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In February 2019, the EPA issued a final rule establishing a new set of regulations for the management of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals generated by healthcare facilities. There were several rationales behind the rule. For example, in contrast to staff at industrial facilities, healthcare personnel (e.g., doctors and nurses) are rarely trained to make hazardous waste […]
The EPA has long emphasized that the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and its regulations were written to address the generation of solid and hazardous wastes by industrial plants and the storage, treatment, and disposal of such wastes at permitted facilities and landfills. What the regulations were not intended to cover is the generation […]
Published in the February 22, 2019 Federal Register, EPA’s long-awaited final rule to manage hazardous waste pharmaceuticals generated by healthcare facilities (including hospitals, clinics, and retail stores with pharmacies) and reverse distributors will go into effect August 21, 2019 in EPA territories and in states that do not have an authorized Resource Conservation and Recovery […]
Following a 14-month performance audit of the EPA’s biosolids program, the EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) found what it believes to be significant gaps in the Agency’s implementation of its statutory obligation to protect human health and the environment. The major weakness identified by the OIG relates to the EPA’s regulation of pollutants in […]