On November 28, 2016, the U.S. EPA published in the Federal Register (FR) the Hazardous Waste Generator Improvements Rule (Final Rule). Proposed in September 2015, the Final Rule overhauls and updates the decades-old EPA regulations for hazardous waste generators and, in the EPA’s opinion, makes the generator rules easier to understand, facilitates better compliance, and provides greater flexibility in how hazardous waste is managed.
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The Final Rule will go into effect on the federal level and in Alaska and Iowa on May 30, 2017. For the other states, the Final Rule will not go into effect until it is adopted by the individual states, a process that can take two to three years.
Also published in the FR on November 28, 2016 is EPA’s final Hazardous Waste Export-Import Revisions rule, effective in all states on December 31, 2016, although implementation will be phased in.