2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWELVE - Conservation (§§ 1-16 — 8162) › Subtitle 5 - Environment (§§ 1120 — 1436) › Chapter 127 - Solid Waste Authority (§§ 1301 — 1319) › § 1304 - Definitions

The following words or terms as used or referred to in this chapter shall have the meanings set forth hereinafter, unless the context clearly states otherwise:
(a) Authority.— Shall mean the Puerto Rico Solid Waste Authority established pursuant to § 1302 of this title, or, should said Authority be abolished, the public body or agency succeeding it in its principal functions, or in which the rights conferred by this chapter to the Authority are vested.
(b) Bonds.— Shall mean the bonds, provisional bonds, refunding bonds, obligations, notes, interim receipts or provisional bonds, certificates or other evidence of indebtedness issued under the provisions of this chapter.
(c) Compactor.— Shall mean a machine that reduces the volume of waste, usually forcing it into a container for its storage.
(d) Final disposal site.— Shall mean the site upon which structures, equipment, and other facilities are to be located, for the final disposal of solid waste through sanitary landfill, or any other authorized site for disposal.
(e) Food waste.— Shall mean organic or putrescible waste resulting from the handling, processing, storage, sale, preparation, cooking, serving, or consumption of food.
(f) Junk.— Shall mean every motor vehicle, as defined in Act No. 141 of July 20, 1960, a trailer, air or maritime carrier; industrial, commercial or household equipment, or part thereof, which is not working, constitutes, because of its useless condition, a solid waste.
(g) Municipality.— Shall mean any government subdivision created by the Legislature, in accordance with the authority vested in it by Article VI, § 1 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and pursuant to the provisions of Act No. 26 of March 28, 1914, as amended.
(h) Person.— Shall mean any natural or juridical private or public person or group of persons, including government agencies, instrumentalities, municipalities and quasi-public corporations.
(i) Recovered material.— Shall mean material in the recovery plants that is economically processable.
(j) Putrescible material.— Shall mean any matter that can be anaerobically decomposed by microorganisms with such rapidity as to become a nuisance due to odors, gases, etc.
(k) Sanitary landfill.— Shall mean a method for disposing of solid waste which consists of placing waste on land, spreading it in layers, compacting it to the smallest practical volume, and applying cover material daily, so as to minimize health and environmental hazards.
(l) Service.— Shall mean the solid waste collection services.
(m) Solid waste.— Shall mean any trash, garbage, residues, sludge or other discarded material including solid, or semi-solid materials, liquids or containers that contain gaseous materials generated by industry, trade, mining, agricultural operations or domestic activities. This definition includes:
—Matter that has been discarded, abandoned or disposed of.
—Discarded material, matter whose utility has expired or that is no longer useful unless processed or recovered.
(n) Solid waste collection service.— Shall mean any public or private activity for the collection and transportation of solid waste.
(o) Solid waste facility.— Shall mean any facility for the storing, processing and disposal of solid waste, including among others the following: transfer stations, compactors, shredders, incinerators, pyrolysis plants, sanitary landfill, salvage facilities, pulverizers, compost plants, and recycling plants.
(p) Composting.— Shall mean the controlled microbial decomposition of organic waste yielding a stable product with a potential value as a soil conditioner.
(q) Solid waste storage.— Shall mean the temporary holding of solid waste after its generation.
(r) Transfer station.— Shall mean an intermediate solid waste storage, processing or handling facility for transferring loads of solid waste to a transportation unit having a greater capacity.
(s) Hazardous toxic waste.— Shall mean the residues, solid waste or a combination of waste which, due to their amount, concentration or physical or chemical characteristics could represent a substantial or potential hazard to human health or to the environment when handled, treated or disposed of improperly, or could cause, or significantly contribute to a rise in the mortality rate or an increase in serious reversible or non-reversible disabling diseases.
(t) Recovery.— Shall mean solid waste process which produces materials or energy that may be used in manufacture, agriculture, or for other purposes.
(u) Board.— Shall mean the Authority’s Governing Board.
(v) Bondholder.— Shall mean any person bearing any outstanding bond or bonds whether registered in his name or not, or the owner, according to the register, of any outstanding bond or bonds which are registered as of such date in the name of some person other than the bondholder.
(w) Operational activities.— Shall mean the activities inherent and necessary to the planning, development, implementation and evaluation of the tasks proper to the recollection, transshipment, processing, recovery and final disposal of solid waste.
History —June 23, 1978, No. 70, p. 222, § 4; Aug. 16, 1989, No. 64, p. 267, § 1; Aug. 23, 1990, No. 60, p. 239, § 5; Jan. 20, 1995, No. 15, § 1.