Med Waste Incinerators|Get Higher Standards

WASHINGTON (CN) - The Environmental Protection Agency has changed the minimum stringency or "floor" of its emissions standards for medical waste incinerators. The EPA made the revisions in response to a U.S. Court of Appeals remand requiring more explanation, additional rulings, and public comments.

The calculation of the new minimum stringency takes into account the ability to separate the waste to make the emissions less toxic, combustion conditions, and a different statistical approach that accounts for variability. The EPA expects most incinerator sites to be able to meet the revised limits using emission control technology already available to the industry, according to the rule.

The standards are designed to reduce emissions that include particulate matter, lead, cadmium, mercury, chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/dibenzofurans; carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen chloride and sulfur dioxide.

The lawsuit was filed in 1997, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

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