As a result of a national scare from needles and other medical waste washing up on eastern shores in the late 1980’s the USEPA passed the Medical Waste Tracking Act of 1988, which was only effective in a limited number of eastern states and expired June 21, 1991.  In the absence of specific Federal regulations to manage medical waste, states moved forward with their own regulations; thus Illinois passed regulations to manage what it identified as Potentially Infectious Medical Waste in 1993. (more…)