What is the Medical Waste Tracking Act (MWTA)?
After medical wastes were found among other wastes washing up on several East Coast beaches, concern over the potential health hazards prompted Congress to enact the Medical Waste Tracking Act (MWTA) in 1988. The Act required EPA to create a two-year Medical Waste Demonstration Program. For the purposes of this two-year program the MWTA: • Defined medical waste and those wastes to be regulated; • Established a cradle to grave tracking system utilizing a generator initiated tracking form; • Required management standards for segregation, packaging, labeling and marking, and storage of the waste; and • Established record keeping requirements and penalties that could be imposed for mismanagement.
