AR October 2006

Effective September 5, 2006, all hazardous waste generators and treatment, storage, and disposal facilities were required to 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 will save waste handlers and regulators time and money, while guaranteeing the continued, safe management of hazardous waste.

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 has 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.