Compilation of Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia › Department 391 - RULES OF GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES › Chapter 391-3 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Subject 391-3-4 - SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT › Rule 391-3-4-.01 - Definitions

Current through Rules and Regulations filed through June 27,
				2024
(1) "Active Life"
				means the period of operation beginning with the initial receipt of solid waste
				and ending at completion of closure activities.
(2) "Active Portion" means that part of a
				solid waste handling facility or landfill unit that has received or is
				receiving wastes and that has not been closed.
(3) "Aquifer" means a geological formation,
				group of formations, or portion of a formation capable of yielding significant
				quantities of ground water to wells or springs.
(4) "Affected County" means, in addition to
				the county in which a facility is or is proposed to be located, each county
				contiguous to the host county and each county and municipality within a county
				that has a written agreement with the facility to dispose of solid
				waste.
(5) "Asbestos-Containing
				Waste" means any solid waste containing more than 1 percent, by weight, of
				naturally occurring hydrated mineral silicates separable into commercially used
				fibers, specifically the asbestiform varieties of serpentine, chrysotile,
				cummingtonite-grunerite, amosite, riebeckite, crocidolite, anthophyllite,
				tremolite, and actinolite, using the method specified in 40 CFR, Part 763,
				Subpart E, Appendix E, Section 1.
(6) "Baling" means a volume reduction
				technique whereby solid waste is compressed into bales.
(7) "Biomedical Waste" means any solid waste
				which contains pathological waste, biological waste, cultures, and stocks of
				infectious agents and associated biologicals, contaminated animal carcasses
				(body parts, their bedding, and other waste from such animals), chemotherapy
				waste, discarded medical equipment and parts, not including expendable supplies
				and materials, which have not been decontaminated, as further defined in Rule
				391-3-4-.15.
(8) "Boiler" means a device as defined in
				Chapter 391-3-11, the Rules for Hazardous Waste Management.
(9) "Bulking Agent" means the non-reactive,
				solid material that is used to reduce the moisture content of waste via a
				physical process such that the waste no longer meets the definition of Liquid
				Waste as defined in these rules.
(10) "CCR Landfill" means an area of land or
				an excavation that receives CCR and which is not a surface impoundment, an
				underground injection well, a salt dome formation, a salt bed formation, an
				underground or surface coal mine, or a cave. For purposes of this Chapter, a
				CCR landfill also includes sand and gravel pits and quarries that receive CCR,
				CCR piles, and any practice that does not meet the definition of a beneficial
				use of CCR. This definition includes both active and inactive
				landfills.
(11) "CCR Surface
				Impoundment" means a natural topographic depression, man-made excavation, or
				diked area owned or operated by an electric utility or independent power
				producer, which is designed to hold an accumulation of CCR and liquids, and the
				unit treats, stores, or disposes of CCR. This definition includes both active
				and inactive surface impoundments, new and lateral expansions of surface
				impoundments, dewatered surface impoundments, and NPDES-CCR surface
				impoundments.
(12) "CCR Unit" means
				any CCR landfill, CCR surface impoundment, or the lateral expansion of such
				landfill or impoundment, or a combination of more than one of these units,
				based on the context of the paragraph(s) in which it is used. This term
				includes both new and existing units, unless otherwise specified.
(13) "Certificate" means a document issued by
				a college or university of the University System of Georgia or other
				organization approved by the Director, stating that the operator has met the
				requirements of the Board for the specified operator classification of the
				certification program.
(14)
				"Closure" means a procedure approved by the Division which provides for the
				cessation of waste receipt at a solid waste disposal site and for the securing
				of the site in preparation for post-closure.
(15) "Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR)" means
				fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag, and flue gas desulfurization materials
				generated from burning coal for the purpose of generating electricity by
				electric utilities and independent power producers.
(16) "Collector" means the person or persons
				as defined herein who, under agreements, verbal or written, with or without
				compensation does the work of collecting and/or transporting solid wastes, from
				industries, offices, retail outlets, businesses, institutions, and/or similar
				locations, or from residential dwellings, provided however, that this
				definition shall not include an individual collecting and/or transporting waste
				from his own single family dwelling unit.
(17) "Commercial solid waste" means all types
				of solid waste generated by stores, offices, restaurants, warehouses, and other
				nonmanufacturing activities, excluding residential and industrial
				wastes.
(18) "Composting" means the
				controlled biological decomposition of organic matter into a stable, odor free
				humus.
(19)
				"Construction/Demolition Waste" means waste building materials and rubble
				resulting from construction, remodeling, repair, and demolition operations on
				pavements, houses, commercial buildings and other structures. Such waste
				include, but are not limited to asbestos containing waste, wood, bricks, metal,
				concrete, wall board, paper, cardboard, inert waste landfill material, and
				other non-putrescible wastes which have a low potential for groundwater
				contamination.
(20)
				"Construction/Demolition Waste Landfill" means a landfill unit that accepts
				construction/demolition waste. A Construction/Demolition Waste unit also may
				receive inert waste and yard trimmings and may be publicly or privately
				owned.
(21) "Contaminant which is
				likely to pose a danger to human health" means any constituent in Appendix I,
				II, III, or IV or other site specific constituents as specified by the Division
				in the Groundwater Monitoring or Corrective Action Plan that is found at levels
				statistically confirmed above a groundwater protection standard.
(22) "Detected" means statistically
				significant evidence of contamination has been determined to exist by using
				methods specified in Rule
				391-3-4-.14.
(23) "Dimension Stone Fines" means small
				stone particles usually resulting from sawing, grinding, or polishing dimension
				stone with abrasive grit and water or other mechanical method. The process
				producing the dimension stone fines must be water based and not include the use
				of oils or chemicals.
(24)
				"Dimension Stone Spalls" means Dimension Stone portions including slabs,
				blocks, and pieces removed from monolithic commercial dimension stone products
				during processing by cutting, breaking, or chipping. May also include dimension
				stone rejected during processing due to cracking, staining, or other defects.
				The process producing the dimension stone spalls must be water based and must
				not include the use of oils or chemicals.
(25) "Director" means the Director of
				Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural
				Resources.
(26) "Disposal Facility"
				means any facility or location where the final disposition of solid waste
				occurs and includes, but is not limited to, landfilling and solid waste thermal
				treatment technology facilities.
(27) "Division" means the Environmental
				Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources.
(28) "Generator" means any person in Georgia
				or in any other state who creates solid waste.
(29) "Garbage" means food waste including
				waste accumulations of animal or vegetable matter used or intended for use as
				food, or that attends the preparation, use, cooking, dealing in or storing of
				meat, fish, fowl, fruit or vegetables.
(30) "Groundwater" means water below the land
				surface in a zone of saturation.
(31) "Hazardous Waste" means any solid waste
				which has been defined as hazardous waste in regulations promulgated by the
				Board of Natural Resources, Chapter 391-3-11.
(32) "High Moisture Content Waste" means
				sludge, non-hazardous solidified liquids and bulking agents and/or
				solidification/stabilization agents with moisture content greater than 40%. The
				moisture content of non-hazardous household waste is excluded from this
				definition.
(33) "Household waste"
				means any solid waste (including garbage, trash, and sanitary waste in septic
				tanks) derived from households (including single and multiple residences,
				hotels and motels, bunkhouses, ranger stations, crew quarters, campgrounds,
				picnic grounds, and day-use recreation areas).
(34) "Host Local Government" means the host
				county or other local governmental jurisdiction within whose boundaries a
				municipal solid waste disposal facility is located.
(35) "Industrial Furnace" means a device as
				defined in Chapter 391-3-11, the Rules for Hazardous Waste
				Management.
(36) "Industrial Waste"
				means solid waste generated by manufacturing or industrial processes that is
				not a hazardous waste regulated under the Hazardous Waste Management Act and
				regulations promulgated by the Board of Natural Resources, Chapter 391-3-11.
				Such waste includes, but is not limited to, wastes resulting from the following
				manufacturing processes: Electric power generation; fertilizer/agricultural
				chemicals; food and related products/by-products; inorganic chemicals; iron and
				steel manufacturing; leather and leather products; nonferrous metals
				manufacturing/foundries; inorganic chemicals; plastics and resins
				manufacturing; pulp and paper industry; rubber and miscellaneous plastic
				products; stone, glass, clay, and concrete products; textile manufacturing;
				transportation equipment; and water treatment. This term does not include
				mining waste or oil or gas waste.
(37) "Inert Waste Landfill" means a disposal
				facility accepting only wastes that will not or are not likely to cause
				production of leachate of environmental concern. Such wastes are limited to
				earth and earth-like products, concrete, cured asphalt, rock, bricks, yard
				trimmings, stumps, limbs, and leaves. This definition excludes industrial and
				demolition waste not specifically listed above.
(38) "Lateral expansion" means a horizontal
				expansion of the waste boundaries of an existing MSWLF unit or landfill
				unit.
(39) "Leachate" means a
				liquid that has passed through or emerged from solid waste and contains
				soluble, suspended, or miscible materials removed from such wastes.
(40) "Landfill Unit" means an area of land of
				which or an excavation in which solid waste is placed for permanent disposal
				and which is not a land application unit, surface impoundment, injection well,
				or compost pile. Permanent disposal requires the placement of daily,
				intermediate, and/or final earth, synthetic, or a combination of earth and
				synthetic cover over the solid waste.
(41) "Leachate Collection System" means a
				system at a landfill for collection of the leachate which may percolate through
				the waste and into the soils surrounding the landfill.
(42) "Liner" means a continuous layer of
				natural or man-made materials beneath or on the sides of a disposal site or
				disposal site cell which restricts the downward or lateral escape of solid
				waste constituents, or leachate.
(43) "Liquid Waste" means any waste material
				that is determined to contain "free liquids" as defined by Method 9095 (Paint
				Filter Liquids Test), as described in "Test Methods for the Evaluation of Solid
				Wastes, Physical/Chemical Methods" (EPA Pub. No. SW-846).
(44) "Materials Recovery Facility" means a
				solid waste handling facility that provides for the extraction from solid waste
				of recoverable materials, materials suitable for use as a fuel or soil
				amendment, or any combination of such materials.
(45) "Monofill" means a method of solid waste
				disposal that involves the landfilling of one waste type or wastes having very
				similar characteristics in a segregated trench or area which is physically
				separated from dissimilar or incompatible waste.
(46) "Mulch" means a product produced by
				grinding, shredding or chipping of yard trimmings, land-clearing debris,
				untreated and unpainted wood, or any combination thereof, that has not
				undergone controlled aerobic decomposition to produce a stabilized organic
				product.
(47) "Mulching" means the
				grinding, shredding or chipping of yard trimmings, land-clearing debris,
				untreated and unpainted wood, or any combination thereof, that has not
				undergone controlled aerobic decomposition to produce a stabilized organic
				product.
(48) "Municipal Solid
				Waste" means any solid waste derived from households, including garbage, trash,
				and sanitary waste in septic tanks and means solid waste from single-family and
				multifamily residences, hotels and motels, bunkhouses, campgrounds, picnic
				grounds, and day use recreation areas. The term includes yard trimmings,
				construction or demolition waste, and commercial solid waste, but does not
				include solid waste from mining, agricultural, or silvicultural operations or
				industrial processes or operations.
(49) "Municipal Solid Waste Landfill (MSWLF)
				Unit" means a discrete area of land or an excavation that receives household
				waste, and that is not a land application unit, surface impoundment, injection
				well, or waste pile, as those terms are defined under 40 CFR Part 257.2 . A
				MSWLF unit also may receive other types of solid waste, such as commercial
				solid waste, nonhazardous sludge, small quantity generator waste and industrial
				solid waste. Such a landfill may be publicly or privately owned.
(50) "Municipal Solid Waste Disposal
				Facility" means any facility or location where the final deposition of any
				amount of municipal solid waste occurs, whether or not mixed with or including
				commercial or industrial solid waste, and includes, but is not limited to,
				municipal solid waste landfills and solid waste thermal treatment technology
				facilities.
(51) "Municipal Solid
				Waste Disposal Facility Operator" means the operator certified in accordance
				with Rule
				391-3-4-.18 and stationed on the
				site who is in responsible charge of and has direct supervision of the daily
				field operations of a municipal solid waste disposal facility to ensure that
				the facility operates in compliance with the permit.
(52) "Municipal Solid Waste Landfill" means a
				disposal facility where any amount of municipal solid waste, whether or not
				mixed with or including commercial waste, industrial waste, nonhazardous
				sludges, or small quantity generator hazardous wastes, is disposed of by means
				of placing an approved cover thereon.
(53) "Open Burning" means the combustion of
				solid waste without:
(a) Control of combustion
				air to maintain adequate temperature for efficient combustion;
(b) Containment of the combustion reaction in
				an enclosed device to provide sufficient residence time and mixing for complete
				combustion; and
(c) Control of the
				emission of the combustion products.