Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Natural Resources › NR 500-599 - Environmental Protection - Solid Waste Management › Chapter NR 526 - Medical Waste Management › Subchapter III - Medical Waste Reduction › Section NR 526.18 - Waste audit

Current through June 24, 2024
Before completing or updating the medical waste reduction
					 plan required in s.
					 NR
					 526.19, each director or director's designee shall
					 audit the medical facility's current solid waste management practices. Each
					 director or director's designee shall repeat the audit at least every 5 years
					 for the whole medical facility or more frequently for any part of the facility
					 where there has been a significant change in solid waste characteristics or
					 amounts of solid waste due to major remodeling, expansion of service or other
					 factors. Each director or director's designee shall keep a copy of the results
					 of the initial audit and all subsequent audits at the medical facility. The
					 department may review these records upon request. The waste audit shall address
					 all of the following:
(1) SOURCE
				  AREAS. The waste audit shall identify all areas within the medical facility
				  where solid waste, not just medical waste, is generated.
(2) WASTE TYPES. The waste audit shall
				  identify the types of waste that are generated within each source area. It is
				  not necessary to determine how much of each waste type is generated in each
				  source area. The waste types are: medical waste, including infectious waste
				  items listed in s.
				  NR
				  526.05 and items which are either being mixed with
				  infectious waste or handled as infectious waste; hazardous waste, including but
				  not limited to hazardous chemotherapy waste; radioactive waste; trace
				  chemotherapy waste; recyclable materials; wastes which may have to be managed
				  separately because they are any combination of infectious, hazardous or
				  radioactive waste; and other solid waste.
Note: Infectious waste which is also hazardous may also be
					 regulated by the department under hazardous waste rules. See chs. NR 660 to
					 670 and s.
					 NR 526.11(2)
					 (f). Infectious waste which is also
					 radioactive is regulated by the department of health services under ch. DHS 157
					 and the federal government under Title 10 CFR until no longer regulated as
					 radioactive material, as provided in s.
					 NR
					 526.02(6).
(3) QUANTITY OF MEDICAL WASTE. The waste
				  audit shall identify how many pounds of medical waste the medical facility, as
				  a whole, generated during the previous 12 months.
(4) MEDICAL WASTE GENERATION RATE. The waste
				  audit shall identify the rate at which the medical facility generated medical
				  waste during the 12 months covered by the audit. The waste generation rate
				  shall be calculated according to the appropriate formula in s.
				  NR
				  526.21(1).
(5) WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES. The waste
				  audit shall identify how medical waste is collected, stored, transported and
				  treated from the point of generation to the point of final disposal, including
				  any medical waste discharged to a publicly-owned wastewater treatment system.
				  The audit shall identify how non-infectious waste is prevented from being mixed
				  with infectious waste. The audit shall include any waste types that are
				  currently mixed with or may be mixed with infectious waste. The audit may also
				  identify waste management practices for waste types that are not mixed with
				  medical waste.