The Healthcare Waste Institute (HWI) of the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) represents suppliers and service providers in the healthcare waste industry both in Virginia and on a national basis. We offer the follow with respect to the NOIRA on Virginia's regulated medical waste (RMW) regulations:

1. Regulations governing RMW are necessary to protect the public health, safety and welfare. Appropriate management of RMW ensures that it does not create a public health risk.
2. Should Virginia adopt regulations with reasonable changes, these regulations could  benefit small businesses such as smaller healthcare facilities by providing potential costs savings and reducing compliance risk.
3. The current regulations are outdated, confusing and conflict with other regulations.

Therefore, we support making updates to the rule to make them more clear and easier to understand. Further, we would be interested in participating in the rulemaking process.