On September 03, 2024, EPA Region III filed an Expedited Settlement Agreement and Final Order, simultaneously commencing and concluding an administrative action proceeding against Affinity Research Chemicals, Inc. ( Affinity ) located at 406 Meco Drive, Wilmington, Delaware ( Facility ) for violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ( RCRA ) and the authorized State of Delaware Hazardous Waste Management Program discovered during EPA's compliance evaluation inspection of the Facility on February 7, 2024. RCRA gives EPA the authority to control hazardous waste from the cradle-to-grave . This includes the generation, transportation, treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous waste. To that end, EPA develops regulations, guidance and policies that ensure the safe management and cleanup of solid and hazardous waste, and programs that encourage source reduction and beneficial reuse. Affinity synthesizes specific molecules for research at pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Hazardous waste is generated through its molecule synthesizing laboratory processes. The violations in the settlement include operation without a hazardous waste permit, storing hazardous waste more than 270 days, failure to have a satellite accumulation area at the point of generation, failure to label a container with hazardous waste, and failure to maintain documentation of weekly inspections of the hazardous waste accumulation area. Region 3 notified DNREC, which had no objections to t