Tracking Plan Begins for Medical Wastes

WASHINGTON — Medical waste in five states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico must be tracked from its point of origin to its final disposal site under federal regulations that took effect Thursday.

The Environmental Protection Agency is implementing and enforcing a law enacted last year after medical waste, including needles and blood vials, washed up on Eastern beaches. A two-year pilot program of recording such waste from its creation to its final disposition is now required in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Louisiana, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.