SGIA Meets With Maryland Department of Environment Regarding Hazardous Waste Regulations

The SGIA Government and Business Affairs staff met with a representative from the Maryland Department of Environment regarding upcoming changes to their hazardous waste regulations. The purpose of the meeting was to explore how the current regulations could be revised so that they align with the current requirements that have been adopted by the USEPA. Many of Maryland’s current hazardous waste regulations are more stringent than USEPA’s causing printing operations to expend time, money, and resources that companies in the surrounding states, which have adopted USEPA’ rules. For example, Maryland does not recognize EPA’s Small Quantity Generator category. This means that most printing operations are classified as a “fully regulated” generator which is equivalent to USEPA’s Large Quantity Generator category. Large Quantity Generators must meet many more requirements and have additional reporting obligations.

Maryland has not adopted USEPA’s wiper rule that provides flexibility for the management of reusable wipes and disposal of disposable wipes. Other changes USEPA has made and have not yet been adopted by Maryland is the Definition of Solid Waste that will reduce requirements for companies that use distillation units to recycle solvents and the Generator Improvement rule allowing for additional regulatory flexibility.

The Maryland Department of the Environment representative is responsible for revising the regulations and was very receptive to reviewing the suggested revisions to the rule. The meeting was very timely because a draft of proposed rule changes is in the process of being developed. It is anticipated that a draft will be released in early summer with an anticipated adoption by the end of 2019. It was agreed that additional dialog on the proposed changes will occur prior to the release of the proposed rule.