Rhode Island Code of Regulations › Title 250 - Department of Environmental Management › Chapter 140 - Waste and Materials Management › Subchapter 20 - Recycling and Special Waste › Part 3 - Rules and Regulations Governing the Administration and Enforcement of the Rhode Island Mercury Education and Reduction Act (250-RICR-140-20-3) › Section 250-RICR-140-20-3.4 - Definitions

Current through June 14, 2024
A. For the purposes of these regulations, the
				  following terms shall have the following meanings:
1. "Amalgam separator" means a device that
				  removes dental amalgam from the waste stream prior to discharge into either the
				  local public wastewater system or a private septic system located at the dental
				  facility and that has been certified as conforming to the standards of ISO
				  11143, Dental Equipment - Amalgam Separators.
2. "Authorized senior management official"
				  means a corporate official or the individual responsible for the overall
				  operation of a facility (or designated authorized agent of the facility) or an
				  operational unit of a facility, such as a plant manager, superintendent,
				  manager of environmental programs, or person of equivalent
				  responsibility.
3. "Capture rate"
				  means the annual removal, collection, and recovery of mercury switches, as a
				  percentage of the total number of mercury switches available for removal from
				  end-of-life vehicles as determined by the Department of Environmental
				  Management. Capture rate shall not include mercury switches that are
				  inaccessible due to significant damage to the motor vehicle in the area where
				  the mercury switch is located.
4.
				  "Component" means a mercury-added product that is incorporated into another
				  product to form a fabricated mercury-added product, including, but not limited
				  to, electrical switches and lamps.
5. "Component manufacturer" means any person
				  who produces a mercury-added product that is incorporated into another product,
				  including but not limited to electrical switches, relays, and lamps.
6. "Department" means the Rhode Island
				  Department of Environmental Management.
7. "Director" means the Director of the Rhode
				  Island Department of Environmental Management or his or her designee.
8. "Elemental mercury" means a heavy,
				  silvery-white metal that is liquid at room temperature and is represented by
				  the chemical symbol "Hg" with an atomic number of 80 and an atomic mass of
				  200.59.
9. "End-of-life motor
				  vehicle" means any vehicle that is sold, given, or otherwise conveyed to a
				  vehicle recycler or a scrap recycling facility for the purpose of
				  recycling.
10. "Fabricated
				  mercury-added product" means a product that consists of a combination of
				  individual components that combine to make a single unit, including, but not
				  limited to, mercury-added measuring devices, lamps and switches to which
				  mercury or a mercury compound is intentionally added in order to provide a
				  specific characteristic, appearance, or quality, or to perform a specific
				  function or for any other reason.
11. "Fluorescent lamp" means a low-pressure
				  mercury electric-discharge lamp in which a fluorescing coating (phosphor)
				  transforms some of the ultraviolet energy generated by the discharge into
				  light.
12. "Formulated
				  mercury-added product" means a product that includes, but is not limited to,
				  laboratory chemicals, cleaning products, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and coating
				  materials that are sold as a consistent mixture of chemicals to which mercury
				  or a mercury compound is intentionally added in order to provide a specific
				  characteristic, appearance, or quality, or to perform a specific function or
				  for any other reason.
13.
				  "Healthcare facility" means any hospital, nursing home, extended care facility,
				  long-term care facility, clinical or medical laboratory, state or private
				  health or mental institution, clinic, physician's office or health maintenance
				  organization.
14. "Interstate
				  mercury education and reduction clearinghouse" or "IMERC" means the program
				  established under the auspices of the Northeast Waste Management Officials'
				  Association (NEWMOA) to facilitate tasks and serve as a single point of contact
				  for the manufacturers, distributors, or importers of mercury-added products to
				  facilitate compliance with state requirements for these products.
15. "Laboratory chemical standards" means a
				  material or substance whose chemical properties are sufficiently homogeneous
				  and that are intended for use in the calibration of analytical instruments or
				  validating measurement techniques related to the assignment of mercury values,
				  (emphasis added).
16.
				  "Manufacturer" means manufacturer as defined in R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 23-24.9,
				  namely any person, firm, association, partnership, corporation, governmental
				  entity, organization, combination, or joint venture that produces a
				  mercury-added product or an importer or domestic distributor of a mercury-added
				  product produced in a foreign country. In the case of a multi-component
				  mercury-added product, the manufacturer is the last manufacturer to produce or
				  assemble the product. If the multi-component product is produced in a foreign
				  country, the manufacturer is the importer or domestic distributor.
17. "Mercury-added button cell battery" means
				  a button cell battery to which the manufacturer intentionally introduces
				  mercury for the operation of the battery.
18. "Mercury-added component" or "mercury
				  switch" means, for the purpose of §
											3.12 of this Part, a
				  mercury-added convenience light switch assembly or mercury containing capsule
				  from a convenience light switch from an end-of-life motor vehicle.
19. "Mercury-added novelty" means a
				  mercury-added product intended mainly for personal or household enjoyment or
				  adornment. Mercury-added novelties include, but are not limited to, items
				  intended for use as figurines, adornments, toys, games, cards, ornaments, yard
				  statues and figures, candles, jewelry, holiday decorations, items of apparel
				  (including footwear), or similar products.
20. "Mercury-added product" means a product,
				  commodity, chemical or a product with a component that contains mercury or a
				  mercury compound intentionally added to the product, commodity, chemical or
				  component in order to provide a specific characteristic, appearance, or
				  quality, or to perform a specific function or for any other reason. These
				  products include formulated mercury-added products and fabricated mercury-added
				  products.
21. "Mercury compound"
				  means a substance composed of elemental mercury and one or more other chemical
				  elements in fixed proportions.
22.
				  "Mercury fever thermometer" means a mercury-added product that is used for
				  measuring body temperature.
23.
				  "Motor vehicle" means every vehicle which is self-propelled or propelled by
				  electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires, but not operated upon
				  rails, except vehicles moved exclusively by human power, an EPAMD, electric
				  motorized bicycles and motorized wheelchairs (as defined in the R.I. Motor
				  Vehicle Code R.I. Gen. Laws §
											31-1-3).
24. "Offer for sale" or "use" means any
				  presentation for acceptance or rejection made by any means, including those
				  that are electronically conveyed.
25. "Person" means any individual, group of
				  individuals, firm, joint stock company, association, partnership, private or
				  municipal corporation, government or quasi-governmental corporation, state,
				  commission, political subdivision of the state, any interstate body, or the
				  federal government or any agency or subdivision thereof.
26. "Prescription" means a verbal or written
				  order for drugs, medicines and devices by a licensed practitioner, to be
				  compounded or dispensed by licensed pharmacists in a duly registered pharmacy,
				  and to be kept on file for a period of four (4) years. Prescriptions may also
				  apply to the finished products dispensed by the licensed pharmacists in the
				  registered pharmacy, on order of a licensed practitioner.
27. "Product category" means a group of
				  mercury-added products that have the same purpose for having the mercury in
				  each unit, the same consumer or commercial use, and an amount of mercury per
				  unit for all products that fall within the category.
28. "Provider of elemental mercury" means any
				  person that offers elemental mercury for sale or use or otherwise distributes
				  elemental mercury.
29. "Recipient
				  of elemental mercury" means any person who purchases or otherwise receives
				  elemental mercury.
30. "School"
				  means any public or private kindergarten, elementary, secondary, or secondary
				  vocation-technical school or Head Start facility or other institution for the
				  teaching of children in Rhode Island.
31. "Scrap recycling facility" means a fixed
				  location where machinery and equipment are utilized for processing and
				  manufacturing scrap metal into prepared grades and whose principal product is
				  scrap iron, scrap steel, or nonferrous metallic scrap for sale for re-melting
				  purposes.
32. "Vehicle recycler"
				  means an individual or entity required to be licensed under the provisions of
				  R.I. Gen. Laws §
											42-14.2-3 that engages in the
				  business of acquiring, dismantling, parts recycling from, or destroying six (6)
				  or more end-of-life vehicles in a calendar year.