Medical waste - New York

The EPA has not had regulatory authority over medical waste since the Medical Waste Tracking Act of 1988 expired in 1991. Most states have since developed their own programs, resulting in significant differences for each state. A summary of this state’s requirements includes the following.

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the New York State Department of Health (DOH) jointly regulate the New York State Registered Medical Waste Program.

The DEC oversees regulated medical waste for:

• All storage, treatment, and destruction processes of on-site facilities for commercial operations;
• Off-site transportation of regulated medical waste;
• All generators;
• Tracking;
• Responding to illegal disposal incidents; and
• All off-site storage, transfer, treatment, and disposal facilities.

The DEC regulations (6 NYCRR) include:

• Part 365 regulations that cover medical waste:
  • 365-1 Generator requirements; and
  • 365-2 Treatment, storage, and transfer facilities requirements.
• Part 364 regulations that cover waste transporter:
  • 364-1 General requirements,
  • 364-2 Exemptions,
  • 364-3 Registrations,
  • 364-4 Permits, and
  • 364-5 Recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

The DOH oversees regulated medical waste on-site management procedures for:

• Hospitals,
• Freestanding diagnostic and treatment centers;
• Residential healthcare facilities; and
• Clinical laboratories.

The DOH regulations (10 NYCRR Part 70) cover:

• 70-1 Applicability,
• 70-2 Management of regulated medical waste,
• 70-3 Requirements for autoclaves used to treat regulated medical waste,
• 70-4 Requirements for alternative regulated medical waste treatment systems, and
• 70-5 Approval of alternative treatment technologies for use in New York State.

Related information

• Medical waste RegSense

Citations

• Federal regulation 40 CFR Part 261
• Federal regulation 40 CFR Part 262
• Federal regulation 29 CFR 1910.1030
• Federal Regulation 49 CFR Subchapter C
• New York Codes, Rules and Regulations Part 6-IV-365
• New York Codes, Rules and Regulations Part 6-IV-364
• New York Codes, Rules and Regulations Part 10-I-70