New regulations issued for medical waste incinerators

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established new emission regulations that will affect most existing hospital, medical and infectious waste incinerators.

The EPA released its new guidelines that strengthen existing emission limits for all regulated pollutants emitted by the facilities.

The rule contains a MACT “floor”, or a minimum level of stringency, that the facilities must achieve.

The rule requires additional stack testing for existing and new sources; imposes additional monitoring requirements for new sources; requires annual inspections of emission controls and a one-time visible emissions test of ash-handling operations; lays out procedures for test data submittal; and revises waste-management plan provisions.