EPA: New Manifest Form Required for All Hazardous Waste Handlers
Starting this week (Sept. 5 to be precise), all hazardous waste generators and treatment, storage, and disposal facilities must use EPA's standardized hazardous waste manifest form.
Since 1980, the manifest form has provided a complete paper trail of a waste's progress from generation to disposal. It also identifies the type, amount and toxicity of hazardous waste being shipped. The standardized form that is being implemented will save waste handlers and regulators time and money, while guaranteeing the continued, safe management of hazardous waste, EPA officials said.
The standardized form reduces or eliminates many of the variables in state requirements. EPA's new manifest form also provides check boxes and adds fields that allow for better tracking of complicated shipments, such as container residues, rejected wastes, and interstate shipments. The new form also makes it easier to collect data for hazardous waste reporting. EPA officials said they have ensured uniformity by authorizing printers and providing them with precise specifications. Like the old form, each standardized form carries a unique preprinted manifest tracking number. The standardized form also allows multistate waste handlers to register and use their own manifest forms everywhere they do business.
EPA estimates about 139,000 businesses in approximately 45 industries ship about 12 million tons of hazardous wastes annually. These businesses use between 2 and 5 million hazardous waste manifests.
Additional information on the Standardized Manifest Form can be found at http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/gener/manifest.
A list of EPA-approved printers for the forms can be found at http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/gener/manifest/registry/printers.htm.
A number of states have additional requirements regarding the use of the new Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest. State manifest requirements can be found at http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/gener/manifest/registry/states.htm.
This article originally appeared in the 09/01/2006 issue of Environmental Protection.