41-26_OzoneWasteSolution_comments_permitApplication_FID 1318937_20190409

From:Chao, Ming-tai
To:"[e-mail]"
Cc:"[e-mail]"; Stanley, Sherri; Kirchner, Chuck; Patrone, John
Subject:Comments on the permit renewal application, Ozone Waste Solution, 41-26
Date:Tuesday, April 09, 2019 11:56:00 AM
Attachments:signature pages_application.pdfMedicalWasteRulesDraftRMWRuleSet120180420_DPH.pdf
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Dear Ms. Gambardella: FID 1318937 Pursuant to NCGS 150B-21.3A, the Division of Waste Management, Solid Waste Section (SWS)is in the processes to readapt the current rules managing medical wastes (15A NCAC 13B .1200Rules). The new rule is expected to be effective in 2020 and the existing permitted facilitymanages medical waste treatment, transfer, and/or storage must be in compliance with new ruleswithin 90 days from the rule effective date. The draft rule is attached to this e-mail message foryour reference. Since the readapted rules may have effect on your facility daily wasteoperations/activities, Ozone Waste Solutions (OWS) should decide if the revision of theOperations Plan (Plan) in the next 5-year permit cycle based on the draft rules is necessary toavoid any potential interruption to the routine operations at your facility. That being said, OWS must comply and follow the existing Medical Waste Rule - 15A NCAC13B .1200 Rules till the new rule is effective. Below are comments on the received permitrenewal application, please properly respond the comments or provide essential information tothe revised Operations Plan (Plan)/Permit Application. 1. The March 2019 cover letter states that OWS is continuing to operate as a medical wastetransfer station which is consistent with the Facility Compliance Inspection Report datedFebruary 26, 2018. Therefore, please add the operation requirements to the Plan according toRule 15A NCAC 13B. 1205. Additionally, the contact info of the by-pass transporter anddesignated facility, which will manage, process, treat, and/or dispose of untreated wastes. Forexample, in January 2018, OWS contracted to Secure Waste Inc, in Damascus of Maryland asthe by-pass transporter to ship untreated medical waste to Curtis Bay Energy, in Baltimore ofMaryland. 2. The Facility Compliance Inspection Report dated February 26, 2018 states that non-treatedmedical wastes waiting for transfer was stored in a refrigerated box truck. OWS is thereforeconducting waste storage operations at this permitted treatment facility; please add thefollowing operation requirements:i. The requirements for operating a medical waste storage to the Plan according to Rule 15ANCAC 13B. 1206.ii. Types and maximum amounts of regulated and non-regulated medical waste to betemporarily stored at the facility. iii. The storage location(s) and/or transfer vehicle staging areas must be shown on the facilityplan drawing in Section 2 of the Permit Application.iv. Will the by-pass wastes inside the vehicle be temporarily stored at this facility? 3. Several section titles listed in Table of Contents (TOC) do not match those in the applicationdocument. Please provide a correct TOC.
4. (Section 1, Item 4) The property owner info is incorrect. On September 30, 2014, OWSinformed the SWS that the property/facility that is leased to OWS for the permitted wasteoperations/activities had a new ownership – Lingerfelt Commonwealth Greensboro Sub,LLC. Please provide the correct property own contact info in Section 1. 5. (Section 2) Please provide the update info.i. The copy of the property deed from Guilford County Register of Deeds which containsthe new property owner should be added to Section 2. ii. Provide a copy of the lease agreement. It is imperative that OWS must hold the term ofthe property lease agreement longer than the new permit expiration date of March 25,2024. If the current lease agreement expires before the permit expiration date, OWSshall secure a new lease agreement with a term beyond or ending on the permit expirationdate; otherwise, the new permit will expire at the lease expiration date. 6. (Section 3, Items 13) Does this facility accept non-hazardous waste pharmaceutical fortreatment, transfer or storage? Non-hazardous waste pharmaceutical is a pharmaceutical thatis a solid waste, as defined in 40 CFR part 261.2, but is not listed in 40 CFR part 261 subpartD, and does not exhibit a characteristic identified in 40 CFR prat 261 subpart C. 7. (Section 3, Items 13) if the facility accepts non-hazardous waste pharmaceutical for treatmentby an ozonator, please list the wastes that can be treated at this facility, and all supportingdocuments from academia, manufacturer, and/or waste industries shall be appended to thePermit Application. 8. (Section 3, Items 13 & 24) To ensure the facility can only accept the permitted regulatedmedical wastes, the Plan should describe the wastes screening processes (includingfrequency) and the training credential of the personnel to conduct this task. i. At a minimum, waste screening should be conducted at the following check points:
· The transporter loads up wastes from a waste generator/waste generating facility.
· After unloading the waste to the tipping floor/floor scale area from a transporting
vehicle. (Reviewing the manifest of the waste type from the transporter is a start butshall not be end there.)
· The frequency of conducting a waste screening at each check point. e.g. every load
per shipment.ii. The facility can only accept/receive the regulated medical wastes meet the requirementsfor packing/bagging, labeling, marking per Rules 15A NCAC 13B .1202(c) & (d) and.1204(a) and recordation requirement per Rule 15A NCAC 13B .1204(b).iii. The Contingency Plan (in Item 24) should describe the approaches to manage (handlingand disposal) unpermitted or conformance wastes (such as hazardous waste or RCRA orDOT regulated wastes) inadvertently accepted at the facility. If the unpermitted ornonconformance wastes arrived and received at the facility, OWS shall issue a writtenrecord notifying the generating facility that a package of medical waste received that isnot in compliance with the treatment method utilized - Ozonation. A copy of the recordshall be maintained at the OWS facility. 9. (Section 3, Item 13) According to Item 13, the Ozonator NG-3000 can optimally treatmedical waste containing fraction of liquid up to 20% by weight without adding anyabsorbent or pretreatment of raw wastes. The Plan needs to provide the following info:i. The procedures (screening measures) to identify or determine if the received wastesrequires a pre-treatment.
ii. Where the pretreatment is conducted – outside or inside the Ozonator. If outside theOzonator, are there any spill presentation measures and safety protocols be implemented?10. (Section 3, Item 16) After treatment, regulated medical waste shall not become putrescent, anuisance, and infectious. Putrescent treated regulated medical waste shall be disposed ofwithin three calendar days. Please add the requirements to the Item 16. 11. (Section 3, Item 17)i. This “Process Control” should describe the function of the “distributed control system(DCS)” for Ozonator NG-3000. The emergency shutdown control should be described aspart of contingency procedures.ii. Should the Ozonator have two chambers? The secondary chamber is a built-incontainment to prevent ozone leakage from the primary/operating chamber if a disasteroccurs. Please describe the containment system to Item 17.iii. The Plan should describe routine (weekly and monthly) inspection and maintenance of theozonator and the persons’ training requirements to conduct the tasks as stated in themanufacturer’s specifications. The copy of the manufacturer’s Operations andMaintenance Manual for the Ozonator NG-3000 should be placed in the facility and maybe appended to the Plan.iv. For confirmation/verification of the processing efficacy, the stated testing protocols(periodically and monthly) are different from the manufacturer’s specifications (daily andmonthly). Please explain why the deviations are acceptable. Additionally, the third-partyverification test is conducted periodically at OWS facility. Please specify the testfrequency, said every six-month period.v. The Facility Compliance Inspection Report dated February 26, 2018 states the ozonator isnot operational since May 2016. Please describe the reactivating procedures (including awritten notification to inform the SWS of the planned activities, at least 14 days prior toreactivating the waste treatment unit) and the requirements for confirmation / verificationof the processing efficacy of the upgraded ozonator. 12. (Section 3, Item 21) This section should describe the procedures to manage (includinghandling, temporarily storing, record-keeping) the received waste that can’t be treated byOzonator (or by-pass, if it staged in the vehicle inside the facility) medical wastes at thefacility. 13. (Section 3, Item 27) Please add the following requirement to the Item 27. The exterior ofregulated medical waste storage and transport containers, compactors, trailers, and cargo baysshall be free of solid waste and solid waste residue at the conclusion of each working day. 14. (Section 3, Item 30) Should a fire occurs at the facility, OWS should report the incidence tothe SWS within 24 hours and a written notification shall be submitted within 15 days. TheSWS has a standardized report form, OWS can download the form from the weblink belowand it can be appended to the Plan as needed. The link is at https://files.nc.gov/ncdeq/Waste%20Management/DWM/SW/Forms/FireOccurrenceReport.pdf 15. (Section 3, Item 31) The following record keeping requirements must add to the Item 31.
· A copy of the operations plan shall be kept at the facility and shall be available for review
by the SWS during facility inspections or upon request by the SWS. If the information inthe Operations Plan changes, the facility shall submit a revised operations plan to theSWS for a review and approval prior to activating the revised operations and update thecopies of the plan kept in the facility record.
· OWS shall maintain a record of the disposal facility’s contact information including the
facility name, permit number, physical location and mailing address, and contact nameand phone number.
· The treatment facility shall maintain operating records and monitoring, testing, and
maintenance records for a period of three years.
· The facility shall submit an annual report to the SWS in accordance with G.S. 130A-
309.09D(b).
· Required records stated in Comment No. 2 (the storage amount in tonnage of the treated
& untreated wastes) per week Comments No. 8.iii (notification of a generator of receivingnon-conformance or hazardous wastes), No. 18 (the site closure or termination of apermitted activity) and others required by RCRA or DOT. 16. (Section 3, Item 32) A contingency plan (for the facility) detailsi. Procedure(s) shall be used to prevent medical waste from becoming a nuisance orputrescent, andii. Procedure(s) for abatement if medical waste becomes a nuisance or putrescent. iii. The spillage control measures for waste or liquid waste leak at the facility includingtreatment area, load-off area, waste-loaded vehicle staging area, and storage areas.iv. Identifying risks and describing how the facility will respond to incidents or emergencies,and how regulated medical waste will be handled or redirected when facilities or transportvehicles are unavailable due to maintenance, adverse weather, or other emergencies. 17. (Section 5)i. The section describes that two (2) loads will be processed and treated per day, and Section3, item 14 states that approximately 20 tons of medical waste will be treated. Will it becorrectly to report that a load equals 10 tons for the FA calculation? Please clarify.ii. The approved financial assurance (FA) was $19,392 in 2014-dollar value. Since the on-site waste loads are remained four loads without and all other waste handling & disposalmethods do not changed from last permit cycle. The new FA, after inflation adjustmentshould be $20,480 in dollar value. The calculations show below:FY Inflation factor (IF)FA (Yr - dollar value)
2014 -$ 19,392
2015 1.014 $ 19,663
2016 1.010 $ 19,860
2017 1.013 $ 20,11820181.018 $ 20,480Please note that the FA shall be adjusted to 2019-dollar value, but the federalgovernment fails to provide 2019IF at this moment. If 2019IF is not available at the timethe new permit is issued, the SWS reserves the statuary right and will request OWS toprovide the update FA in the FY 2019-2020. iii. The facility is also operating as a waste transfer station and a temporarily waste storageunit. The FA must include the costs for properly disposed of the permitted amount ofnon-treated/by-pass wastes stored and consequently transported to an off-site facility perweek. This is additional FA and shall be separated from the FA for wastes that can betreated/processed at the facility. 18. When OWS ceases the operations of treatment, transfer, or storage, OWS shall submit to theSWS a record which shall include the following information within 14 calendar days afterreceiving the last waste load for treatment. The records are:a. A signed statement that treatment, transfer, or storage operations have ceased, and allmedical waste has been removed.
b. Digital pictures of the area(s) that was (were) utilized for the treatment, transfer, orstorage operations taken after operations have ceased and all medical waste have beenremoved.c. Additional information, may be requested by the SWS as needed, pertaining to thetreatment, transfer, or storage operations if it is necessary to determine compliance withthe rules effective at that time.d. Before the SWS make the permit decision of the site closure, if any of the informationassociated with the site closure is changed, OWS shall submit an updated record to theSWS within 14 calendar days.e. After the SWS make the permit decision of the site closure, OWS can apply for a newpermit for operating a medical waste treatment facility according to the law and ruleeffective at that time. A permit fee may be required.Please add the requirements to the Permit Application. 19. (Section 6 & Appendix 1) The described forms are not included in the application. Theattached forms of Certification of Land Owner (Lingerfelt Commonwealth Greensboro Sub,LLC) and Application Signature (see attached page) should be properly completed, signedand notarized as indicated on the form. 20. (Section 7) Provide a schematic diagram to show the waste treatment/process by the Ozonatorinside the facility. 21. (Section 7) Please add the requested items below to the facility floor plan on Page 7 of thepermit application. Entrance of the building/facility including personnel, raw waste entrancegate (waste into the building), egress of the treated waste, tipping area/floor scale, wasteholding area, waste screening area, area to loading waste into hopper of a Ozonator, treatmentwaste inside the sealed disposed tank and the area to store. Please contact myself if you have any question or request for further clarification of the above-mentioned comments. Thank you and have a wonderful day.