California waste code 311 Medicines & drugs thrown away, unlike lab chemicals.

Free, no account
Based on California Title 22 and DTSC guidance
Nothing is stored

Organics
Discarded pharmaceuticals

The hazardous material is a medicine or pharmaceutical preparation, not general laboratory chemical waste.

Discarded pharmaceuticals, meaning hazardous medicine or drug preparations. General laboratory chemical waste takes other codes.

Is California code 311 hazardous waste?

Not from the code alone. Waste must first be found hazardous. Code 311 isn't a restricted code, but a restricted category that fits takes priority over it. A code that isn't restricted doesn't make waste non-hazardous.

When a shipment needs the Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest, enter 311 in Item 13 for the waste line. Use one California code, plus the federal RCRA codes when the waste is federally hazardous.

RCRA waste meets a federal listing or characteristic, with no federal exclusion that applies. Non-RCRA waste is hazardous under California rules only. California presumes hazardous waste is RCRA unless the generator shows it isn't, so keep that determination.

What does California code 311 cover?

This code is for a discarded medicine or pharmaceutical preparation that has separately been found hazardous. Chemicals don't fall into it just because a laboratory, clinic or pharmacy threw them away.

Official wording: 22 CCR division 4.5, chapter 11, Appendix XII(b)

Is pharmaceutical waste California code 311, 331 or 551?

Code	When it fits
311	The discarded material is an identified medicine or pharmaceutical preparation and is hazardous waste.
331	The hazardous organic medicine became waste before use because it was off-specification, aged or surplus.
551	A laboratory discarded hazardous chemicals that are not medicines or pharmaceutical preparations.
No California hazardous waste code	The pharmaceutical has no applicable hazardous listing or characteristic.

Product identity points to 311, but location doesn't. An organic medicine that is off-specification, aged or surplus may also fit 331, and the regulations don't say which wins.

Which wastes take California code 311?

Waste	When it’s 311
Pharmaceutical waste	The discarded material is a medicine governed by hazardous waste requirements

Which codes sit beside California code 311?

Code	What it is
261	PCB-containing material
271	Unreacted resin and monomers
272	Polymeric resin waste
281	Discarded adhesive
291	Discarded latex material
321	Hazardous sewage sludge
322	Other hazardous biological waste
341	Halogenated non-solvent organic liquid