DOJ and EPA Fine Waste Management Company for Violations of Hazardous Waste Regulations

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) settled with Stericycle Inc. for systemic, nationwide violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and related regulations in the operation of its former hazardous waste management business from May 5, 2014, through April 6, 2020.

The settlement resolves Stericycle’s failures to manage hazardous waste properly, accurately maintain required manifest records when transporting hazardous waste, and timely submit information for thousands of manifests to EPA’s electronic manifest database, the e-manifest system.

Stericycle will pay US$9.5 million in civil penalty, one of the largest civil penalties ever paid for RCRA violations. The settlement is subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

“Stericycle repeatedly failed to ensure the proper transport, management, and storage of hazardous waste—a job that they were paid to do and entrusted to perform on behalf of customers nationwide,” said Cecil Rodrigues, EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance acting assistant administrator. “EPA is committed to ensuring companies comply with the law and to protecting communities from the potential risks associated with the mismanagement of hazardous wastes.”

“This penalty should put other waste management firms on notice that we will hold them accountable when they shirk their legal responsibilities and put the public and environment in harm’s way,” said Matthew Podolsky Southern District of New York attorney. 

Stericycle is a waste management company that operated a nationwide hazardous waste transportation, storage, treatment and disposal business until it sold most of the business on April 6, 2020. Stericycle operated 13 RCRA-permitted hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs) and 44 waste transfer facilities. On April 6, 2020, Stericycle completed the sale of its Stericycle Environmental Solutions hazardous waste business and, since that date, has largely ceased managing hazardous waste in the U.S. However, Stericycle remains accountable for its systemic RCRA violations prior to that sale.

The hazardous waste manifest is the key to tracking who generated the waste, the kind of waste being shipped, any potential dangers the hazardous characteristics of the waste pose, and where and how the waste is disposed. This information is critical for ensuring that hazardous waste is handled properly and safely, and in the case of an emergency, giving first responders the information needed to handle leaks or spills that may occur during transport or in the event of an accident.

The EPA’s e-manifest system is the database for all hazardous waste shipments in the U.S. that are generated, transported, and disposed of in the U.S. The system’s requirements ensure that our nation’s hazardous waste data is transparent, easily accessible, and publicly available. Complete and on-time submissions to the e-manifest system by companies like Stericycle are required by RCRA and essential to maintaining awareness of the hazardous waste activities in communities and on highways and rail systems, EPA said.