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In the medical waste management and environmental waste management arenas, rules and regulations regarding proper waste disposal are often changing. One such area that has recently undergone a significant change relates to MSDS sheets. While this used to be the proper terminology, everything has now shifted to SDS sheets.
The waste management industry is highly regulated, but it’s also subject to both state and federal laws. This can make pinning down how to legally and safely deal with your waste a complicated, confusing process. Working with an experienced and knowledgeable waste management company who can address some of these questions is one way to minimize that confusion. One such common source of uncertainty that these companies frequently get asked about is whether a business requires a generator’s EPA identification number.
If you work in the medical field or manufacturing industry, you likely generate waste that needs to be containerized, shipped, and transported according to strict regulations. Whether it’s biomedical waste (red bag waste) or hazardous materials, this waste can’t simply be dumped in the garbage or down the drain. If you do deal with this waste in your profession and you contact a waste management company to help handle its proper treatment, consider the benefits of working with a full-service outfit.
If you manage or work in a hospital, university, laboratory, or any manufacturing industry that uses small containers of chemicals and other potentially hazardous materials (thinners, solvents, paints, inks, etc.), it’s extremely important that you store, package, ship, and dispose of all that waste material properly. As such, a lab pack is something you and your employees should be familiar with—whether you undertake the process yourself or hire out the service to a qualified, proper waste management company.
There's a prevailing idea among manufacturers that dealing with non-hazardous waste disposal is somehow less important or less stringent than managing hazardous items. This is not the case! Every manufacturer needs to comply with all federal non-hazardous waste...
If your doctor’s office or hospital is a fully functioning clinic, it’s very likely you periodically need to dispose of expired medications and biohazardous waste. However, it’s obviously not as easy as simply throwing this material away. There are some very specific regulations and restrictions regarding what kinds of medications get disposed of in what fashion. One common practice used by doctors’ offices and hospitals alike is simply putting expired medication in red bag waste. This is not the protocol for properly disposing of hazardous waste, though, and could lead to fines being levied against the facility.
Within the hazardous waste management industry, dry cleaning is a very specialized, niche market. The waste generated in that business is deemed hazardous, though, and several federal bodies highly regulate its handling, shipping, and treatment. If you’re in the dry cleaning industry and you’re working with a waste management company, it’s your responsibility to ensure that company has undergone and received the proper training, permitting, and insurance to safely, legally, and effectively handle dry cleaning waste.
Pharmaceutical waste disposal involves a lot of laws and just as many regulations. If you want your pharmacy to be fully compliant (and, therefore, minimize your chance of getting fined), you need to be organized and diligent about your waste management efforts. A checklist is one simple way to make sure you haven’t neglected any steps. With that in mind, the following is a brief overview of five line items that should appear on your pharmaceutical waste checklist.
If you operate a pathology lab, you likely generate a lot of hazardous waste and biohazard waste that needs to be properly and legally disposed of. Generating this type of waste, however, means you’re subject to a lot of different rules and regulations for how to safely remove it from your facility for treatment. Because this can quickly become overwhelming, the following is a brief overview of what your pathology lab needs to be aware of in order to stay fully compliant.
Any business that generates hazardous materials must have a thorough, legally compliant plan to dispose of that waste, and this is particularly important for Florida-based businesses because the restrictions and regulations related to hazardous waste disposal are tighter in that state than many others. If you’re at all concerned about your plan being fully compliant, or if you’re unsure whether your business even has such a system in place, it is imperative you learn everything you can about these contingency plans and how they relate to your Florida business.
