Disposal of biomedical waste is regulated by two agencies in Florida.
Florida Department of Environmental Protection regulates medical waste incinerators and final disposal of treated medical wastes.
Florida Department of Health regulates treatment methods, other than incineration, and commercial facilities that produce, transport, or store biomedical waste under the authority of Chapter 64E-16 of the Florida Administrative Code.
This program is administered by area biomedical waste coordinators located at county health departments. Orange, Seminole, Osceola, and Brevard county health departments have their own coordinator.
A generator is any facility or person who produces biomedical waste as described in Chapter 64E-16, F.A.C.
All commercial facilities that produce sharps or other biomedical waste are required to obtain an annual permit from the county health department of jurisdiction.
After 12 months of operation, any facility that has produced less than 25 pounds of biomedical waste each month may apply for exemption from the permit fee at the next permit renewal period.
All facilities must have a Biomedical Waste Plan and provide documentation of annual training in the biomedical waste rule and your plan. Records of disposal must be kept for three years and be available for review during inspection.
The Florida Department of Health regulates treatment methods, other than incineration, and commercial facilities that produce, transport, or store biomedical waste under Chapter 64E-16, F.A.C.
All facilities that transport and/or store or collect biomedical waste, other than what they produce themselves, must obtain an annual storage permit. Permits for onsite storage facilities are issued by the county health department having jurisdiction for the area where storage facility is located.
Transporters, who hold biomedical waste on their truck no more than 72 hours, are exempt from storage permit.
The Florida Department of Health regulates transporters of biomedical waste under the authority of Chapter 64E-16, F.A.C.
Anyone, who transports as much as 25 pounds of biomedical waste at one time over a public roadway, must have a transporter registration from the Florida Department of Health.
Transporters are inspected annually and permits are issued by the area biomedical waste coordinators . Transporters must obtain a permit from each county where they have a truck depot.
The Florida Department of Health regulates treatment methods, other than incineration, and commercial facilities that produce, transport, or store biomedical waste under the authority of Chapter 64E-16, F.A.C.