1. U.S. EPA e-Manifest Program
Presented By:
Bruce Riffel, Clean Harbors

2. U.S. EPA e-Manifest Program
May 2018

3. Agenda
e-Manifest Overview
e-Manifest Process
Concerns
Q & A Session

4. e-Manifest Overview
The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act, signed into law on October 5, 2012, authorizes EPA to implement a national electronic manifest system (e-Manifest).
The purpose of e-Manifest is to establish a national information technology (IT) system that enables the agency, hazardous waste industry users and states to transition to a more streamlined, efficient, and automated system to track and manage hazardous waste shipments.
e-Manifest will:
Serve as a centralized repository for both paper and electronic manifests
Allow hazardous waste handlers, states, and EPA to track off-site shipments of hazardous waste from the point of generation to disposition
Make the e-Manifest form and data available to users
Ease the administrative burden of submitting, correcting, and reporting manifest data
The EPA expects to launch the hazardous waste electronic manifest (e- Manifest) system June 30, 2018.

5. E-Manifest Conceptual Model

6. e-Manifest Process: Core System Functions
Electronic manifest creation
Electronic manifest transmission between generators, transporters, transfer facilities, TSDFs and eventually, the national system
User / Identity Management
Business-to-business work flow (e.g. secure handoffs along manifest chain-of-custody)
Electronic signature procedure that adheres to EPA requirements
Data access for states
QA/QC function and mechanism for data correction
Standard reports
Paper manifest processing
User fee collection (for both paper and electronic manifests)

7. e-Manifest Process: Congress Directive
Congress directed EPA to impose user fees necessary to pay EPA’s costs incurred in developing, operating, maintaining, and upgrading the system.
EPA found it easier to have 400 TSDFs remit fees rather than invoicing tens of thousands of generators directly.
EPA will assess fees to the TSDFs with the expectation that TSDFs will pass the charges through to generators.
The Fee Rule establishes four fees based on the way the manifest is provided to EPA. Proposed fees are:
Paper manifest submitted to EPA - $20.00/manifest
PDF image of the manifest submitted electronically - $13.00/manifest
Data file and PDF submitted together - $7.00/ manifest
Manifest created in EPA system or electronic manifest number obtained from EPA system for hybrid manifest usage - $4.00/manifest

8. e-Manifest Process: Additional Notes
E-manifest does NOT apply to exports (US shipping to Canadian Facilities).
State regulated waste required to ship on a manifest is subject to the fee.
Fees for Federal and State Hazardous Waste ONLY; Bill of Lading Shipments not charged applicable fees. Manifest with 100% Non-regulated material is NOT subject to a fee.
Reject to alternate facility manifest fee must be paid by the alternate facility.
Return to generator manifest fee must be paid by the initial destination facility.

9. e-Manifest Process: Paper Manifests
A new 5 page manifest will replace the current 6 page manifest on 6/30/18.
The biggest difference is the two copies for the TSDF to supply to the State of Generation and Destination State are being replaced by Copy for TSDF to submit to the EPA.
Generators can use the existing “wet” signature with no special validations or registrations.
Generators may still have to provide states copies of paper manifests but not e-Manifests.
Generators still need to comply with the 3 year document retention period for paper manifests.

10. e-Manifest Process: Fully Electronic Manifests
Manifest will be created on EPA’s website by Generator or Contractor
The destination TSDF will need to monitor EPA website and approve all submitted manifests.
All manifest data will have to be validated before approval because EPA site does not utilize industry standard validations.
Is the profile approved to the destination facility?
Is correct DOT description used?
Are proper RCRA and state waste codes applied?
Generator, Transporter and TSDF must log onto EPA website and retrieve this manifest to electronically sign.
Copy printed at the customer site for Transporter to meet DOT requirements.
TSDF will have to log onto EPA website to electronically “finalize” the manifest after receipt.

11. e-Manifest Process: Hybrid Manifests
The "hybrid" or mixed paper/electronic manifest is a specific manifest approach for generators who are not able to fully participate in electronic manifesting at the time of system launch.
The hybrid manifest allows transporters to initiate an electronic manifest in e-Manifest.
The initial transporter prints a one page copy of the electronic manifest for the generator, and the generator signs the paper copy, obtains the initial transporter's ink signature on this paper copy, and then retains this paper copy on-site as the generator's initial manifest copy.
Thereafter, the initial transporter and subsequent waste handlers will complete the remainder of the tracking of the shipment electronically in e-Manifest with electronic signatures and electronic transmissions to the system.
Hybrid manifests are charged the same fee as a fully electronic manifest.

12. Concerns
E-Signatures: Electronic signatures will be required to meet the EPA's Cross Media Electronic Reporting Rule (CROMERR) requirements.
All generators, transporters, hazardous waste receiving facilities will need to register and activate user accounts to create, sign, view, and correct manifests in the Central Data Exchange (CDX) system.
EPA estimates tens of thousands of registrations will be needed.
EPA’s Current User Registration Process for e-Manifest includes 16 steps in four key areas: (1) Central Data Exchange (CDX) Registration; (2) Site Permissions; (3) Government Processing; and (4) Identity Proofing.
In order to access e-Manifest, users have to register and request specific permissions. Permissions include: Site Manager, Viewer, Preparer and Certifier.

13. Concerns
Costs – The e-Manifest system creates new review and certification requirements for TSDFs that do not exist in the paper manifest process today. It is anticipated that these costs will be passed through to customers in addition to the fee per manifest imposed by the EPA.
System not fully developed – There are parts of the system that are not currently available.
Example: the system will eventually send notifications to users when a manifest is ready for signature. This feature has not yet been programmed so users will have to monitor the system to find out if they have any pending actions.
Limited time for companies to test new features and adapt their systems to interact with e-Manifest

14. Q & A Session
For more information on EPA’s e-Manifest Program:
Questions can be submitted to EPA at: