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Stericycle Agrees to Pay $9.5 Million Civil Penalty for RCRA Violations
Read Time: 2 minsOn January 17, 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a $9.5 million settlement with Stericycle, Inc. for Hazardous Waste Management Violations. The settlement resolves allegations that the company violated federal hazardous waste management regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The $9.5 million civil penalty is one of the largest ever paid under the RCRA.
This settlement resolves Stericycle’s failures to properly manage hazardous waste, accurately maintain required manifest records when transporting hazardous waste, and timely submit information for thousands of manifests to EPA’s electronic manifest database.
The complaint states:
- While transporting shipments of hazardous wastes, Stericycle failed to deliver the entire quantity of hazardous waste to the designated facility on the shipment manifests numerous times. 40 C.F.R. § 263.21(a).
- Stericycle improperly directed hazardous wastes to an alternate facility other than the facility properly designated on the wastes’ manifests on multiple occasions. 40 C.F.R. § 263.21.
- Stericycle repeatedly stored hazardous waste at transfer facilities for more than 10 days and/or outside the normal course of transportation without an RCRA permit. 42 U.S.C. § 6925(a) and 40 C.F.R. § 270.1(b).
- Stericycle repeatedly failed to ensure that the required hazardous waste manifests accompanied the hazardous waste it accepted for transportation. 40 C.F.R. § 263.20(c).
- Stericycle, on numerous occasions, failed to properly resolve and report discrepancies between the hazardous waste identified on a manifest and the hazardous waste its facilities received for disposal. 40 C.F.R. § 264.72(c).
- Stericycle failed to return final signed copies of manifests for hazardous waste shipments it handled to its customers, the generators of that waste, in time for numerous manifests. 40 C.F.R. § 264.71(a)(2)(iv).
- Stericycle failed to timely submit its hazardous waste manifests to EPA’s electronic manifest reporting system for thousands of manifests (e-Manifest). 40 C.F.R. § 264.71(a)(2)(v).
Stericycle has agreed to settle a lawsuit alleging systemic violations of the RCRA between May 2014 and April 2020. The lawsuit, filed and settled concurrently, accused the company of failing to comply with hazardous waste management regulations during this period.
United States Attorney Matthew Podolsky highlighted the importance of this settlement, stating: “Today’s action holds Stericycle accountable for disregarding hazardous waste management requirements while operating a nationwide business, thereby posing a significant risk to human health and the environment.” He emphasized that this penalty serves as a strong deterrent to other companies operating in the hazardous waste industry.
Despite divesting its hazardous waste business in April 2020, Stericycle admitted responsibility for the violations that occurred prior to the sale. The company acknowledged multiple instances of non-compliance with RCRA regulations, including issues related to the transportation and proper documentation of hazardous waste.
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