New EPA Management Standards for Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals Take Effect August 21, 2019
Published in Healthcare Environmental Solutions magazine, the EPA has announced a change to the management standard for hazardous waste pharmaceuticals on February 22, 2019. The new regulation affects The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) as it will change the final rule on how hospitals, pharmacies, dentists, nursing and long-term care facilities store and dispose of their pharmaceuticals. In short the new standard will eliminate the dual regulation of hazardous pharmaceuticals that are also DEA controlled substances, will still uphold the household hazardous waste exemption, will lesson the burden on healthcare facilities as these pharmaceuticals will not count toward their generator status and finally the EPA has stated that Nicotine patches, gums, and lozenges no longer need to be managed as hazardous waste. To read the full regulation please click the link below. To find out if your facility will be affected by this regulation please visit your states environmental protection website.
As always if you have any questions in regards to disposing of your pharmaceutical waste do not hesitate to reach out to BioServ!
New EPA Hazardous Pharmaceutical Regulation