This content, Frequent Questions about the Management Standards for Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals Proposed Rule, first appeared on www.epa.gov.
Frequent Questions about the Management Standards for Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals Proposed Rule
Question: Why is management of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals difficult under the RCRA subtitle C hazardous waste generator regulations?
Answer: Hazardous waste generation and management practices at healthcare facilities differ from practices of industrial hazardous waste generators in several ways that make the application of RCRA subtitle C hazardous waste regulations difficult. Pharmaceutical waste is typically generated at a large number of points in relatively small quantities across a facility, such as at nursing stations, pharmacies and patient, emergency and operating rooms. Furthermore, generators of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals tend to generate hundreds of different types of pharmaceutical waste while, in contrast, many industrial generators tend to generate only a few predictable waste streams in large quantities at relatively few generation points. Some of the difficulties that generators of hazardous pharmaceutical wastes have expressed concerning the current hazardous waste generator regulations relate to making the waste determination, generator status upgrade due to generation of acutely hazardous waste, hazardous waste listings, and accumulation time limits.
This content, Frequent Questions about the Management Standards for Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals Proposed Rule, first appeared on www.epa.gov.
