ABSTRACT
Hospitals and other medical institutions generate relatively small volumes of chemical waste. This chapter aims to aid the reader in understanding these regulations and serves as an introduction to reading the actual rules and understanding the regulatory details. It argues that the readers to contact their local, state, and federal hazardous waste agencies. The Environmental Protection Agency establishes the minimum standards for chemical waste management and disposal nationwide. Among medical institutions, particular concern has focused on the handling and disposal of antineoplastic drugs and other cytotoxic agents used in medicine. Medical institutions commonly generate other types of chemical wastes. Laboratories can be the source of a great variety of hazardous wastes, and they typically generate the largest volumes of hazardous waste within medical institutions. In most municipalities, disposal of chemicals into the sanitary sewer is regulated by the sanitary sewerage district or a similar agency operating the local publicly owned treatment works that services the institution.
