The EPA Administrator signed the final Hazardous Waste Generator Improvements Rule on October 28, 2016 and it was published in the Federal Register (FR) on November 28, 2016.

EPA is proposing to add hazardous waste aerosol cans to those “universal wastes” regulated under title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), part 273. This change in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations, once finalized, will reduce regulatory costs of a wide variety of establishments generating and managing aerosol cans, including the retail sector, by providing a clear, practical system for handling discarded aerosol cans.

The US EPA published the Hazardous Waste Generator Improvements final rule on November 28, 2016. The final rule takes effect on May 30, 2017. Below is a limited summary of significant changes to the hazardous waste rules.

In December, 2016 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final rule banning powdered medical gloves. The ban applies to powdered patient examination gloves, powdered surgeon’s gloves, and absorbable powder for lubricating a surgeon’s glove. The ban does NOT apply to powder used in the manufacturing process for non-powdered gloves, as long as each finished glove has less than 2mg of residual powder per glove.

Effective November 1, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began surveying to the new 2012 Life Safety Code. Changes include mandates for annual OR fire drills, mechanical/electrical/medical systems risk assessments, and 1-hour fire ratings for temporary construction barriers, just to name a few. Facility managers are finding that implementing these changes could significantly increase departmental workload.

Is your environmental management system working for you or are you working for it? An all-too-common approach to running an environmental management system (EMS) is a procedural, documentation-oriented approach where the mere existence of EMS procedures makes an organization falsely believe they have an effective program. In fact, this procedural-documentation approach often does little more that bog down the organization with little in the way of real outcomes.

A straight forward plan to deal with an issue that may seem new to many of you however this issue has been successfully addressed for decades. It’s all over the news, landfills that won’t accept ashes from incinerated waste, towns and states that won’t let waste be transported across their borders, special permits, Category A Packaging, warehouses full of drums and 6mil liners. STOP! Realize that all this public backlash and 3rd party noise is due to the fact that YOU do not have a plan. It’s really that simple.