By Waste Advantage

ScrapMonster Contributor

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage):The U.S. EPA finalized a rule to improve the nation’s hazardous waste regulations to protect public health and the environment. The updated Hazardous Waste Import and Export Regulations streamline the hazardous waste export and import process, implement mandatory electronic reporting for international shipments and electronically link export information.

The final rule improves and consolidates previous regulations so that one set of requirements—the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) more stringent controlling transboundary movements of hazardous waste requirements—applies to all U.S. hazardous waste exports and imports. More efficient compliance monitoring will be provided by the rule’s requirement to link the consent to export with the electronic export information submitted to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). These regulations support a broader U.S. government effort led by CBP to convert from a paper-based border-crossing approval process for a wide range of exports and imports, to an electronic border-crossing approval process. This rule covers the hazardous waste export component of this larger International Trade Data System initiative.

Additionally, the new rule requires mandatory electronic reporting to EPA, which will enable increased sharing of hazardous waste export and import data with state programs, the general public and individual hazardous waste exporters and importers. While some electronic reporting will be required when the rule becomes effective, the full range of electronic reporting will not be mandatory until the respective electronic reporting functions are built and beta tested.

Courtesy: This article originally ran in the December 2016 issue of Waste Advantage Magazine. View