The U.S. EPA and DOJ said Stericycle lost track of hazardous waste shipments or failed to document them for years, until the business unit was sold in 2020.

Stericycle has agreed to pay a $9.5 million civil penalty for “systemic, nationwide violations” of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The violations are related to issues at the company’s former hazardous waste management business between 2014 and 2020, according to the U.S. EPA and Department of Justice.

Between May 5, 2014, and April 6, 2020, the EPA and DOJ said Stericycle “routinely lost track of hazardous waste while transporting it, sent hazardous waste to disposal facilities that were not the ones its customers had chosen, or delivered hazardous waste shipments without the required manifests.”

Stericycle operated a nationwide hazardous waste transportation, storage, treatment and disposal business until it sold that segment to Harsco, now known as Enviri, on April 6, 2020. According to the settlement, Stericycle previously operated 13 RCRA-permitted hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities and 44 waste transfer facilities.

The agencies announced the settlement agreement with Stericycle on Friday. The proposed settlement, subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, is expected to be one of the largest civil penalties ever paid for RCRA violations, the EPA said.

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