(a) A licensed hospital may function as a medical waste collection and transfer facility and may accept untreated medical waste from generators that generate less than 50 pounds of untreated medical waste per month and that transport their own waste if:
  (1) the hospital is located in an incorporated area with a population of less than 25,000 and in a county with a population of less than one million; or
  (2) the hospital is located in an unincorporated area that is not within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a city with a population of more than 25,000 or within a county with a population of more than one million.
(b) The hospital shall provide written notification to the executive director of the operation as a medical waste collection station. The hospital's notice shall acknowledge the following:
  (1) Waste delivered to a medical waste collection station must be packaged in accordance with the provisions of §§326.17, 326.19, and 326.21 of this title (relating to Identification; Packaging; and Labeling Containers Excluding Sharps, respectively) by the generator.
  (2) For putrescible or biohazardous untreated medical waste, maintaining a temperature of 45 degrees Fahrenheit or less during pre-collection storage is optional. Such medical waste stored for longer than 72 hours during post-collection storage period shall be maintained at a temperature of 45 degrees Fahrenheit or less.
  (3) The storage of medical waste shall be in a secure manner and location that affords protection from theft, vandalism, inadvertent human or animal exposure, rain, water, and wind. The waste shall be managed so as not to create a nuisance.
  (4) Medical waste must be released only to a registered medical waste transporter. A list of the waste collected at the medical waste collection station including the identity of the generator of medical waste must be provided to the transporter.
  (5) Waste collected at a medical waste collection station may not be treated at the facility unless it is authorized as a treatment facility.

Source Note: The provisions of this §326.43 adopted to be effective May 26, 2016, 41 TexReg 3697