Rhode Island Code of Regulations › Title 250 - Department of Environmental Management › Chapter 140 - Waste and Materials Management › Subchapter 05 - Solid Waste › Part 8 - Solid Waste Regulation No.8, Rhode Island Organic Waste Recycling Facilities (Composting Regulations) › Section 250-RICR-140-05-8.6 - Large-Scale Leaf and Yard Waste Composting - Operating Standards

Current through June 14, 2024
A. General
§ 8.6 of this Part and its sub-paragraphs apply to
					 leaf and yard waste composting facilities that will have on site (at one or
					 more times during their existence) greater than 600 cubic yards of the
					 combination of collected uncomposted feedstock and feedstock that has been
					 placed into a composting process, excluding finished compost. Such leaf and
					 yard waste facilities shall meet all requirements set forth in this rule in
					 addition to the General Operating Standards in §
											1.5 of this
					 Subchapter.
B. Siting and
				  Buffers
1. No leaf and yard waste composting
				  facility shall be operated at any location unless at such location:
a. There are at least two hundred (200) feet
				  between the waste staging/storing, processing, curing, and finished compost
				  storage areas of the facility and any surface water.
b. There are at least one hundred (100) feet
				  between the waste staging/storing, processing, and curing areas of the facility
				  and the boundaries of the property at which the facility is located.
c. There are at least two hundred fifty (250)
				  feet between the waste staging/storing, processing, and curing areas of the
				  facility and any occupied building other than an owner occupied building on the
				  property at which the facility is located, except for facilities employing
				  passive windrow composting, where such distance shall be five hundred (500)
				  feet.
d. There are at least two (2)
				  feet vertically between the ground surface of the property at which the
				  facility is located and the seasonal high groundwater table.
e. There are at least three (3) feet
				  vertically between the ground surface of the property at which the facility is
				  located and the bedrock.
f. There
				  are at least two hundred (200) feet between the waste staging/storing,
				  processing, curing, and finished compost storage areas of the facility and any
				  bedrock public wells.
g. There are
				  at least two hundred (200) feet separation from private wells and one thousand
				  (1000) feet separation from gravel pack public wells (relative to the distance
				  between the waste staging/storing, processing, curing and finished compost
				  storage areas of the facility and such wells). The composting site shall not be
				  located on a public well field.
h.
				  Buffers, such as trees, walls, fences, natural or manmade topographic features
				  shall be installed to mitigate noise, dust, odors, litter and other potential
				  impacts on neighboring properties.
i. The composting site is not located on a
				  wellhead protection area (as defined in the Department's Groundwater Quality
				  Rules, Part 150-05-3 of this Title, delineated consistent with the wellhead
				  protection program for a public well. If the owner or applicant seeks a
				  variance from this requirement, then the Department will require demonstration
				  that leachate (if any) from the composting facility will not impact on the
				  groundwater supply, under terms of the variance.
j. A leaf and yard waste composting facility
				  which is located on top of a solid waste disposal area closed in accordance
				  with Part 2 of this Subchapter and
				  40 C.F.R. §
													258.60 (2017), incorporated in §
												1.3 of this Subchapter,
				  shall have composting conducted on a pad to prevent disruption of the landfill
				  cap and underlying waste. The pad shall be constructed of well-compacted,
				  well-drained soil. It shall be no less than two (2) feet thick and sloped at
				  two - five percent ( 2-5 %) to promote surface drainage. The pad shall be
				  constructed in addition to the minimum two (2) feet of final cover soil
				  required at all closed solid waste disposal
				  areas.