State Adoption: Management Standards For Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals

As we reported earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its Management Standards for Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals, impacting health care entities including long-term care (LTC) facilities. These requirements regard the generation, management, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes.

As we continue to monitor, below is the most recent anticipated schedule of states adopting the final rule.

State adoption

• North Carolina: Will adopt the nicotine exception on Aug. 21, 2019 but will take nine to 12 months for Subpart P – the amendment that excludes nicotine patches, gums and lozenges from being managed as hazardous waste – to go into effect.
• Minnesota: Adopting some portions of the rule immediately and beginning to host industry outreach on proposed rulemaking.
• New York: Announced plans to begin the rulemaking process in summer 2019.
• Virginia: Announced plans to adopt the rule no later than Sept. 30, 2019.

Clean Earth has been following EPA activity on this rulemaking since its proposal in 2015. The new regulations were detailed in hundreds of pages and have been summarized on the Clean Earth website to provide highlights of how the final rule affects health care facilities and the state-by-state adoption process.

For more information, visit www.cleanearthinc.com/epa.