California Code of Regulations › Title 14 - Natural Resources › Division 7 - Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery › Chapter 12 - Short-Lived Climate Pollutants › Article 1 - Definitions › Section 18982 - Definitions

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) Except as
				  otherwise provided, the following definitions shall govern the provisions of
				  this chapter:
(1) "Activities that constitute
				  landfill disposal" are activities described in Subdivision (a) of Section
				  18983.1.
(2) "Alternative daily cover (ADC)" has the
				  same meaning as in Section
				  20690 of Title 27 of the
				  California Code of Regulations (CCR).
(3) "Alternative intermediate cover (AIC)"
				  has the same meaning as in Section
				  20700 of Title 27 of the
				  California Code of Regulations.
(3.5) "Biomass conversion" has the same
				  meaning as in Public Resources Code, Section
				  40106.
(4) "Biosolids" has the same meaning as
				  Section 17852(a)(9) of
				  this division.
(5) "Blue container"
				  means a container where either:
(A) The lid of
				  the container is blue in color.
(B)
				  The body of the container is blue in color and the lid is either blue, gray, or
				  black in color. Hardware such as hinges and wheels on a blue container may be
				  any color.
(5.5) "Brown
				  container" means a container where either:
(A)
				  The lid of the container is brown in color.
(B) The body of the container is brown in
				  color and the lid is either brown, gray, or black in color. Hardware such as
				  hinges and wheels on a brown container may be any color.
(6) "Commercial business" means a firm,
				  partnership, proprietorship, joint-stock company, corporation, or association,
				  whether for-profit or nonprofit, strip mall, industrial facility, or a
				  multifamily residential dwelling.
(A) A
				  multifamily residential dwelling that consists of fewer than five units is not
				  a commercial business for the purposes of this chapter.
(7) "Commercial edible food generator"
				  includes a Tier One or a Tier Two commercial edible food generator as defined
				  in Subdivisions (a)(73) and (a)(74) of this section. For the purposes of this
				  chapter, food recovery organizations and food recovery services are not
				  commercial edible food generators.
(8) "Community composting" means any activity
				  that composts green material, agricultural material, food material, and
				  vegetative food material, alone or in combination, and the total amount of
				  feedstock and compost on-site at any one time does not exceed 100 cubic yards
				  and 750 square feet, as specified in Section
				  17855(a)(4).
(9) "Compliance review" means a review of
				  records by a jurisdiction or the Department to determine compliance with
				  subscribing to an organic waste collection service as required by this
				  chapter.
(10) "Compost" has the
				  same meaning as in Section
				  17896.2(a)(4).
(11) "Compostable material" has the same
				  meaning as in Section
				  17852(a)(11).
(12) "Compostable material handling
				  operation" or "facility" has the same meaning as in Section
				  17852(a)(12).
(13) "Consumer" has the same meaning as in
				  Section
				  113757
				  of the Health and Safety Code.
(14)
				  "Container contamination" or "contaminated container" means a container,
				  regardless of color, that contains prohibited container contaminants as defined
				  in Subdivision (a)(55).
(14.5)
				  "Designated source separated organic waste facility" means a solid waste
				  facility that accepts a source separated organic waste collection stream as
				  defined in Section
				  17402(a) (26.6)
				  and complies with one of the following:
(A)
				  The facility is a "transfer/processor," as defined in Section
				  18815.2(a)(62),
				  that is in compliance with the reporting requirements of Section
				  18815.5(d), and
				  meets or exceeds an annual average source separated organic content recovery
				  rate of 50 percent between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2024 and 75 percent
				  on and after January 1, 2025 as calculated pursuant to Section
				  18815.5(f) for
				  organic waste received from the source separated organic waste collection
				  stream.
1. If a transfer/processor has an
				  annual average source separated organic content recovery rate lower than the
				  rate required in paragraph (A) of this section for two (2) consecutive
				  reporting periods, or three (3) reporting periods within three (3) years, the
				  facility shall not qualify as a "Designated source separated organic waste
				  facility."
(B) The
				  facility is a "composting operation" or "composting facility" as defined in
				  Section 18815.2(a)(13)
				  that pursuant to the reports submitted under Section
				  18815.7 demonstrates that the
				  percent of the material removed for landfill disposal that is organic waste is
				  less than the percent specified in Section
				  17409.5.8(c)(2)
				  or 17409.5.8(c)(3),
				  whichever is applicable, and, if applicable, complies with the digestate
				  handling requirements specified in Section
				  17896.57.
1. If the percent of the material removed for
				  landfill disposal that is organic waste is more than the percent specified in
				  Section 17409.5.8(c)(2)
				  or 17409.5.8(c)(3)
				  for two (2) consecutive reporting periods, or three (3) reporting periods
				  within three (3) years, the facility shall not qualify as a "Designated source
				  separated organic waste facility."
(15) "Designee" means an entity that a
				  jurisdiction contracts with or otherwise arranges to carry out any
				  responsibilities of this chapter, as authorized in Section
				  18981.2 of this chapter. A
				  designee may be a government entity, a hauler, a private entity, or a
				  combination of those entities.
(16)
				  "Diesel gallon equivalent" means the amount of renewable gas transportation
				  fuel that has the equivalent energy content of one gallon of conventional
				  diesel.
(16.5) "Digestate" means
				  the solid and/or liquid material remaining after organic material has been
				  processed in an in-vessel digester.
(17) "Direct service provider" means a
				  person, company, agency, district, or other entity that provides a service or
				  services to a jurisdiction pursuant to a contract or other written
				  agreement.
(18) "Edible food" means
				  food intended for human consumption.
(A) For
				  the purposes of this chapter, "edible food" is not solid waste if it is
				  recovered and not discarded.
(B)
				  Nothing in this chapter requires or authorizes the recovery of edible food that
				  does not meet the food safety requirements of the California Retail Food
				  Code.
(19) "Enforcement
				  action" means an action of a jurisdiction or the Department to ensure
				  compliance with this chapter, including, but not limited to, issuing notices of
				  violation, accusations, or other remedies.
(20) "Facility that recovers source separated
				  organic waste" means a facility that handles source separated organic waste
				  separately from any other wastes as required in Section
				  17409.5.6.
(21) "Food" has the same meaning as in
				  Section
				  113781
				  of the Health and Safety Code.
(22)
				  "Food distributor" means a company that distributes food to entities including,
				  but not limited to, supermarkets and grocery stores.
(23) "Food facility" has the same meaning as
				  in Section
				  113789
				  of the Health and Safety Code.
(24)
				  "Food recovery" means actions to collect and distribute food for human
				  consumption which otherwise would be disposed.
(25) "Food recovery organization" means an
				  entity that engages in the collection or receipt of edible food from commercial
				  edible food generators and distributes that edible food to the public for food
				  recovery either directly or through other entities including, but not limited
				  to:
(A) A food bank as defined in Section
				  113783
				  of the Health and Safety Code;
(B)
				  A nonprofit charitable organization as defined in Section
				  113841 of the Health and Safety
				  code; and,
(C) A nonprofit
				  charitable temporary food facility as defined in Section
				  113842
				  of the Health and Safety Code.
(26) "Food recovery service" means a person
				  or entity that collects and transports edible food from a commercial edible
				  food generator to a food recovery organization or other entities for food
				  recovery.
(27) "Food service
				  provider" means an entity primarily engaged in providing food services to
				  institutional, governmental, commercial, or industrial locations of others
				  based on contractual arrangements with these types of organizations.
(27.5) "Fluorinated greenhouse gas" or
				  "fluorinated GHG" means sulfur hexafluoride (SF6),
				  nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), and any fluorocarbon except
				  for controlled substances as defined at 40 CFR Part 82 , Subpart A, (May 1995),
				  which is hereby incorporated by reference, and substances with vapor pressures
				  of less than 1 mm of Hg absolute at 25 ° C. With these exceptions,
				  "fluorinated GHG" includes any hydrofluorocarbon, any perfluorocarbon, any
				  fully fluorinated linear, branched or cyclic alkane, ether, tertiary amine or
				  aminoether, any perfluoropolyether, and any hydrofluoropolyether.
(27.6) "Global warming potential" or "GWP"
				  means the ratio of the time-integrated radiative forcing from the instantaneous
				  release of one kilogram of a trace substance relative to that of one kilogram
				  of a reference gas (i.e., CO2). The GWP values are as
				  specified in the Table A-1 to Subpart A of Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations
				  Part 98 as published in the CFR on 12/11/2014, which is hereby incorporated by
				  reference.
(28) "Gray container"
				  means a container where either:
(A) The lid of
				  the container is gray or black in color.
(B) The body of the container is entirely
				  gray or black in color and the lid is gray or black in color. Hardware such as
				  hinges and wheels on a gray container may be any color.
(28.5) "Gray container collection stream" has
				  the same meaning as defined in Section
				  17402.
(29) "Green container" means a container
				  where either:
(A) The lid of the container is
				  green in color.
(B) The body of the
				  container is green in color and the lid is green, gray, or black in color.
				  Hardware such as hinges and wheels on a green container may be any
				  color.
(29.5) "Greenhouse
				  gas" means carbon dioxide (CO2), methane
				  (CH4), nitrous oxide (N20),
				  sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC),
				  perfluorocarbons (PFC), and other fluorinated greenhouse gases as defined in
				  this section.
(29.6) "Greenhouse
				  gas emission reduction" or "greenhouse gas reduction" means a calculated
				  decrease in greenhouse gas emissions relative to a project baseline over a
				  specified period of time.
(30)
				  "Grocery store" means a store primarily engaged in the retail sale of canned
				  food; dry goods; fresh fruits and vegetables; fresh meats, fish, and poultry;
				  and any area that is not separately owned within the store where the food is
				  prepared and served, including a bakery, deli, and meat and seafood
				  departments.
(30.5) "Hazardous wood
				  waste" means wood that falls within the definition of "Treated wood" or
				  "Treated wood waste" in Section
				  67386.4 of Title 22 of the
				  California Code of Regulations.
(31) "Hauler" has the same meaning as in
				  Section 18815.2(a)(32).
(31.5) "Hauler route" means the designated
				  itinerary or sequence of stops for each segment of the jurisdiction's
				  collection service area.
(32)
				  "Health facility" has the same meaning as in Section
				  1250
				  of the Health and Safety Code.
(33)
				  "High diversion organic waste processing facility" means a facility that is in
				  compliance with the reporting requirements of Section
				  18815.5(d) and
				  meets or exceeds an annual average mixed waste organic content recovery rate of
				  50 percent between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2024, and 75 percent after
				  January 1, 2025 as calculated pursuant to Section
				  18815.5(e) for
				  organic waste received from the "Mixed Waste Organic Collection Stream" as
				  defined in Section
				  17402(a)
				  (11.5).
(34) "Hotel" has the same
				  meaning as in Section
				  17210 of the Business and
				  Professions code.
(35) "Inspection"
				  means a site visit where a jurisdiction or the Department reviews records,
				  containers, and an entity's collection, handling, recycling, or landfill
				  disposal of organic waste or edible food handling to determine if the entity is
				  complying with requirements set forth in this chapter.
(36) "Jurisdiction" means a city, county, a
				  city and county, or a special district that provides solid waste collection
				  services. A city, county, a city and county, or a special district may utilize
				  a Joint Powers Authority to comply with the requirements of this chapter,
				  except that the individual city, county, city and county, or special district
				  shall remain ultimately responsible for compliance.
(37) "Jurisdiction of residence" means the
				  jurisdiction where a generator who is a self-hauler generated organic
				  waste.
(38) "Large event" means an
				  event, including, but not limited to, a sporting event or a flea market, that
				  charges an admission price, or is operated by a local agency, and serves an
				  average of more than 2,000 individuals per day of operation of the event, at a
				  location that includes, but is not limited to, a public, nonprofit, or
				  privately owned park, parking lot, golf course, street system, or other open
				  space when being used for an event.
(39) "Large venue" means a permanent venue
				  facility that annually seats or serves an average of more than 2,000
				  individuals within the grounds of the facility per day of operation of the
				  venue facility. For the purposes of this chapter, a venue facility includes,
				  but is not limited to, a public, nonprofit, or privately owned or operated
				  stadium, amphitheater, arena, hall, amusement park, conference or civic center,
				  zoo, aquarium, airport, racetrack, horse track, performing arts center,
				  fairground, museum, theater, or other public attraction facility. For the
				  purposes of this chapter, a site under common ownership or control that
				  includes more than one large venue that is contiguous with other large venues
				  in the site, is a single large venue.
(39.5) "Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions"
				  or "Lifecycle GHG emissions" means the aggregate quantity of greenhouse gas
				  emissions (including direct and indirect emissions), related to the full
				  lifecycle of the technology or process that an applicant wishes to have
				  assessed as a possible means to reduce landfill disposal of organic waste. The
				  lifecycle analysis of emissions includes all stages of organic waste processing
				  and distribution, including collection from a recovery location, waste
				  processing, delivery, use of any finished material by the ultimate consumer,
				  ultimate use of any processing materials. The mass values for all greenhouse
				  gases shall be adjusted to account for their relative global warming
				  potential.
(40) "Local education
				  agency" means a school district, charter school, or county office of education
				  that is not subject to the control of city or county regulations related to
				  solid waste.
(41) "Non-compostable
				  paper" includes, but is not limited, to paper that is coated in a plastic
				  material that will not breakdown in the composting process.
(42) "Non-local entity" means an entity that
				  is an organic waste generator but is not subject to the control of a
				  jurisdiction's regulations related to solid waste. These entities may include,
				  but are not limited to, special districts, federal facilities, prisons,
				  facilities operated by the state parks system, public universities, including
				  community colleges, county fairgrounds, and state agencies.
(43) "Non-organic recyclables" means
				  non-putrescible and non-hazardous recyclable wastes, including, but not limited
				  to, bottles, cans, metals, plastics, and glass.
(44) "Notice and Order to Correct (NOTC)"
				  means a notice that a violation has occurred and that failure to correct the
				  violation may result in a penalty.
(45) "Notice of Violation (NOV)" means a
				  notice that a violation has occurred that includes a compliance date to avoid
				  an action to seek penalties.
(46)
				  "Organic waste" means solid wastes containing material originated from living
				  organisms and their metabolic waste products including, but not limited to,
				  food, green material, landscape and pruning waste, organic textiles and
				  carpets, lumber, wood, paper products, printing and writing paper, manure,
				  biosolids, digestate, and sludges.
(47) "Organic waste disposal reduction
				  target" is the statewide target to reduce the disposal of organic waste by 50
				  percent by 2020 and 75 percent by 2025, based on the 2014 organic waste
				  disposal baseline, set forth in Section
				  39730.6
				  of the Health and Safety Code.
(48)
				  "Organic waste generator" means a person or entity that is responsible for the
				  initial creation of organic waste.
(49) "Organic waste recovery activities" or
				  "recovery" means any activity or process described in Section
				  18983.1(b).
(50) "Organic Waste Recovery Noncompliance
				  Inventory" means a list of entities that have uncorrected violations of the
				  standards contained in this chapter.
(51) "Paper products" include, but are not
				  limited to, paper janitorial supplies, cartons, wrapping, packaging, file
				  folders, hanging files, corrugated boxes, tissue, and toweling.
(52) Paper purchase" means all purchases by a
				  jurisdiction of items in the following categories:
(A) Paper products.
(B) Printing and writing
				  papers.
(52.5)
				  "Performance-based source separated collection service" means a solid waste
				  collection service that meets the requirements of Section
				  18998.1(a).
(52.6) "Permanent" means, in the context of
				  the determination of processes or technologies that constitute a reduction in
				  landfill disposal, that greenhouse gas emissions reductions are not reversible,
				  or when these emissions reductions may be reversible, that mechanisms are in
				  place to replace any reversed greenhouse gas emissions reductions to ensure
				  that all reductions endure for at least 100 years.
(53) "Person" has the same meaning as in
				  Section
				  40170
				  of the Public Resources Code.
(54)
				  "Printing and writing papers" include, but are not limited to, copy,
				  xerographic, watermark, cotton fiber, offset, forms, computer printout paper,
				  white wove envelopes, manila envelopes, book paper, note pads, writing tablets,
				  newsprint, and other uncoated writing papers, posters, index cards, calendars,
				  brochures, reports, magazines, and publications.
(55) "Prohibited container contaminants"
				  means any of the following, but does not include organic waste specifically
				  allowed for collection in a container that is required to be transported to a
				  high diversion organic waste processing facility if the waste is specifically
				  identified as acceptable for collection in that container in a manner that
				  complies with the requirements of Section
				  18984.1,
				  18984.2, or
				  18984.3.
(A) Non-organic waste placed in a green
				  container that is part of an organic waste collection service provided pursuant
				  to Section
				  18984.1 or
				  18984.2.
(B) Organic wastes that are, carpet,
				  hazardous wood waste, or non-compostable paper placed in the green container
				  that is part of an organic waste collection service provided pursuant to
				  Section 18984.1 or
				  18984.2.
(C) Organic wastes, placed in a gray
				  container, that pursuant to Section
				  18984.1 or
				  18984.2 were intended to be
				  collected separately in the green container or blue container.
(D) Organic wastes placed in the blue
				  container shall be considered prohibited container contaminants when those
				  wastes were specifically identified in this chapter or through a local
				  ordinance for collection in the green container for recovery. Paper products,
				  printing and writing paper, wood and dry lumber may be considered acceptable
				  and not considered prohibited container contaminants if they are placed in the
				  blue container.
(56)
				  "Processing" has the same meaning as in Section
				  17402(a)(20).
(56.5) "Project baseline" means, in the
				  context of "greenhouse gas emission reduction" or "greenhouse gas reduction,"
				  and in the context of an application submitted pursuant to Section
				  18983.2, a conservative estimate
				  of the business-as-usual greenhouse gas emissions that would have occurred if
				  the organic waste proposed for recovery was disposed in an activity that
				  constitutes landfill disposal. This estimate may include greenhouse gas
				  emissions associated with the production and use of products replaced by a
				  Section 18983.2 technology or
				  process.
(57) "Property owner"
				  means the owner of real property.
(58) "Publicly owned treatment works" or
				  "POTW" has the same meaning as in Section
				  403.3(r) of Title
				  40 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(59) "Recovered organic waste product
				  procurement target" means the amount of organic waste in the form of a
				  recovered organic waste product which a jurisdiction is required to procure
				  annually.
(60) "Recovered organic
				  waste products" means products made from California, landfill-diverted
				  recovered organic waste processed at a permitted or otherwise authorized
				  operation or facility.
(60.5)
				  "Recovery location" includes the closest aggregating hub used to recover the
				  organic waste after collection. This could include but is not limited to a
				  transfer facility, recycling facility, or recovery facility.
(61) "Recycled content paper" means paper
				  products and printing and writing paper that consists of at least 30 percent,
				  by fiber weight, postconsumer fiber.
(62) "Renewable gas" means gas derived from
				  organic waste that has been diverted from a landfill and processed at an
				  in-vessel digestion facility that is permitted or otherwise authorized by Title
				  14 to recover organic waste.
(63)
				  "Residual organic waste" means waste that remains after organic waste has been
				  processed which is then sent to landfill disposal.
(64) "Restaurant" means an establishment
				  primarily engaged in the retail sale of food and drinks for on-premises or
				  immediate consumption.
(65) "Route
				  review" means a visual inspection of containers along a hauler route for the
				  purpose of determining container contamination and may include mechanical
				  inspection methods such as the use of cameras.
(66) "Self-hauler" means a person who hauls
				  solid waste, organic waste or recovered material he or she has generated to
				  another person.
Self-hauler also includes a person who back-hauls
					 waste.
(A) "Back-haul" means
				  generating and transporting organic waste to a destination owned and operated
				  by the generator using the generator's own employees and
				  equipment.
(67) "Sewage
				  sludge" means the solid, semisolid, or liquid residue generated during the
				  treatment of domestic sewage in a municipal wastewater treatment facility.
				  Sewage sludge includes solids removed or used during primary, secondary, or
				  advanced wastewater treatment processes.
Sewage sludge does not include grit or screening material
					 generated during preliminary treatment of domestic sewage at a
					 POTW.
(68) "Share table" has
				  the same meaning as in Section
				  114079
				  of the Health and Safety Code.
(68.5) "Source sector" has the same meaning
				  as in Section
				  18815.2(a)(58).
(69) "Source separated organic waste" means
				  organic waste that is placed in a container that is specifically intended for
				  the separate collection of organic waste by the generator.
(70) "Source separated organic waste
				  collection stream" has the same meaning as defined in Section
				  17402(a)
				  (26.6).
(70.5) "Special district"
				  has the same meaning as Section
				  41821.2
				  of the Public Resources Code.
(71)
				  "Supermarket" means a full-line, self-service retail store with gross annual
				  sales of two million dollars ($2,000,000), or more, and which sells a line of
				  dry grocery, canned goods, or nonfood items and some perishable
				  items.
(72) "The 2014 organic waste
				  disposal baseline" means the total tons of organic waste disposed statewide in
				  2014 as calculated by the Department.
(73) "Tier one commercial edible food
				  generator" means a commercial edible food generator that is one of the
				  following:
(A) Supermarket.
(B) Grocery store with a total facility size
				  equal to or greater than 10,000 square feet.
(C) Food service provider.
(D) Food distributor.
(E) Wholesale food
				  vendor.
(74) "Tier two
				  commercial edible food generator" means a commercial edible food generator that
				  is one of the following:
(A) Restaurant with
				  250 or more seats, or a total facility size equal to or greater than 5,000
				  square feet.
(B) Hotel with an
				  on-site food facility and 200 or more rooms.
(C) Health facility with an on-site food
				  facility and 100 or more beds.
(D)
				  Large venue.
(E) Large
				  event.
(F) A state agency with a
				  cafeteria with 250 or more seats or a total cafeteria facility size equal to or
				  greater than 5,000 square feet.
(G)
				  A local education agency with an on-site food facility.
(75) "Uncontainerized green waste and yard
				  waste collection service" or "uncontainerized service" means a collection
				  service that collects green waste and yard waste that is placed in a pile or
				  bagged for collection on the street in front of a generator's house or place of
				  business for collection and transport to a facility that recovers source
				  separated organic waste.
(76)
				  "Wholesale food vendor" means a business or establishment engaged in the
				  merchant wholesale distribution of food, where food (including fruits and
				  vegetables) is received, shipped, stored, prepared for distribution to a
				  retailer, warehouse, distributor, or other destination.