The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will soon publish
new rules that provide tailored standards for handling
hazardous-waste pharmaceuticals in the health care sector. The
rules streamline the requirements for the accumulating, labeling,
shipping, and disposing of pharmaceutical waste classified as
hazardous due to its ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and/or
toxicity, or because it is specifically identified as hazardous
under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
Prior Law: Previously, facilities generating
hazardous-waste pharmaceuticals followed RCRA regulations, which
vary depending on the amount and type of waste generated at the
site. The new rules remove generators of hazardous-waste
pharmaceuticals from the standard RCRA regulations and add tailored
standards for these facilities.
