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IVCVSHealth <br />Michelle Henry <br />October 8, 2019 <br />Page 2 <br />Empty Warfarin Containers <br />Based on EPA's November 2011 guidance and our experience in other states, CVS' s <br />practice has been to count only the weight of the residue contained in empty containers that <br />previously held warfarin -family pharmaceuticals, and not the weight of the containers <br />themselves, toward the generator status calculations for CVS stores. In support of this practice, <br />and in order to determine a reasonable estimate of the weight of the residue that may be found in <br />containers generated at CVS's retail pharmacies, CVS conducted analytical testing on a <br />representative sample of empty warfarin containers in March 2012. This testing involved both <br />name brand and generic warfarin stock bottles, and it tested the largest stock bottles with the <br />highest prescription strength warfarin found in a CVS retail pharmacy. The analytical results are <br />attached for your review. You'll note that, after excluding any statistical outliers, the highest total <br />residue weight in the containers tested was 19.8 mg (or 0.0000436 tbs). Using that value to <br />determine a reasonable "not to exceed" number, CVS adopted a very conservative generation <br />estimate of 1004 empty containers, and concluded that so long as no more than 1,000 empty <br />warfarin containers are accumulated by a retail pharmacy at any one time, the collective weight <br />of the residue in empty warfarin containers requiring disposal would not exceed 0.0436 lbs. <br />Based on the above analysis, CVS includes clarifying language in Box 14 of hazardous <br />waste manifests used for transportation and disposal of containers that previously held p -listed <br />pharmaceuticals (i.e., empty warfarin containers). The clarifying language is as follows: <br />"Residue weight does not exceed 4.4436 tbs." Because only whole numbers can be reported in <br />Box 11 of hazardous waste manifests, in practice "1 lb." is reported when empty warfarin <br />containers are shipped from CVS's retail locations. However, only 0.0436 lbs. of the 1 lb. listed <br />on the manifest is counted toward the store's generator status. <br />During our recent meeting, you had questions pertaining to manifest #0 1 0867666FLE, <br />for a shipment of hazardous waste from Store # 9830 on June 12, 2018. Your question focused <br />on the waste profile for warfarin residue, for which the manifest showed a bottle count of 77 <br />bottles shipped. Box 29 (manifest page 2) showed a net ship weight of 1 pound of residue, and <br />consistent with the process described above, Box 14 noted that the residue weight does not <br />exceed 0.0436 tbs (since there were <1,000 bottles shipped). <br />You also asked about the data CVS previously provided to San Joaquin County regarding <br />CVS Target locations. As discussed, even if CVS counted the total weight of the bottles, the <br />shipments would typically never exceed 2.2 pounds total for the warfarin residue profile. This <br />information is included in the table below, which was discussed during our recent meeting. <br />Upon request from Mr. Irey, we have since added the Store #9830 information and "Calculated <br />Weight of Residue" column based on the 2012 testing described above. For reference, below we <br />also include notes regarding the meaning of the various columns. <br />■ The "Gross Container/Box Weight" is collected by the technician at the time of each <br />pickup and is entered into the vendor's system manually. <br />■ The "Tare Weight" is the estimated average weight of the prescribed boxes used to <br />transport each shipment of warfarin residue bottles. <br />CVS pharmacy j Caremark / minute clinic / specialty <br />40294225vl <br />