You can keep digital records as long as you can provide hard copies upon request. We do, however, highly recommend you keep a hard copy of the following items in the event of an emergency:
- Written contingency plans.
- Quick reference guides.
Uniform hazardous waste manifests provide a record of your waste shipments and proof that your dangerous waste reached its designated facility. The designated facility must send you a signed copy of your manifest (in Item 20 of the form) documenting they received the waste.
If you don’t get the final signed copy of your manifest within the timeframes listed below, take these steps:
- Within 45 days: Contact your transporter or designated facility for the status of the dangerous waste shipment.
- Within 60 days: Submit an exception report to Ecology.
Track your dangerous waste shipments to ensure you receive all signed copies of your manifests within the required deadlines. Keep all your manifests on-site for at least five years from the date the initial transporter accepted the waste.
What’s an exception report?
If a signed manifest is not received, medium and large quantity generators must submit the following documents (which make up your exception report):
- A copy of the manifest (sometimes called the transporter copy).
- A cover letter explaining the efforts you made to determine what happened to your shipment and the results of those efforts.
Where to send exception reports
Submit exception reports via mail or email to your:
After December 1, 2025:
- Facilities must submit electronic exception, discrepancy, and unmanifested waste reports to the e-Manifest module in RCRAInfo.
- We will no longer accept mailed paper or e-mailed exception, discrepancy, and unmanifested waste reports.
- Medium and large quantity generators will NOT BE REQUIRED to submit handwritten signatures as noted in Generator reporting (WAC 173-303-220(2)(a),(b), and (e)).
These changes are due to the Federal e-Manifest Third Rule. Ecology and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently require different timeframes for the initial search for an unsubmitted manifest and for manifest exception and discrepancy reports. Because of this, we issued the Interim Compliance Assistance Policy for Manifest Exception and Discrepancy Reports which aligns our state requirements with federal requirements.