Hazardous Waste Tracking System Improved

Washington, D.C. -- EPA is improving the tracking of hazardous waste shipments by establishing a nationally standardized manifest form. This new form makes the nation's hazardous waste tracking system more efficient by replacing various state formats with one national form. This streamlined approach will benefit waste handlers and regulators by reducing the costs and time associated with managing multiple forms, while maintaining the safety of EPA's well established cradle-to-grave hazardous waste tracking system.

By employing a streamlined and consistent national standard, hazardous waste handlers can better track complicated shipments, such as container residues, rejected wastes and international shipments. The new form also makes it easier to collect data for hazardous waste reporting. The Manifest will be printed to precise EPA specifications that ensure uniformity, and each form will carry a unique preprinted manifest tracking number. EPA will oversee the registration process. Waste handlers can generate their own manifest forms once they have registered with the Agency. Record keeping, reporting requirements, and other changes also vastly improve and modernize hazardous waste tracking. The new form will be phased in over an 18-month transition period. Once the new form is in place, handlers will be able to obtain new forms from any source that has registered with EPA to print and distribute them.

More than 139,000 businesses, in approximately 45 industries, are expected to achieve time and cost efficiencies through use of the new tracking system. These businesses ship approximately 12 million tons of hazardous wastes annually, and use between 2 and 5 million hazardous waste manifests.

More information is available at: http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/gener/manifest/mods.htm.

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency