On September 15, 1997, the USEPA promulgated new source performance standards (NSPS) and emission guidelines (EG) to control emissions from hospital and/or medical/infectious waste incinerators (HMIWIs) under Sections 111 (d) and 129 of the Clean Air act. The NSPS, which applies to new HMIWIs, directly regulates HMIWIs and is implemented through the operation of Section 39.5 of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act. However, the EG is not a federal rule but requires States to develop HMIWI regulations containing, at a minimum, the emission standards and control requirements in the EG. The HMIWI regulation developed in Illinois will create a number of requirements concerning the manner in which existing HMIWIs built on or before June 20, 1996 can be operated.

This fact sheet discusses the requirements of the HMIWI regulations.

The HMIWI regulations will apply to sources that use incinerators to dispose of either hospital or medical/infectious wastes. However, certain sources will only be required to comply with some of the provisions of the HMIWI regulations. HMIWIs that burn only pathological, low-level radioactive, or chemotherapeutic wastes, will be required to notify the IEPA and fulfill certain recordkeeping requirements. Furthermore, HMIWI that burn10% or less hospital waste or medical/infectious waste by weight, in conjunction with other fuels (on a calendar quarter basis), will only be required to notify IEPA of their status as a co-fired combustor, commit to this status as a condition in an IEPA-issued permit, and fulfill certain recordkeeping requirements. Finally, hospitals that send their hospital and medical/infectious wastes off-site for incineration will be required to submit a waste management progress report.

Some types of sources will be exempt from all requirements of the HMIWI regulations. Specifically, pyrolysis units, incinerators that are already permitted under Section 3005 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act, cement kilns, and municipal waste combustors (>250 TPD capacity) will not be subject to the proposed HMIWI regulations.

The proposed regulations will establish emission limits for existing HMIWI units, as well as requiring Clean Air Act Permitting Program (CAAPP) permits, performance testing, establishment of site-specific operating parameters, continuous parameter monitoring, waste management plans, equipment inspections, operator training, and reporting and recordkeeping.

The HMIWI source category is divided into three subcategories based on waste burning capacity: small (less than or equal 200 lb/hr), medium (more than 200 but less than or equal 500 lb/hr), and large (more than 500 lb/hr). Separate emission limits apply to each HMIWI subcategory. The proposed HMIWI regulations also contain emission limits for small rural HMIWIs that: (1) are located more than 50 miles from the boundary of the nearest Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA), and (2) burn less than 2,000 pounds of waste per week.

The attached table presents the emission limits for existing HMIWI in each subcategory.

In order to meet these emission limits, it is expected that owners or operators will need to install pollution control equipment on their HMIWI units. However, the HMIWI regulations will not require an owner or operator to use any particular type of control equipment. Instead, each HMIWI owner or operator will have to decide how they want to comply with these new regulations.

All affected sources subject to the emission standards of the proposed HMIWIs regulations are required to obtain a CAAPP permit and must submit a CAAPP application by September 15, 2000. Under certain circumstances, HMIWIs that need more time to comply with the emissions standards beyond September 15, 2000 may extend compliance to September 15, 2002. In this case their CAAPP application are due within 6 months from the Board’s final adoption of the HMIWI regulations.

The HMIWI regulations require that a trained and qualified operator be present at all times while the incinerator is in operation. The regulation prohibits anyone other than a trained and qualified operator or a person under a trained and qualified operator’s supervision from operating any HMIWI. In order to become a trained and qualified operator, the person would need to complete a training program, pass an examination based on the training program and have six months of experience as an HMIWI operator or complete two burn cycles under the observation of two trained and qualified operators.

An acceptable training program must consist of at least 24 hours of instruction in work safety procedures, pre-startup procedures, environmental concerns, combustion principles, operation of the same type of incinerator, combustion controls and monitoring, operation of air pollution control equipment, methods of monitoring pollutants, inspection and maintenance, corrective measures to remedy malfunctions, proper handling of bottom and fly ash, recordkeeping procedures, and applicable regulations and offer an examination and reference materials.

Hospitals with on-site HMIWIs are required to submit a waste management plan to the Agency. The plan must be submitted to the Agency at the same time that the facility submits the results of the initial performance tests and site-specific operating parameters. The plan must contain certain elements, including goals for reducing the volume and toxicity of waste, names of staff responsible for developing the plan and a summary of existing waste management policies and practices.

Hospitals that send their waste to an off-site HMIWI also must prepare a limited waste management plan.

Commercial HMISIs that accept waste generated off-site are also required to submit a plan to the Agency. In this plan, they must provide hospital and medical/infectious waste generators with written information about the availability of waste management practices.

All other HMIWIs (other than a hospital or commercial HMIWI) are required to submit a plan which includes an assessment of current waste management practices and an evaluation of feasibility of using certain additional practices that may reduce the volume and toxicity of the waste to be incinerated.

To determine compliance with the emission limits, all small, medium and large HMIWI will be required to conduct an initial performance tests for particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), dioxin/furans (CDD/CDF), hydrogen chloride (HCl), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), Mercury (Hg), and opacity. The initial performance test will also be used to establish values for site-specific operating parameters (e.g, waste feed rate to the HMIWI, minimum operating temperatures and other applicable parameters). Additionally, the HMIWI regulations will require annual performance tests over a 3-year period, the testing requirement will be waived for the next two years. However, if any subsequent tests failed to indicate compliance, annual testing would again be required for that pollutant until all annual tests over a 3-year period indicate compliance with the respective emission limits.

Rural HMIWIs will be required to do an initial performance tests only for PM, CO, CDD/CDF, Hg and opacity. These rural HMIWIs will be exempt from the annual stack testing requirements but will be required to conduct annual equipment inspections.

Besides the initial and annual performance testing requirements, performance tests may also be conducted upon request by the Agency or if an HMIWI owner or operator wants to establish new operating parameters values for their incinerator.

The HMIWI regulations will also require monitoring of a variety of HMIWI and air pollution control device (APCD) operating parameters. As noted above, operating parameter values will be established during the initial performance test.

The HMIWI regulations will require owners and operators of existing HMIWIs to maintain detailed records documenting the results of the initial and annual performance tests, continuous monitoring of site-specific operating parameters, initial and annual inspections, compliance with the operator training and qualification requirements, and the waste management plan. These records must be kept on file for at least 5 years. Owners and operators will also be required to submit the results of the initial performance test and all subsequent performance tests or inspections. Additionally, reports on emission rates or operating parameters that have not been obtained (i.e., because of instrument malfunction) or that exceed applicable limits must be submitted on a semi-annual basis. If no exceedances occur during a semi-annual period, the owner of the designated facility is required to submit an annual report stating that no exceedances occurred. The HMIWI regulations will also require that both the facilities manager and a responsible official sign and certify all reports submitted to the IEPA.

Compliance Schedule

All HMIWI owners and operators that intend to continue their incinerator operations will have to be in full compliance with all the requirements of the HMIWI regulations by September 15, 2000. HMIWIs that plan to comply with the HMIWI regulation by shutting down must notify the Agency, in a timely manner, and take affirmative steps to show that the HMIWI has been rendered permanently inoperable by September 15, 2000.

Under certain circumstances, the compliance schedule may be extended to September 15, 2002. To use this extended compliance timeframe, the owner or operator of an HMIWI must submit their CAAPP application to the Agency 6 months after the Board’s final adoption of the HMIWI regulation requesting an extended compliance schedule. The compliance schedule shall include documentation supporting the need for an extension, a final control plan for the HMIWI and incremental steps to be taken toward compliance and, at a minimum, meet the minimum increments of progress requirements.

This fact sheet is only intended to provide the reader with an overview of the IEPA’s proposed HMIWI regulations and should not be relied upon to determine compliance with the proposed rule. Consequently, the IEPA strongly recommends that all parties that may be affected by this rule review the proposed HMIWI regulations. *

Please direct questions about this proposed rule as follows:

Joe Uy
Illinois EPA
Bureau of Air, Air Quality Planning Section, #39
1021 North Grand Ave., East
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, IL 62794-9276
(217) 524-4343

Bonnie Sawyer
Illinois EPA
Division of Legal Counsel
1021 North Grand Ave., East
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, IL 627-04-9276
(217) 524-3974