Stericycle has agreed to pay a $9.5 million civil penalty for “systemic, nationwide violations” of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The violations are related to issues at the company’s former hazardous waste management business between 2014 and 2020, according to the U.S. EPA and Department of Justice.
Between May 5, 2014, and April 6, 2020, the EPA and DOJ said Stericycle “routinely lost track of hazardous waste while transporting it, sent hazardous waste to disposal facilities that were not the ones its customers had chosen, or delivered hazardous waste shipments without the required manifests.”
Stericycle operated a nationwide hazardous waste transportation, storage, treatment and disposal business until it sold that segment to Harsco, now known as Enviri, on April 6, 2020. According to the settlement, Stericycle previously operated 13 RCRA-permitted hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities and 44 waste transfer facilities.
The agencies announced the settlement agreement with Stericycle on Friday. The proposed settlement, subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, is expected to be one of the largest civil penalties ever paid for RCRA violations, the EPA said.
“While we no longer own this business or provide the services in question, we take environmental health, safety, and compliance seriously,” a Stericycle spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Resolving this matter allows us to focus on our commitment to environmental stewardship and operational integrity in all aspects of our current and ongoing business operations.”
According to the settlement, Stericycle failed to accurately resolve and report discrepancies between hazardous waste identified on a shipping manifest and the hazardous waste it received for disposal, and it didn’t return required manifests and other paperwork in a timely manner to the EPA.
Such manifests help keep track of the kind of waste being shipped, who generated the waste, and any hazards the materials could pose. The EPA requires that information to be logged on its e-Manifest system to “ensure that our nation’s hazardous waste data is transparent, easily accessible, and publicly available,” the agency said.
Stericycle also violated RCRA for the unauthorized storage of hazardous waste in transfer facilities, either storing the materials past the 10 days permitted by RCRA regulations or exceeding the overall required transportation times for the hazardous waste shipment, according to the settlement.
“We hold Stericycle responsible for flouting hazardous waste management requirements while operating a nationwide hazardous waste business and risking significant potential harm to human health and the environment,” said Attorney for the United States Matthew Podolsky of the Southern District of New York in a statement. “This penalty should put other waste management firms on notice that we will hold them accountable when they shirk their legal responsibilities and put the public and environment in harm’s way.”
WM acquired Stericycle in November. Stericycle, which is still operating under its own name, did not comment on whether WM would be involved in payment details or next steps related to the settlement agreement.
