News Releases from Region 07

EPA Launches e-Manifest National Electronic Hazardous Waste Tracking System

07/02/2018

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913-551-7785

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

image of e-Manifest key w-finger (Lenexa, Kan. July 2, 2018) - On June 30, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System (e-Manifest). The system will improve access to higher quality and more timely hazardous waste shipment data, and save industry and states valuable time and resources to the tune of $90 million annually.

“Creation of the e-Manifest system demonstrates EPA’s commitment to innovation and robust collaboration with states and the private sector,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. “Through this extensive modernization of the hazardous waste program, the e-Manifest system will significantly reduce regulatory burdens and save businesses and states valuable time and resources, while improving protection of human health and the environment.”

“ASTSWMO is looking forward to the launch of the e-Manifest system and continuing to work with EPA to ensure a smooth transition occurs,” said the Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials' (ASTSWMO) Hazardous Waste Subcommittee. “The e-Manifest system will allow the states to more efficiently review hazardous waste manifest data, thus ensuring better protection of human health and the environment.”

Starting June 30, 2018, users must submit all manifests, whether paper or electronic, to EPA’s e-Manifest system. There will be several ways to submit manifests to EPA, ranging from mailing conventional paper to full electronic delivery. Receiving facilities will pay a fee that varies, based on how the manifest is submitted.

The e-Manifest system, authorized by the 2012 e-Manifest Act, enables electronic tracking of hazardous wastes, and will serve as a national reporting hub and database for all hazardous waste manifests and shipment data. Once electronic practices are widely adopted, EPA estimates e-Manifest will ultimately reduce the burden associated with preparing paper shipping manifests, saving state and industry users an average of about $90 million annually. Complete transition to electronic manifests will be phased in. EPA will continue to conduct ongoing outreach to states and industry.

The Agency will also re-evaluate whether additional security measures are necessary for a small subset of manifest data about certain acute hazardous wastes. In the interim, EPA will be working directly with impacted receiving facilities on specific procedures related to those manifests. Additionally, EPA recently announced it would grant receiving facilities extra time to submit paper manifests in the initial months after system launch to further support industry implementation. Facilities that receive manifested waste between June 30, 2018, and Sept. 1, 2018, will now have until Sept. 30, 2018, to send those paper manifests to EPA.

“The e-Manifest system will help simplify the way hazardous waste manifests are created and managed,” said Bill Bider, Bureau of Waste Management Director, Kansas Department of Health and Environment. “This system will not only allow the industry to view its own manifests electronically and ensure accuracy, it will also give waste generators and handlers an alternative to hard-copy document retention. The shift away from paper manifests also has environmental benefits, including less solid waste and reduced natural resource consumption.”

“Nebraska sees the new e-Manifest system as providing an efficient way for tracking the shipment of hazardous waste in an electronic process,” said Jeffery Edwards, Waste Compliance Unit Supervisor, Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. “It provides a notification system so that those in the chain (generator, transporter, and disposal facility) can see and manage the movement of wastes, as well as for states and EPA to lessen the time spent reviewing paper manifests.

“The reduction in the use of paper as the system is implemented will ultimately reduce costs, and this provides multiple benefits including less chance to lose copies, less solid waste, and a reduction in the need to have storage space for all that paper. The public will also benefit as it will be able to have a clearer understanding of wastes generated and disposed and the process it followed to disposal.”