Alabama Administrative Code › Title 420 - ALABAMA STATE BOARD OF HEALTH › Chapter 420-3-5 - SOLID WASTE COLLECTION AND TRANSPORTATION › Section 420-3-5-.03 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
For the purpose of these rules, the following words and
				phrases shall have the meanings ascribed to them in these rules and as ascribed
				by law unless the context of the rules indicate differently.
(1)
Act
-- the "Solid Wastes and
			 Recyclable Materials Management Act," Act No. 151, Regular Session 2008
			 (formerly the "Solid Waste Disposal Act," Act No. 771 Regular Session, 1969, as
			 amended by Act No. 2247 Regular Session, 1971)
Code of Ala.
			 1975
, Section
			 22-27-1.
(2)
ADEM
-- the Alabama
			 Department of Environmental Management
(the
			 Department)
as established by
Code of Ala.
			 1975
, Section
			 22-22A-2.
(3)
Approved
-- to be
			 authorized, certified, or permitted by, or to meet the standards of, a
			 regulatory authority.
(4)
Baling
-- a volume reduction technique whereby solid waste is
			 compressed into bales.
(5)
Base Flood
-- a flood that has a 1 percent or greater chance of
			 recurring in any year, or a flood of a magnitude equaled or exceeded once in
			 100 years on the average.
(6)
Best Management Practice
- an activity or action, based on a
			 formal plan, implemented in the approved manner, and properly maintained, that
			 protects the public's health and the environment.
(7)
Board
- The Alabama State
			 Board of Health as defined by §
								22-2-1,
Code of Ala.
			 1975
.
(8)
Business Concern
-- any corporation, association, firm,
			 partnership, trust, joint venture, or other form of commercial
			 organization.
(9)
Certificate
			 of Exception
-- a certificate issued by the Local County Health
			 Department to an applicant to exempt the applicant from participation in the
			 mandatory collection program and authorizing the certificate holder to
			 transport solid waste generated at his household to an approved solid waste
			 handling or disposal facility.
(10)
Closure
-- the act of terminating all operations at a solid waste
			 facility regulated under these rules or rendering such facility suitable for
			 other uses, pursuant to a plan approved by the LHD.
(11)
Collect
-- to gather solid
			 waste from one or more persons generating such waste.
(12)
Collection Facility
--
			 lands, buildings, and other appurtenances used to house or maintain vehicles or
			 equipment used for the collection or transportation of solid waste.
(13)
Collector
-- a person who
			 collects and transports solid waste or scrap tires, generated by others for
			 monetary compensation or other considerations.
(14)
Covenant(s) Running With the
			 Land
-- a written agreement between the property owner and another which
			 runs with the land and which cannot be separated from the land and which is
			 intended to bind successors in title. Such agreement is recorded in the Office
			 of the Probate Judge or other records office.
(15)
Disposal
-- the discharge,
			 deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste
			 into or on any land or water, which allows the waste or any constituent of the
			 waste to enter the environment or to be emitted into the air or discharged into
			 any waters, including, but not limited to, groundwater.
(16)
Disposal Facility
-- the
			 location of a disposal site where any ultimate disposal of solid waste
			 occurs.
(17)
Elements
-- weather conditions.
(18)
Environmental Laws
-- any laws or regulations which govern the
			 management activities of solid, hazardous, infectious, liquid, or gaseous
			 waste; protect or preserve natural resources such as air, land, water, and
			 wildlife; designed to prevent fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation with respect
			 to notice, reporting, monitoring, recording, licensing, approval, or
			 pre-approval requirements; designed to protect public health or the
			 environment; designed to prevent or abate the existence of a public or private
			 nuisance which adversely affected public health or the environment; or designed
			 to prevent other intentional, reckless, or negligent acts or omissions that
			 adversely affect public health and the environment.
(19)
Explosive Material or
			 Debris
-- any material whose nature or character is to violently release
			 mechanical or chemical energy, including any residual materials or by-products
			 of the manufacture of such material which exhibit the same nature or
			 character.
(20)
Facility
			 (Solid Waste Facility)
-- all contiguous land, structures, and other
			 appurtenances used for the handling or disposal of solid waste.
(21)
Flood Prone Area
- an area
			 that is generally subject to being flooded or ponded more than 50 times in 100
			 years or greater than a 50 percent chance in any year. This definition refers
			 to an area that is subject to frequent flooding as observed, or as indicated by
			 soil characteristics defined in the standards of the National Soil Survey
			 Handbook, United States Department of Agriculture.
(22)
Floodplain
-- the lowland
			 and relatively flat areas adjoining inland and coastal waters that are
			 inundated by the 100-year flood, including flood prone areas of offshore
			 islands.
(23)
Garbage
-- putrescible animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling,
			 preparation, cooking, and consumption of food, including waste from markets,
			 storage facilities, handling and sale of produce and other food products,
			 except materials that are serviced by garbage grinders and handled as household
			 sewage. Also excluded are inedible animal by-products, virgin cooking grease,
			 and waste cooking grease.
(24)
Generate
-- the act or process of producing solid waste. Such
			 waste shall be considered to be generated at the point that such materials are
			 first discarded or collected, regardless of any subsequent transportation,
			 transfer, reclamation, or other handling.
(25)
Generator
-- any person who
			 produces solid waste.
(26)
Groundwater
-- water below the land surface in the zone of
			 saturation.
(27)
Handling
-- the systematic control of solid waste including the
			 collection, storage, processing, or transportation of such waste.
(28)
Hazardous Waste
-- shall be
			 defined in the same manner as that term is defined in the Alabama Hazardous
			 Wastes Management and Minimization Act,
Code of Ala.
			 1975
, Section
			 22-30-1 and the regulations
			 promulgated thereunder.
(29)
Household
-- the people in a family or other group that are living
			 together in one house.
(30)
Imported Solid Waste
-- solid waste generated outside of the state
			 of Alabama and transported into the state for handling or disposal.
(31)
Infectious Waste
-- shall
			 be defined in the same manner as that term is defined in the Alabama Department
			 of Environmental Management's Administrative Code, Division 335-13.
(32)
Key Employee
-- any person
			 employed by a permittee and empowered to make operational or financial
			 management decisions with respect to solid, hazardous, or infectious waste
			 management operations. The term does not include employees primarily engaged in
			 the physical or mechanical handling or disposal of these wastes.
(33)
Leachate
-- any liquid that
			 drains from stockpiled waste material and may have dissolved environmentally
			 harmful substances that may then enter the environment through surface or
			 groundwater or soil.
(34)
Local Health Department (LHD)
-- a county health
			 department.
(35)
Mandatory
			 Collection
- a local solid waste collection program that is offered to
			 every household or person within the collection jurisdiction, with the
			 requirement that such household or person participate in the service unless
			 otherwise excepted or excluded by the LHD.
(36)
Permit
-- a formal written
			 authorization, license, or equivalent control document issued by the
			 appropriate regulatory authority to implement the requirements of an
			 environmental regulation.
(37)
Person
-- any individual, household, trust, firm, joint stock
			 company, corporation (including a government corporation), partnership,
			 association, state, municipality, commission, political subdivision of the
			 state, any interstate body, or any other private or public legal
			 entity.
(38)
Processing
-- the act of shredding, grinding, sorting, baling,
			 reclaiming, recycling, or otherwise altering solid waste.
(39)
Processing Facility
-- any
			 facility or site employed in the handling of solid waste prior to its arrival
			 at an approved disposal site, including, but not limited to, tire processors,
			 material recovery facilities and sorters, reclamation centers, shredders and
			 grinders, and volume reducers.
(40)
Protected Natural Resource
-- coastal sand dune systems, coastal
			 wetlands, significant wildlife habitats, fragile mountain areas, freshwater
			 wetlands, great ponds or rivers, and streams or brooks as defined under Title
			 38, Article 5A, Section 480-A-480-S, entitled "The Protection of Natural
			 Resources."
(41)
Public
			 Health Nuisance
-- those things, conditions, and acts enumerated in the
Code of Ala. 1975
, Section
			 22-10-1.
(42)
Putrescible
-- solid waste
			 which is readily decomposed by micro-organisms producing a malodor attracting
			 potential disease vectors which cause a public health nuisance.
(43)
Registered Engineer
-- a
			 person registered as a professional engineer with the State of Alabama Board of
			 Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, practicing under the
			 Rules of Professional Conduct (Code of Ethics).
(44)
Registered Land Surveyor
--
			 a person registered as a professional land surveyor with the State of Alabama
			 Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, practicing
			 under the Rules of Professional Conduct (Code of Ethics).
(45)
Residence
-- a structure
			 used as a home.
(46)
Roll-off
			 Container
- special dumpsters designed to be rolled on and off of
			 transport vehicles.
(47)
Rubbish
-- nonputrescible solid waste, excluding ashes, consisting
			 of both combustible and noncombustible waste. Combustible rubbish includes, but
			 is not limited to, paper, rags, cartons, wood, furniture, rubber, plastics,
			 yard trimmings, leaves, and similar materials. Non-combustible rubbish
			 includes, but is not limited to, glass, crockery, metal cans, metal furniture,
			 and like materials which will not burn at ordinary incinerator temperatures,
			 not less than 1600 degrees F.
(48)
Scavenging
-- the unauthorized or uncontrolled searching through,
			 removal, or reclamation of waste materials from a solid waste handling or
			 disposal facility.
(49)
Shared Service
-- an activity that qualifies a household or person
			 to be excluded from participating in a mandatory collection program, provided
			 that such household or person complies with the requirements set forth in Rule
			 420-3-5-.06(2)(b)
			 of these Rules.
(50)
Shredding
-- the process of reducing the particle size of solid
			 waste.
(51)
Significant
			 Interest
-- all persons or business concerns, holding more than 5
			 percent of equity or debt liability of a business, unless the debt liability is
			 held by a charter lending institution.
(52)
Sinkhole
-- a natural
			 depression formed as a result of subsurface removal of soil or rock materials
			 and causing the formation of a collapse feature that exhibits internal
			 drainage. The existence of a sinkhole is typically indicated by closed
			 depression contour lines on a United States Geological Survey 7.5-minute
			 quadrangle topographic map, or as determined by field investigation. A sinkhole
			 begins at the outer margins of the depression, as determined at the site by a
			 professional geologist.
(53)
Solid Waste Collection Fee Exemption -
permission to participate
			 in a mandatory solid waste collection service without payment of a fee granted
			 by the county commission or municipal governing body to households whose sole
			 source of income is social security benefits.
(54)
Solid Waste
-- any garbage,
			 rubbish, construction or demolition debris, ash, or sludge from a waste
			 treatment facility, water supply plant, or air pollution control facility, and
			 any other discarded materials, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained
			 gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, or agricultural
			 operations or community activities, or materials intended for or capable of
			 recycling, but which have not been diverted or removed from the solid waste
			 stream. The term "solid waste" does not include recovered materials, solid or
			 dissolved materials in domestic sewage, solid or dissolved material in
			 irrigation return flows, or industrial discharges which are point sources
			 subject to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits under
			 the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, or the Alabama Waste
			 Pollution Control Act, as amended, or the source, special nuclear, or
			 by-product materials as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.
			 Also excluded from this definition are land applications of crop residues,
			 animal manure, and ash resulting exclusively from the combustion of wood during
			 accepted agricultural operations, waste from silvicultural operations, or
			 refuse as defined and regulated pursuant to the Alabama Surface Mining Act of
			 1969, Article 1, commencing with Section 916-1, or Chapter 16 or Title 9. For
			 purposes of these rules, solid waste excludes medical waste and hazardous
			 waste.
(55)
State
--
			 the state of Alabama.
(56)
State Health Department
-- the Alabama Department of Public Health
			 as defined by
Code of Ala. 1975
, Section
			 22-2-1.
(57)
State Health Officer
-- the
			 Health Officer for the State of Alabama as set out in
Code of Ala.
			 1975
, Section
			 22-2-8, or the designee thereof,
			 as provided by law.
(58)
Surface Water
-- water above the surface of the ground, including,
			 but not limited to, waters of a bay, river, stream, watercourse, pond, lake,
			 swamp, wetland, spring or artesian well, located partially or wholly within the
			 state, including the Gulf of Mexico. Generally, these features exhibit some
			 characteristic(s) indicating a degree of permanence (i.e., a riverbank, a
			 depression that holds water for a few days after a rain, or a wet weather
			 spring does not qualify.).
(59)
Transfer Station
-- a facility, the primary purpose of which is to
			 store or hold solid waste for transport to a processing or disposal facility.
			 For purposes of these Rules, a transfer station does not include roadside
			 containers, dumpsters or roll-off compactors when they are being used to
			 fulfill the requirements of the
Code of Ala. 1975
,
			 Section 22-27-3(a)(1).
(60)
Transportation
-- the
			 movement of solid waste from the point of generation to a handling or disposal
			 facility or from one handling or disposal facility to another.
(61)
Transportation Unit
-- the
			 smallest containment housing that collectively makes up the whole of a
			 shipment, into which solid waste is placed for transporting. This includes, but
			 is not limited to, a single trailer load of compacted, loose-filled, or baled
			 solid waste, or a container into which solid waste is placed in compacted,
			 loose-filled or baled form; a railroad car filled with solid waste containing
			 garbage that is placed in compacted, loose-filled or baled form.
(62)
Transporter
-- a person or
			 public or private entity, engaged in the off-site transportation of solid
			 waste, but does not include a person transporting his own solid waste pursuant
			 to a Certificate of Exception issued by the appropriate regulatory
			 authority.
(63)
Unauthorized
			 Dump
-- any collection of solid wastes either dumped or caused to be
			 dumped or placed on any public or private property, whether or not regularly
			 used, and not having a permit from ADEM to do so. Abandoned automobiles, large
			 appliances, or similar large items of solid waste shall be considered as
			 forming an unauthorized dump within the meaning of these regulations. The
			 careless littering of a relatively few, smaller individual items such as tires,
			 bottles, cans, and the like shall not be considered an unauthorized dump,
			 unless the accumulation of the solid waste poses a threat to human health or
			 the environment. An unauthorized dump shall also mean any solid waste disposal
			 site which does not meet the regulatory provisions of the Solid Wastes and
			 Recyclable Materials Management Act.
(64)
Variance
-- an act of
			 varying from what is required and what is taking place; where the requirements
			 are being met in an alternative manner; or authorization to do some act
			 contrary to the usual rule.
(65)
Vector
-- an organism that can carry or transmit a human pathogen,
			 or human disease-causing agent, from one host to another.
(66)
Vehicle
- a type of
			 equipment that collects or transports solid waste that includes but is not
			 limited to trucks and trailers.
(67)
Vermin
-- any of the
			 various small animals or insects that are destructive, annoying, or injurious
			 to health, including, but not limited to, flies, cockroaches, rats, foxes, and
			 weasels.
(68)
Waiver
-- to waive or set aside a requirement.
(69)
Waters of the State (Water)
-- subsurface or surfaced ground water, including aquifers, and surface water
			 of a river, stream, watercourse, reservoir, pond, lake, or coast, wholly or
			 partially within the state, natural or artificial. This does not include waters
			 that are entirely confined and retained completely upon the property of a
			 single individual, partnership, or corporation unless the owner or others use
			 such waters in the conduct of interstate commerce.
(70)
Water Table Elevation
--
			 the upper limit of the portion of the ground wholly saturated with
			 water.
(71)
Wetland
--
			 a transitional area between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems that is
			 inundated or saturated for long enough periods to produce hydric soils and
			 support hydrophytic vegetation.
Authors:
Phyllis C. Mardis, Thad Pittman, Karen
				  Bishop, Dillon Bullard, Johnny Burrell; Matthew Conner; Ken Stephens
Statutory Authority:
Code of Ala.
				  1975
, §§
										22-2-2(6),
				  22-10-1
et
				  seq
., 22-27-1,
et seq
.