Rhode Island Code of Regulations › Title 250 - Department of Environmental Management › Chapter 40 - Agriculture and Resource Marketing › Subchapter 20 - Marketing › Part 3 - Rules and Regulations for Agricultural Composting (250-RICR-40-20-3) › Section 250-RICR-40-20-3.6 - Agricultural Composting - Operating Standards

Current through June 14, 2024
A. Agricultural
				  composting facilities shall prohibit and prevent the illegal dumping of waste
				  materials at such agricultural composting facility.
B. Composting operations shall comply with
				  all state and local regulations governing agricultural composting including
				  those which relate to siting requirements.
C. The operating of the agricultural
				  composting facility must be done in a manner to minimize odors, noise, drift of
				  materials, and risk to humans or the environment.
D. If an agricultural compost operator
				  produces compost for marketing as a soil amendment, this operation shall be
				  subject to the Rhode Island Fertilizer Law, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 2-7 and
				  Rhode Island Soil Amendment Law, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 2-22.
E. Only clean uncontaminated, source
				  separated, organic materials as listed in §§
										3.5(B), (C) or
				  (E) of this Part may be composted on an
				  agricultural composting facility. Materials such as sewage sludge, and/or
				  construction and demolition debris are prohibited from being composted at an
				  agricultural composting facility and any utilization of these materials on an
				  agricultural unit must be approved by the Office of Water Resources and/or the
				  Office of Waste Management.
F.
				  On-farm composting operators who accept off-farm compostable material and who
				  are determined by the Division of Agriculture not to be using best management
				  practices at their agricultural composting facility as stated in the On-Farm
				  Composting Handbook (NRAES-54, June 1992, ISBN: 0-935817-19-0) distributed by
				  the Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Service (NRAES), formerly
				  known as the Northeast Regional Agricultural Engineering Service, shall not be
				  permitted to register their agricultural composting facility with the Division
				  of Agriculture. These Agricultural Composting operators must come into
				  compliance and establish that they are using best management practices at their
				  agricultural composting facility within sixty (60) days of notification that
				  they are not using best management practices. Any person who fails to come into
				  compliance within the sixty (60) days will be referred to the appropriate
				  Department Office for action.
G. No
				  agricultural composting facility shall be larger than 20% of the total land
				  mass of the agricultural unit that is in agricultural production.
H. Agricultural composting facilities that
				  compost putrescible wastes may only accept putrescible waste from October 1
				  through March 31. If it is determined by the Division of Agriculture that the
				  operator of an agricultural composting facility has at least 3 years of
				  experience of successful composting of putrescible waste, the operator may
				  request approval from the Division of Agriculture to extend the period for
				  accepting putrescible waste, provided that the operator is able to take
				  preventative measures to mitigate off-farm odors from the composting
				  operation.
I. An agricultural
				  composting facility operator who accepts off-farm putrescible waste must have
				  and implement a stormwater run-off plan as well as develop and utilize a
				  drainage system to prevent sediment or run-off water from migrating off-site.
				  The plan must be in effect before accepting any putrescible waste. The storm
				  water run-off plan must be in accordance with planning standards that achieve
				  local, state and federal water-quality criteria. This runoff plan can contain
				  one or more component "best management practices" which are part of the overall
				  plan. These component practices must be in accordance with United States
				  Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Conservation
				  Practice Standard for Rhode Island, Composting Facility, Code 317.
J. All agricultural composting facilities
				  shall comply with their operation and maintenance plan.