INFECTIOUS AND CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC WASTE LAW
Act of Jul. 13, 1988, P.L. 525, No. 93 Cl. 27
AN ACT
Requiring the development of the Pennsylvania Infectious and
Chemotherapeutic Wastes Plan prior to the issuance of permits
for infectious and chemotherapeutic wastes incinerators and
disposal facilities; and providing penalties.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Findings.
The General Assembly finds that the legitimate public health
concerns of the Commonwealth require the review and adoption of
regulations providing standards for the collection,
transportation, processing, storage and incineration or other
disposal of infectious and chemotherapeutic wastes. The public
health, safety and welfare will be served by the development and
implementation of a comprehensive, Statewide plan and regulation
addressing the present and future needs of this Commonwealth
with regard to the incineration and disposal of infectious and
chemotherapeutic wastes as well as by the acknowledgment of the
public's need for medical treatment and diagnosis at hospitals
and supporting clinical testing laboratories, which necessarily
generate infectious and chemotherapeutic wastes while furnishing
such needed service. The General Assembly also finds that the
future construction and operation of facilities proposed to be
used for the incineration and disposal of infectious or
chemotherapeutic wastes should comply and conform with the
aforementioned regulations and Statewide plan. The General
Assembly further finds that infectious and chemotherapeutic
wastes by their very nature cannot be recycled and that such
wastes are best managed at the place of generation with a
minimum of transportation through this Commonwealth and exposure
to the public and that such wastes are best managed, processed
and disposed of and rendered harmless by means of current state-
of-the-art high-temperature incineration.
Section 2. Duties and responsibilities of the Department of
Environmental Resources.
(a) Comprehensive plan.--The Department of Environmental
Resources, over a period of not less than one year, shall
conduct a thorough study and an investigation of infectious and
chemotherapeutic wastes and prepare a Pennsylvania Infectious
and Chemotherapeutic Wastes Plan addressing the following
issues:
(1) The determination of present and projected volumes
of infectious and chemotherapeutic wastes which will be
produced in this Commonwealth as well as the market and
demand for importation of such wastes from neighboring states
and facilities for the treatment, storage and disposal of
such wastes.
(2) The adequacy of the present number of facilities in
this Commonwealth for the incineration or other disposal of
infectious or chemotherapeutic wastes and the projected need
for additional commercial facilities, including commercial
incinerators.
(3) The geographical distribution of existing and
currently, or subsequently, proposed commercial facilities
for the incineration or other disposal of infectious or
chemotherapeutic wastes, based on factors such as economic
feasibility, transportation concerns and the proximity of
other waste disposal facilities.
(4) The policy criteria required for siting of
commercial facilities for the incineration or other disposal
of infectious or chemotherapeutic wastes, including material
demand, transportation access and an enforcement strategy
addressing both the in-State and out-of-State sources.
(b) Regulations and standards.--In addition to preparing a
comprehensive plan as provided for in subsection (a), the
Department of Environmental Resources shall review and revise
existing regulations and standards, under section 4, relating to
infectious and chemotherapeutic wastes within one year of the
effective date of this act and shall propose, under the
authority of the act of January 8, 1960 (1959 P.L.2119, No.787),
known as the Air Pollution Control Act, or the act of July 7,
1980 (P.L.380, No.97), known as the Solid Waste Management Act,
such additional regulations as may be necessary or appropriate
to accomplish the purposes of this act. They shall include, but
not be limited to:
(1) Regulations governing the collection,
transportation, processing, storage and incineration and
disposal of infectious and chemotherapeutic wastes and the
siting of commercial infectious and chemotherapeutic waste
management facilities.
(2) The best available technology standards for air
quality control of emissions from new onsite facilities and
commercial facilities and reasonably available technology
control standards for air quality control of emissions from
existing onsite facilities and commercial facilities to be
used for the incineration of infectious or chemotherapeutic
wastes.
(3) Regulations governing liability insurance
requirements and emergency planning.
(c) Manifest system.--It is unlawful under the Solid Waste
Management Act and this act for a person or municipality who
generates, transports, stores, processes or disposes of
infectious or chemotherapeutic wastes to fail to use a manifest
system required by the department to assure that all infectious
and chemotherapeutic wastes generated are designated for
processing, storage or disposal facilities approved by the
department. The transporter of infectious or chemotherapeutic
wastes shall transport the waste to a facility permitted to
receive the waste or to an out-of-State facility designated on
the manifest.
(d) License for transporters.--It is unlawful under the
Solid Waste Management Act and this act for a person or
municipality to transport infectious or chemotherapeutic waste
unless such person or municipality has first obtained a license
from the department. The department may, by regulation, exempt
persons or municipalities transporting small quantities of
infectious or chemotherapeutic waste from the requirements of
this subsection.
(e) Development of plan.--Within 14 months of the effective
date of this act, the Department of Environmental Resources
shall present the comprehensive plan referred to in subsection
(a) to the Environmental Quality Board. This comprehensive plan
shall be prepared only after the Department of Environmental
Resources has conducted at least one public hearing on the
issues to be addressed in the plan.
Compiler's Note: The Department of Environmental Resources,
referred to in this section, was abolished by Act 18 of
1995. Its functions were transferred to the Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources and the Department of
Environmental Protection.
Section 3. Permitting process.
(a) Compliance with plan.--Except as provided in subsection
(b), the issuance of any permit under the act of January 8, 1960
(1959 P.L.2119, No.787), known as the Air Pollution Control Act,
or the act of July 7, 1980 (P.L.380, No.97), known as the Solid
Waste Management Act, for the construction or operation of any
commercial facility for the incineration or disposal of
infectious or chemotherapeutic wastes by the Department of
Environmental Resources shall take place only after the adoption
of and shall be consistent with the Pennsylvania Infectious and
Chemotherapeutic Wastes Plan.
(b) Interim permits.--After the effective date of this act
and prior to the adoption of a plan by the Environmental Quality
Board as provided for in section 4, the Department of
Environmental Resources shall have the authority to issue or
reissue any required permit or permits for the following
purposes:
(1) The operation of any facility for the incineration
of infectious or chemotherapeutic wastes, provided that the
facility for which the permit or permits are issued or
reissued was in existence and had been in operation on or
before the effective date of this act or that the facility
for which the permit or permits are issued or reissued is or
will be an onsite facility managing wastes generated by that
facility.
(2) An onsite incineration facility for infectious or
chemotherapeutic wastes for which permits deemed complete by
the department have been filed on the effective date of this
act.
Compiler's Note: The Department of Environmental Resources,
referred to in this section, was abolished by Act 18 of
1995. Its functions were transferred to the Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources and the Department of
Environmental Protection.
Section 4. Powers and duties of the Environmental Quality
Board.
(a) Plan.--Within 90 days of the receipt of the
comprehensive plan from the Department of Environmental
Resources, the Environmental Quality Board shall have the power
and its duty shall be to adopt a Pennsylvania Infectious and
Chemotherapeutic Wastes Plan. The Environmental Quality Board
shall conduct at least one public hearing prior to the adoption
of a plan.
(b) Regulations.--The Environmental Quality Board shall have
the power and its duty shall be to adopt any rules and
regulations of the Department of Environmental Resources to
accomplish the purposes and to carry out the provisions of this
act.
Compiler's Note: Section 502(c) of Act 18 of 1995, which
created the Department of Conservation and Natural
Resources and renamed the Department of Environmental
Resources as the Department of Environmental Protection,
provided that the Environmental Quality Board shall have
the powers and duties currently vested in it, except as
vested in the Department of Conservation and Natural
Resources by Act 18 of 1995, which powers and duties
include those set forth in section 4(b).
Section 5. Civil penalties.
For a violation of a provision of this act, a regulation or
order of the Department of Environmental Resources or a term or
condition of a permit issued by the department, the department
may assess a civil penalty upon a person or municipality. A
penalty may be assessed whether or not the violation was willful
or negligent. In determining the amount of the penalty, the
department shall consider the willfulness of the violation;
damage to air, water, land or other natural resources of this
Commonwealth or their uses; cost of restoration and abatement;
savings resulting to the person in consequence of the violation;
and other relevant factors. When the department proposes to
assess a civil penalty, it shall inform the person or
municipality of the proposed amount of the penalty. The person
or municipality charged with the penalty shall then have 30 days
to pay the proposed penalty in full or, if the person or
municipality wishes to contest either the amount of the penalty
or the fact of the violation, the person or municipality must,
within the 30-day period, file an appeal of the action with the
Environmental Hearing Board. Failure to appeal within 30 days
shall result in a waiver of all legal rights to contest the
violation or the amount of the penalty. The maximum civil
penalty which may be assessed under this section is $25,000 per
offense. Each violation for each separate day shall constitute a
separate and distinct offense under this section.
Compiler's Note: The Department of Environmental Resources,
referred to in this section, was abolished by Act 18 of
1995. Its functions were transferred to the Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources and the Department of
Environmental Protection.
Section 6. Criminal penalties.
(a) Municipalities.--A municipality which violates a
provision of this act, the regulations of the Department of
Environmental Resources, an order of the department, or a term
or condition of a permit commits a summary offense and shall,
upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than
$100 nor more than $1,000 and costs.
(b) Persons.--Any person, other than a municipal official
exercising official duties, who violates a provision of this
act, a regulation of the department, an order of the department,
or a term or condition of a permit commits a misdemeanor of the
third degree and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a
fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $25,000 per day for
each violation or to imprisonment for not more than one year, or
both. Any person other than a municipal officer exercising
official duties who, within two years after being convicted of
or pleading guilty or no contest to a misdemeanor under this
subsection, violates a provision of this act, a regulation of
the department, an order of the department, or a term or
condition of a permit commits a misdemeanor of the second degree
and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not
less than $2,500 nor more than $50,000 for each violation or to
imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.
(c) Knowing violations.--
(1) A person or municipality commits a misdemeanor of
the third degree and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to
pay a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $25,000 per
day for each violation if the person or municipality
knowingly does any of the following:
(i) Transports infectious or chemotherapeutic waste
to a facility which does not have a permit under this act
to accept such waste for storage, treatment or disposal.
(ii) Makes a false statement or representation in an
application label, manifest, record, report, permit or
other document relating to infectious or chemotherapeutic
waste generation, storage, transportation, treatment or
disposal, which is filed, submitted, maintained or used
for purposes of compliance with this act.
(2) A municipality which knowingly stores, treats or
disposes of any hazardous waste without having obtained a
permit for such storage, treatment or disposal commits a
misdemeanor of the third degree and shall, upon conviction,
be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more
than $25,000 per day for each violation.
(3) A person or municipality that, within two years
after being convicted of or pleading guilty or no contest to
a misdemeanor for violation of this act, violates this
subsection commits a misdemeanor of the second degree and
shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not
less than $2,500 nor more than $50,000 for each violation or
to imprisonment for not less than two years nor more than 20
years, or both.
Compiler's Note: The Department of Environmental Resources,
referred to in subsec. (a), was abolished by Act 18 of
1995. Its functions were transferred to the Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources and the Department of
Environmental Protection.
Section 7. Effective date.
This act shall take effect immediately.
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