COUNTYWIDE : Medical Waste Fee to Be Considered

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider making medical facilities pay for a program that regulates the disposal of medical waste.

The new fee, which would take effect in November and raise about $97,000 annually, would pay for program costs, including the salary of an environmental health specialist to direct the program.

The 1,500 facilities that generate medical waste in the county will pay an annual rate ranging from $60 to $1,400, depending on the amount and type of waste each facility generates.

The program, which would regulate the annual disposal of up to 2.5 million pounds of medical waste, was created in response to a new state law that requires all medical facilities, no matter how small, to treat hazardous waste before throwing it away.

State law previously required only businesses that generate more than 200 pounds of medical waste a month, such as hospitals, to treat medical waste before disposing of it.

The law also gave counties the option of enforcing the law or turning the responsibility over to the state. The Board of Supervisors voted in May to regulate the disposal of the county’s medical waste.