Use of electronic hazardous waste manifests (e-Manifests) came one step closer in the United States on January 15^th when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule authorizing the use of e-Manifests. This will allow the current process, which requires paper forms, to be streamlined and greatly reduce the millions of paper manifests produced each year. EPA estimates the e-Manifest system will reduce the annual burden associated with preparing hazardous waste manifests by between 300,000 and 700,000 hours. It will also result in cost savings of more than US$ 75 million per year for states and industry and provide communities and regulators with greater access to hazardous waste information.

Issuance of this final rule was required by the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act signed by President Obama on October 5, 2012. Several more steps — establishing the system and developing the initial fee structure — must be implemented before generators can use e-Manifests to manage their wastes. The Act calls for the system to be on-line by October 5, 2015.

More information on the e-manifest system can be obtained from the EPA Web Site or from the EPA’s Frequent Questions page.

About the Author

Michael Bittner, CPEA, is a senior partner in the Boston, U.S.A. office of Environmental Resources Management, an international environmental, health, and safety (EHS) consultancy. Mr. Bittner specializes in global EHS solutions, including strategic planning, sustainability, management systems, compliance assurance, performance improvement, and audits. He is the editor of the EHS Journal.

Photograph: Mixed Waste by Arne Spingerum, Prague, Czech Republic.

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