This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Municipal
Waste Collection and Recycling Ordinance."
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
Events that are sponsored by public or private agencies or
individuals, including but not limited to fairs, bazaars, socials,
picnics and organized sporting events attended by 200 or more individuals
per day.
DEP
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
INSTITUTIONAL ESTABLISHMENT
Those facilities that house or serve groups of people, including
but not limited to hospitals, schools, day-care centers and nursing
homes.
LEAF WASTE
Leaves, garden residues, shrubbery and tree trimmings, and
similar material, but not including grass clippings.
MUNICIPAL WASTE
Any garbage, refuse, industrial lunchroom of office waste
and other material, including solid, liquid, semisolid or contained
gaseous materials, resulting from operation of residential, municipal,
commercial or institutional establishments and from community activities,
and any sludge not meeting the definition of "residual waste" or "hazardous
waste" in Act 97, P.L. 380, No. 97, and Act 101, 53 P.S. 4000.101 et seq., respectively, from
a municipal, commercial or institutional water supply treatment plant,
wastewater treatment plant or air pollution control facility but excluding
source-separated recyclables.
MUNICIPAL WASTE COLLECTOR
Any collector, remover, transporter, and/or hauler of municipal
waste and/or recyclable materials in the Township and registered pursuant
to this chapter and the regulations established by resolution adopted
by Whitpain Township.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, association,
institution, cooperative enterprise, trust, municipal authority, federal
institution or agency, state institution or agency, municipality,
other governmental agency or any other legal entity or any group of
such persons whatsoever which is recognized by law as the subject
of rights and duties. In any provision of this chapter prescribing
a fine, penalty or imprisonment, or any combination of the foregoing,
the term "person" shall mean the officers and directors of any corporation
or other legal entity having officers and directors.
RECYCLABLE MATERIALS
Those materials required to be recycled pursuant to this
chapter or the provisions of regulations established by resolution
adopted hereunder, as revised from time to time.
RESIDENT
Any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, association,
institution, cooperative enterprise, trust, municipal authority, federal
institution or agency, state institution or agency, municipality,
other governmental agency or any other legal entity or any group of
such persons whatsoever which is recognized by law as the subject
of rights and duties, which owns, leases or occupies a property located
in Whitpain Township used as a residence and containing four or fewer
dwelling units.
SOURCE-SEPARATED RECYCLABLES
Materials that are separated from municipal waste at the
point of origin for the purpose of recycling or composting.
WHITE GOODS
Refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, window air conditioners,
hot-water heaters and other major home appliances.
The following provisions apply to the separation and collection
of materials from commercial, institutional and municipal establishments,
multifamily housing and sponsors or organizers of community activities
throughout the Township:
A. Separation.
(1) Recyclable materials.
(a)
All owners and occupants of commercial, institutional or municipal
establishments shall separate the following recycling materials: corrugated
paper, office papers, newsprint, aluminum and leaf waste. Persons
in multifamily housing (which includes independent and assisted living
facilities) and sponsors or organizers of community activities in
Whitpain Township shall separate the following recyclable materials:
plastic, colored glass, clear glass, bimetal and steel, corrugated
paper, office papers, newsprint, aluminum and leaf waste. Persons
owning and/or operating commercial, institutional and municipal establishments,
multifamily housing and sponsors or organizers of community activities
shall be responsible for providing a system to source-separate recyclable
materials from the municipal waste generated at their property. This
system should be developed with the assistance of the municipal waste
collector.
(b)
Each person who owns a multifamily unit or nonresidential unit
shall:
[1]
Provide recycling containers at easily accessible locations
for source separation of designated recyclable materials;
[2]
Provide written instructions to all persons occupying each multifamily
unit and nonresidential unit to ensure that all designated recyclable
materials are source-separated; and
[3]
Provide collection and delivery to a facility of source-separated
designated recyclable materials at a frequency of not less than once
per month.
(2) Leaf waste. All persons owning multifamily, commercial, institutional
or municipal establishments who gather leaves and are not served by
the Township's leaf collection program, if any, shall arrange
for the separation of leaf waste from municipal waste and recyclable
materials for recycling/composting of leaf waste at a composting facility
operating in accordance with DEP regulations and guidelines for leaf
composting facilities.
B. Collection. The method of collection of the recyclable materials
for disposition shall be the responsibility of the person who generates
the recyclable materials (i.e., generator) or a municipal waste collector
designated by the generator for the collection and marketing and recycling
of its recyclable material.
C. Recycling reports. Recycling reports for multifamily housing, commercial,
municipal and institutional properties and community activities:
(1) The owner of every multifamily housing property and every commercial,
municipal and institutional establishment and community activity sponsor
shall complete a form to be designated "Recycling Report," to be provided
by the Township, or its designee, which shall indicate where the property's
recyclable materials were delivered or by whom such materials were
collected. Such report shall provide information on the type and amount
of each material recycled. The recycling report and all weigh slips
obtained from the facility or facilities to which the recyclable materials
are delivered or taken shall be submitted quarterly to the Township.
For purposes of submitting such weigh slips and recycling reports
quarterly to the Township, the municipal waste collector who removed
the recyclable materials from the property may be the agent for the
owner of the property or sponsor of the activity and shall be responsible
for completing and submitting such to the Township. Each quarterly
recycling report shall be submitted on or before the last day of the
first month of each quarter, for the preceding quarter. Quarters shall
run on a calendar-year basis thus: January through March; April through
June; July through September; and October through December.
D. Prohibition. No person shall mix municipal waste in containers to
be used for the separation and collection of recyclable materials.
No person shall mix recyclable materials or leaf waste in containers
used for the separation and collection of municipal waste.
Every residence, commercial establishment and institutional
establishment in Whitpain Township shall contract with an individual,
entity or firm which is a licensed municipal waste collector by the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Protection,
to have all the municipal waste and recyclable materials generated
on the premises by any of the occupants of the premises removed and
disposed of in accordance with this chapter.
Additional rules and regulations for the collection of municipal
waste and recyclable materials by municipal waste collectors, and
the preparation for collection of municipal waste and recyclable materials
and leaf waste by property owners and residents of the Township, may
be made, from time to time, by the Board of Supervisors of Whitpain
Township, in order to carry out the intent and purpose of this chapter.
Such rules and regulations shall be approved by resolution of the
Board of Supervisors of Whitpain Township and, when so approved, shall
have the same force and effect as the provisions of this chapter.
The said rules and regulations may be amended, modified or replaced
by resolution of the Board of Supervisors of Whitpain Township.
Any person who violates any provision of this chapter, or of
the rules and regulations adopted hereunder, or any person who knowingly
commits, takes part in or assists in any such violation shall, upon
conviction thereof in a summary proceeding, be sentenced to pay a
fine of not more than $1,000 and not less than $50. Each day on which
a violation of this chapter, or of the rules and regulations adopted
hereunder, continues shall constitute a separate offense punishable
by a like fine or penalty. In addition to this penalty, the Township
may institute any appropriate action or proceeding, whether by legal
process or otherwise, to prevent any illegal act, conduct, business
or use on or about such premises subject to this chapter.
The provisions of this chapter are intended to be severable,
and if any section, sentence, clause, part or provision hereof shall
be held illegal, invalid or unconstitutional by any court of competent
jurisdiction, such decision of the court shall not affect or impair
the remaining sections, sentences, clauses, parts or provisions of
this chapter. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the Board
that this chapter would have been adopted even if such illegal, invalid
or unconstitutional section, sentence, clause, part or provision had
not been included herein.
The failure of the Township to enforce any provision of this
chapter shall not constitute a waiver by the Township of its rights
of future enforcement hereunder.