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ROGERS ,JOSEPH O'DONNELL www.rjo.com Elianna Florido, REHS San Joaquin County Environmental Health Dept. August 26, 2020 Page 3 error; management has reviewed proper procedures with employees with hazardous waste handling responsibilities and refreshed training for all responsible employees. Any failure to place potential waste in the appropriate container in accordance with Walgreens' policies was corrected at the time of inspection and any failure to attach and fully complete an appropriate waste container label has been corrected. 1. The item referenced was not damaged or expired and there was no violation of CCR 66262.34(4)(2). 108: Failed to Complete, Sign or Date Manifest; or Obtain Dated Signature of Transporter. Walgreens' environmental contractor manages hazardous and acute hazardous waste, prepares the manifest and transports the waste in accordance with the CA hazardous waste laws and federal D.O.T requirements. Walgreens' environmental contractor also assures that a copy of the manifest is delivered to DTSC and each manifest is available electronically at store level. Walgreens' environmental contractor properly handled and transported the empty warfarin containers, completed the manifest, and delivered the signed and dated manifest to DTSC, making a copy available electronically to the store. You have cited an August 2, 2018 letter from DTSC to the California Retailers Association repeating DTSC's conclusion in a December 24, 2015 letter stating that under California law, health care providers must manage warfarin containers emptied under normal conditions as hazardous waste and count the empty container toward generator status. Walgreens disagrees with DTSC's position taken in both its December 24, 2015 letter and its August 2, 2018 letter. There is nothing in those letters that explains why or on what legal or scientific basis the container itself must be weighed toward generator status. Although warfarin is listed as an acute waste, the miniscule amount of residue, if any, determined through testing, shows it would take millions of bottles to make 1 lb. of residue. What each DTSC letter does state is that California does not agree with U.S. EPA's approach in not managing these empty bottles as hazardous waste, and that"DTSC will review this issue again when U.S. EPA's rules for pharmaceutical wastes are promulgated." Those rules were promulgated long ago, and U.S. EPA was very clear,based on its own and other studies that there was no basis for managing empty warfarin containers as hazardous waste or counting their weight toward generator status. U.S. EPA's rule re "empty containers" states at 40 CFR 266.507(a): Stock, dispensing and unit-dose containers. A stock bottle, dispensing bottle, vial, or ampule (not to exceed 1 liter or 10,000 pills); or a unit-dose container(e.g., a unit-dose packet, cup, wrapper, blister pack, or delivery device) is considered empty and the residues are not regulated as 515893.1 A Professional Law Corporation