In case you didn’t know, USEPA has been striving for some years now to put in place an electronic system for the transportation in commerce of a hazardous waste. Currently, all regulated shipments of a hazardous waste must be documented on and accompanied by the Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest. This will change with the implementation (June 2018! Read all about it: Learn About the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System or e-Manifest) of the electronic manifest system (e-Manifest).
Say goodbye to paper?
A question I received recently was this:
How is the driver/transporter expected to e-sign the manifest? Is the expectation that they will access the document electronically at the generators site and somehow e-sign there? Or, have equipment of their own to do so?
My answer comes right from the regulations USEPA created for the e-Manifest:
USEPA regulations at 40 CFR 263.20(a)(5) indicate that access to the e-Manifest system by a transporter can be through the transporter’s own electronic equipment or by accessing the equipment provided by the generator, by another transporter, or by a designated facility.
In short, any person involved in the “cradle-to-grave” management of the hazardous waste participating in the e-Manifest system can provide access to that system to other persons required to sign the Manifest. A transporter is not required to provide their own equipment in order to access the system.
The e-Manifest System is designed and almost entirely – not quite, still waiting on another piece of legislation and regulation that will determine how to pay for it – created by EPA to replace the current paper-b0und system. It’s run into a few snags, missed a few deadlines, and is currently scheduled for implementation in Spring of 2018. But honestly, given the recent presidential election, the future of all pending legislation is uncertain. Check out this simple infographic on the timeline of the e-Manifest System.
The purpose of this article is to identify and explain the new regulations created in order to implement the e-Manifest System.
The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act (e-Manifest Act) was signed into law by President Obama on October 5, 2012. It authorized the EPA to develop an electronic system for the tracking of hazardous waste manifests and create a system to collect fees to cover its operating costs. The EPA was given one year to promulgate regulations to turn the Act into a reality and three years to have an e-Manifest system fully operational. EPA announced a Final Rule in the February 7, 2014 Federal Register implementing the first portion of the e-Manifest Act.
The new rule, which created two new sections in Part 262 of Title 40 of the CFR (40 CFR 262.24 & 40 CFR 262.25) and modified others, is effective August 6, 2014. That doesn’t mean you can start emailing your manifests now, however; EPA has until October of 2015 to have a fully operational e-Manifest Tracking System and indicates it will issue a separate Final Rule in 2015 implementing the complete system.
A full review of how the e-Manifest Tracking System will work will have to wait for a later article. The purpose of this article is to explain the new regulations created in the CFR pertaining to the e-Manifest Tracking System. (more…)
