But, the fact is that *many* companies do just exactly that, and OSHA never catches up with them.
Which isn't really surprising. I had an OSHA inspector tell me that disposing of a few dozen gallons of battery acid was actually easy... just neutralize it with baking soda, and "then it's not a hazardous substance anymore, you can pour it down the drain if you like".
He told me that right after describing how his real ambition wasn't OSHA, but law enforcement. He just couldn't get anyone to hire him as a cop though...