and up to six months in jail.¹⁴

Because asbestos is also an air pollutant, violations trigger penalties under Delaware’s environmental control statute, Title 7, Chapter 60, which are substantially larger. The DNREC Secretary can impose administrative penalties of up to $40,000 per day. Courts can impose civil penalties of $5,000 to $40,000 per completed violation, with each day of a continuing violation counted separately. Willful or negligent violations carry criminal fines of $2,500 to $25,000 per day, and chronic violators face triple penalties.¹⁵

Federal exposure adds a third layer. Knowingly violating the asbestos NESHAP work-practice standards during demolition or renovation, or knowingly failing to comply with waste disposal standards, carries up to five years of imprisonment plus fines, with a second conviction doubling the penalties.¹⁶ The federal threshold for prosecution is a demolition or renovation involving at least 260 linear feet on pipes, 160 square feet on other components, or 35 cubic feet off facility components. Below those quantities, the state penalties still apply in full. An unlicensed contractor who skips notification, botches containment, and dumps waste improperly can be hit under all three frameworks at once, and a single Title 7 violation alone can produce a five-figure daily fine that compounds for every day the problem continues.

1
State of Delaware Regulations. 19 DE Admin Code 4103 – Regulation Governing the State of Delaware Asbestos Certification and Training Program
2
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Asbestos NESHAP Residential Building Exemption Clarification
3
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Asbestos In The Home
4
Legal Information Institute. 19 Delaware Admin Code 4103-6.0 – Requirements for Asbestos Abatement Contractor Certification
5
State of Delaware Division of Facilities Management. Asbestos Licensing Requirements
6
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Building Renovation and Demolition
7
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Asbestos
8
eCFR. 40 CFR 61.145 – Standard for Demolition and Renovation
9
Legal Information Institute. 7 Delaware Admin Code 1121-10.0 – Emission Standards for Asbestos
10
Delaware Solid Waste Authority. DSWA Asbestos Disposal Procedures – Cherry Island Landfill
11
Delaware Solid Waste Authority. DSWA Asbestos Disposal Procedures – Sandtown and Jones Crossroads Landfills
12
US Environmental Protection Agency. Does a Home Seller Have to Disclose to a Potential Buyer That a Home Contains Asbestos?
13
Delaware Division of Professional Regulation. Seller’s Disclosure of Real Property Condition Report
14
Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 16 Chapter 78 – Asbestos
15
Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 7 Chapter 60 – Environmental Control
16
US EPA. Criminal Provisions of the Clean Air Act