As of June 30th, 2018, The Environmental Protection Agency is establishing a new system for tracking hazardous waste shipments. This new system is known as the “e-Manifest” and its purpose is to make the tracking of hazardous waste shipments much easier and be more conservative with time, energy, and resources. The e-Manifest is not yet mandatory but it is recommended and encouraged.
e-Manifest and Generators
As this system is new to the hazardous waste industry, generators may not know how they will be affected by this or what steps are needed to start the process for enrolling to the electronic system. Generators have the option to create manifests and submit them electronically but in order to do so the generator must register for the e-Manifest which can be found here www.epa.gov. When you do register for the system, it is recommended that generators register at least two site managers who can approve other users within the company.
Types of Hazardous Waste manifest
There are three different ways you can create a hazardous waste manifest.They are as followed:
- Paper- This is the current process which is being replaced with a 5-copy manifest form instead of a 6-copy form.
- Hybrid- This manifest starts as a paper copy that is signed by the generator and then is signed electronically by the transporter and receiving facility.
- Electronic- This is created using the e-Manifest system and is electronically
signed by all parties listed on the manifest.
signed by all parties listed on the manifest.Through the EPA’s website the e-Manifest will be viewable by the generator to see the status of the shipment throughout the disposal process. It will also be able to be viewable by the transporter and receiving facility for that specific shipment. As we get closer to the launch of the e-Manifest system on June 30,2018, more details and tutorial videos should arise to assist generators in transitioning to this new system.