2001 SESSION

01-2222

06/10

HOUSE BILL 1214

COMMITTEE: Environment and Agriculture

ANALYSIS

This bill bans the construction of new medical waste incinerators. It also bans the operation of existing medical waste incinerators after 2010.

This bill requires any facility generating medical waste to reduce the polyvinyl chloride content of such waste by 75 percent by 2006 and any facility that begins to generate medical waste to limit the polyvinyl chloride content of such waste to 2 percent.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

01-2222

06/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand One

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 New Paragraphs; Dioxin Emissions Reduction; Definitions. Amend RSA 125-N:2 by inserting after paragraph V the following new paragraphs:

VI. "Medical waste" means medical, hospital, or infectious waste.

VII. "PVC" means polyvinyl chloride.

2 New Subdivision; Medical Waste Incinerators and PVC. Amend RSA 125-N by inserting after section 5 the following new subdivision:

Medical Waste Incinerators; PVC Reduction

125-N:6 The construction of new or modified incinerators or combusters for the disposal of medical, hospital, or infectious waste is prohibited.

125-N:7 The operation of any existing incinerator or waste combuster for the disposal of medical, hospital, or infectious waste shall be prohibited, effective January 1, 2011.

125-N:8 PVC Content; Reduction Required.

I. Any facility in New Hampshire generating medical waste that is ultimately disposed of by combustion in a hospital, medical, or infectious waste incinerator or other waste combuster shall reduce PVC-containing materials in its medical waste by 75 percent of its average level for the year 2003. It shall achieve such reduction by January 1, 2006.

II. Prior to July 1, 2004, each facility subject to paragraph I shall submit a plan to the department for achieving compliance with this section by January 1, 2006.

125-N:9 New Facilities; Percentage of PVC Waste. Any facility in New Hampshire that begins to generate medical waste that is ultimately disposed of by combustion in a hospital, medical, or infectious waste incinerator or other waste combuster shall have PVC containing materials in its medical waste in an amount not to exceed 2 percent of the total by weight, or 40 pounds per ton.

125-N:10 Duties of the Department of Environmental Services. The department may grant an exemption with modifications or conditions for a product or category of products if:

I. The PVC-containing waste is directly disposed of at an approved landfill;

II. The use of PVC in the product is required under federal law; or

III. It finds all of the following criteria are met:

(a) There is no technically feasible alternative to the use of PVC in the product;

(b) There is no comparable non-PVC product available at reasonable cost; and

(c) Use of the product is beneficial to the environment, protective of public health, or protective of public safety.

3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2003.