BILL NUMBER: SB 225 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 8, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator Wieckowski
FEBRUARY 13, 2015
An act to add Section 42889.5 to the Public Resources
Code, relating to recycling. An act to amend Sections
117630 and 118275 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to medical
waste .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 225, as amended, Wieckowski. Recycling: used tires.
Medical waste.
Existing law, the Medical Waste Management Act, regulates the
disposal of medical waste, including requiring specified biohazard
materials to be disposed of in biohazard bags and requiring specified
treatment for medical waste. Transportation, storage, treatment, or
disposal of medical waste in a manner not authorized by the act is a
crime. Existing law defines specified terms for purposes of the
Medical Waste Management Act, including "biohazard bag." Existing law
defines a biohazard bag to mean a film bag that is impervious to
moisture. Existing law requires the film bags that are used for
transport to be marked and certified by the manufacturer as having
passed specified tests prescribed for tear resistance and for impact
resistance. Existing law also imposes a specified labeling
requirement on containers for nonradioactive pharmaceutical wastes
that are not subject to a specified federal law and that are
regulated as medical waste.
This bill would limit the application of the requirement that film
bags used for transport be marked and certified by the manufacturer
as having passed specified tests only to those film bags that are
used for transport from the generator's facility onto roadways. The
bill would also make a clarifying change to the labeling requirement
for containers for nonradioactive pharmaceutical waste.
Existing law, the California Integrated Waste Management Act,
requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, when
implementing the act, to promote certain waste management practices
in the order of a specified priority, and to maximize the use of all
feasible source reduction, recycling, and composting options. The
California Tire Recycling Act, which is part of the California
Integrated Waste Management Act, imposes a California tire fee on a
new tire purchased in the state. The revenue generated from the fee
is deposited in the California Tire Recycling Management Fund for
expenditure, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes
of programs related to waste tires. Existing law requires the
department to adopt a 5-year plan, which is to be updated biennially,
to establish goals and priorities for waste tire programs.
This bill would require the department, when adopting the 5-year
plan and expending those appropriated funds, to ensure that the
expenditure of funds pursuant to the California Tire Recycling Act,
reflects the California Integrated Waste Management Act's priorities
for waste reduction and recycling.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes
no . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 117630 of the Health
and Safety Code is amended to read:
117630. "Biohazard bag" means a disposable film bag that is
impervious to moisture. The film bags that are used for transport
from the generator's facility onto roadways shall be
marked and certified by the manufacturer as having passed the tests
prescribed for tear resistance in the American Society for Testing
Materials (ASTM) D1922, "Standard Test Method for Propagation Tear
Resistance of Plastic Film and Thin Sheeting by Pendulum Method" and
for impact resistance in ASTM D 1709, D1709,
"Standard Test Methods for Impact Resistance of Plastic Film by
the Free-Falling Dart Method," as those documents were published on
January 1, 2014. The film bag shall meet an impact resistance of 165
grams and a tearing resistance of 480 grams in both parallel and
perpendicular planes with respect to the length of the bag. The color
of the bag shall be red, except when yellow bags are used to further
segregate trace chemotherapy waste and white bags are used to
further segregate pathology waste.
SEC. 2. Section 118275 of the Health
and Safety Code is amended to read:
118275. (a) To containerize or store medical waste, at the point
of generation and while collected in that room, a person shall do all
of the following:
(1) Medical waste, as defined in Section 117690, shall be
contained separately from other waste at the point of origin in the
producing facility. Sharps containers may be placed in biohazard bags
or in containers with biohazard bags.
(2) Biohazardous waste, as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision
(b) of Section 117690, shall be placed in a biohazard bag
conspicuously labeled with the words "Biohazardous Waste" or with the
international biohazard symbol and the word "BIOHAZARD."
(3) Sharps waste, as defined in paragraph (4) of subdivision (b)
of Section 117690, including sharps and pharmaceutical waste
containerized pursuant to paragraph (7), shall be contained in a
United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) approved sharps
container that meets USFDA labeling requirements and is handled
pursuant to Section 118285.
(4) Trace chemotherapy waste, as defined in paragraph (5) of
subdivision (b) of Section 117690, shall be segregated for storage,
and, when placed in a secondary container, that container shall be
labeled with the words "Chemotherapy Waste," "CHEMO," or other label
approved by the department on the lid and sides, so as to be visible
from any lateral direction, to ensure treatment of the biohazardous
waste pursuant to Section 118222. Sharps waste that is contaminated
through contact with, or having previously contained,
chemotherapeutic agents, shall be placed in sharps containers labeled
in accordance with the industry standard with the words
"Chemotherapy Waste," "Chemo," or other label approved by the
department, and shall be segregated to ensure treatment of the sharps
waste pursuant to Section 118222.
(5) Pathology waste, as defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision
(b) of Section 117690, shall be segregated for storage and, when
placed in a secondary container, that container shall be labeled with
the words "Pathology Waste," "PATH," or other label approved by the
department on the lid and sides, so as to be visible from any lateral
direction, to ensure treatment of the waste pursuant to Section
118222.
(6) Pharmaceutical waste, as defined in paragraph (3) of
subdivision (b) of Section 117690, shall be segregated for storage in
accordance with the facility's medical waste management plan. When
this waste is prepared for shipment offsite for treatment, it shall
be properly containerized for shipment in compliance with United
States Department of Transportation and United States Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA) requirements.
(A) Pharmaceutical wastes classified by the DEA as "controlled
substances" shall be disposed of in compliance with DEA requirements.
(B) Nonradioactive pharmaceutical wastes that are not subject to
the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (Public
Law 94-580), as amended, and that are regulated as medical waste are
placed in a container or secondary container labeled with the words
"HIGH HEAT OR INCINERATION HEAT" or
"INCINERATION ONLY," or with another label approved by the
department, on the lid and sides, so as to be visible from any
lateral direction, to ensure treatment of the biohazardous waste
pursuant to Section 118222.
(7) A person may consolidate into a common container, which may be
reusable, sharps waste, as defined in paragraph (4) of subdivision
(b) of Section 117690, and pharmaceutical wastes, as defined in
paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 117690, provided that
both of the following apply:
(A) The consolidated waste is treated by incineration or
alternative treatment technologies approved to treat that waste
pursuant to paragraph (1) or (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 118215
prior to disposal. That alternative treatment shall render the waste
unrecoverable and nonhazardous.
(B) The container meets the requirements of Section 118285. The
container shall be labeled with the biohazardous waste symbol and the
words "HIGH HEAT OR INCINERATION HEAT" or
"INCINERATION ONLY," or with another label approved by the
department, on the lid and sides, so as to be visible from any
lateral direction, to ensure treatment of the waste pursuant to this
subdivision.
(b) To containerize medical waste being held for shipment offsite
for treatment, the waste shall be labeled, as outlined in subdivision
(a), on the lid and sides of the container.
(c) When medical waste is containerized pursuant to subdivisions
(a) and (b) there is no requirement to label the containers with the
date that the waste started to accumulate.
SECTION 1. Section 42889.5 is added to the
Public Resources Code, to read:
42889.5. The department shall, when adopting the five-year plan
pursuant to Section 42885.5, and expending funds appropriated to the
department pursuant to Section 42889, ensure that the expenditure of
funds pursuant to this chapter reflects the priorities for waste
reduction and recycling specified in Section 40051.