NWRA endorses legislation to combat opioid crisis

The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), Arlington, Virginia, sent a letter May 11, 2018, in support of H.R. 5628, the “Access to Increased Drug Disposal Act of 2018,” to bill sponsor Rep. David McKinley (R-West Virginia) as well as cosponsors, Reps. David Cicilline (D-Rhode Island), Tom Marino (R-Pennsylvania) and Paul Tonko (D-New York).

H.R. 5628 would provide funding to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to make grants to the states to help collect and destroy drugs in an effort to combat the growing opioid crisis. In the letter, NWRA President and CEO Darrell Smith thanked the bill sponsors on behalf of the NWRA and committed the association to assisting in passing the bill and helping facilitate its implementation if approved.

“We thank Congressman McKinley for his leadership on H.R. 5628 and Congressmen Cicilline, Marino and Tonko for cosponsoring this important bipartisan legislation,” Smith says. “Through our special industry group, the Healthcare Waste Institute (HWI), NWRA works to facilitate responsible healthcare waste management practices from all types of generators and to be the resource for technical and regulatory assistance. We stand ready to do whatever we can to assist them in battling this epidemic.”

A copy of the full letter is available online.