Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 567 - Environmental Protection Commission › Title VIII - Solid Waste Management and Disposal › Chapter 105 - Organic Materials Composting Facilities › Rule 567-105.1 - General

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
This chapter shall apply to the composting of solid and yard
				  wastes. Composting facilities may include vermicomposting, turned windrows,
				  aerated static piles, aerated in-vessel systems, or other methods approved by
				  the department. Composting facilities existing as of June 19, 2002, must comply
				  with the requirements of this chapter within two years or by the permit renewal
				  date, whichever is later.
(1)
				Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:
"Agricultural waste"
means organic materials
				  normally discarded during the production of plants and animals from agronomic,
				  horticultural or silvicultural operations. "Agricultural waste" includes but is
				  not limited to manure, crop residuals, bedding, and other vegetative
				  by-products produced during farm processing. Dead animals are not
				  included.
"Best management practices"
means the
				  practices described in the most recent version of the Compost Facility
				  Operating Guide published by the United States Composting Council or other best
				  management practices as approved by the department.
"Bulking agent"
means a material that
				  contributes structure and porosity, usually a dry, rigid material such as
				  shredded wood or tire chips.
"Compostable"
means an organic material that
				  undergoes degradation by biological processes during composting to yield carbon
				  dioxide, water, inorganic compounds and biomass.
"Compostable plastics"
means a plastic that
				  undergoes degradation by biological processes at a rate consistent with other
				  known compostable materials and leaves no visually distinguishable or toxic
				  residue. Testing according to ASTM D6400-00 criteria should be used to
				  designate compostable plastics.
"Composting"
means the accelerated
				  biological decomposition of organic matter under managed aerobic conditions
				  resulting in a stable, innocuous final product.
"Composting facility"
means all related
				  receiving, processing, production, curing, and storage areas and necessary
				  roads, buildings, equipment, litter control devices, pollution control devices,
				  fire control devices, landscaping, gates, personnel and maintenance facilities,
				  sewer and water lines, and process water.
"Compost leachate"
means a liquid that has
				  percolated through or drained from compost.
"Compost maturity,"
according to Test
				  Methods for the Examination of Composting and Compost (TMECC), means an
				  organo-chemical state of compost that indicates the presence or lack of organic
				  phytotoxic chemicals in stable compost. Measurements for maturity are based on
				  the amount of volatile fatty acids present. Mature compost will have fatty
				  acids of no more than 2 mg/g dry weight solids or as specified in the most
				  recent version of TMECC.
"Compost stability,"
according to TMECC,
				  means a stage in the composting process when microbial activity is diminished
				  with the corresponding decrease of available organic carbon and other energy
				  sources. Stability is measured through respiration. Stable compost will have
				  oxygen uptake rates in the range of 0-3.5 mg O2/g
				  BVS/hr. or as specified in the most recent version of TMECC.
"Cured compost"
means compost that is both
				  stable and mature according to the definitions found in this chapter.
"Curing"
means a process in which compost is
				  further monitored to control pathogen regrowth while increasing stability and
				  maturity.
"Finished compost"
means cured and, if
				  necessary, screened or refined.
"Household organic waste"
means general
				  household compostable items such as food residuals and paper produced on
				  premises.
"Infectious waste"
means waste that is
				  infectious, including but not limited to contaminated sharps, cultures, and
				  stocks of infectious agents, blood and blood products, pathological waste, and
				  contaminated animal carcasses from hospitals or research laboratories.
"Municipality"
means any city or county in
				  the state.
"Nuisance"
means whatever is injurious to
				  health, indecent, or unreasonably offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to
				  the free use of property, so as essentially to unreasonably interfere with the
				  comfortable enjoyment of life or property, and a civil action by ordinary
				  proceedings may be brought to enjoin and abate the same and to recover damages
				  sustained on account thereof.
"Organic materials"
means any material of
				  animal or plant origin.
"Premises"
means a geographically contiguous
				  property owned by a generator or noncontiguous property owned by a generator
				  and that is connected by a controlled right-of-way to which the public does not
				  have access. Two or more pieces of property that are geographically contiguous
				  and divided by public or private right-of-way are a single premises.
"Small compost facilities"
means facilities
				  meeting the requirements set forth in rule
				  567-1055.
				  (455B,455D).
"Solid waste composting"
means the
				  composting of any organic material with or without yard waste. For the purposes
				  of this chapter, facilities exempt under
				  567-1052. (455B,455D)
				  are not considered solid waste composting facilities. In addition, facilities
				  in compliance with
				  567-1054.
				  (455B,455D), 567- 105.5(455B,455D) or 567- 105.6(455B,455D) are not considered
				  solid waste composting facilities. Only facilities that are required to obtain
				  or have a permit are considered solid waste composting facilities.
"Vector"
means a carrier organism that is
				  capable of transmitting a pathogen from one organism to another. Vectors
				  include, but are not limited to, birds, rats and other rodents, and
				  insects.
"Yard waste"
means vegetative matter such as
				  grass clippings, leaves, garden waste, brush and trees, and any clean wood
				  waste which is necessary as bulking agent and which is free of coatings and
				  preservatives.
(2) There
				are three different levels of compost facility regulation:
a. Exempt operations in accordance with
				567-105.2(455B,455D).
b. Permit by
				rule. Yard waste composting facilities are exempt from permitting if operated
				in conformance with 567- 105.3(455B,455D) and
				567-1054.
				(455B,455D). Facilities that compost dead farm animals are exempt from
				permitting if operated in conformance with
				567-1053.
				(455B,455D) and
				567-1056.
				(455B,455D). Small quantity solid waste compost operations as defined in
				567-1055.
				(455B,455D) are exempt from permitting if operated in conformance with
				567-1053.
				(455B,455D) and 567- 105.5(455B,455D).
c. Solid waste composting. Solid waste
				composting facilities must obtain a permit from the department. Solid waste
				composting facilities involving municipal sewage sludge shall also operate in
				conformance with 567-Chapter 67.