The following words, when used in this Part, shall have the meanings
ascribed to them in this section, except in those instances where
the context clearly indicates otherwise. In this Part, the singular
shall include the plural, and the masculine shall include the feminine
and the neuter.
ABATEMENT
The restoration, reclamation or recovery of a natural resource
adversely affected by the activity of a person.
AGRICULTURAL WASTE
Poultry and livestock manure, or residual materials in liquid
or solid form generated in the production and marketing of poultry,
livestock, fur-bearing animals, and their products, provided that
such agricultural waste is not hazardous. The term includes the residual
materials generated in producing, harvesting, and marketing of all
agronomic, horticultural, aquacultural and silvicultural crops or
commodities grown on what are usually recognized and accepted as farms,
forests, or other agricultural lands. (The term also includes materials
in liquid or solid form generated in the production and marketing
of fish or fish hatcheries.)
ACT 97
The Pennsylvania Solid Waste Management Act of 1980 (P.L.
380, No. 97, July 7, 1980) (see 35 P. S. § 6018.101 et seq.,
as amended).
ACT 101
The Pennsylvania Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and
Waste Reduction Act (SB 528, Act 1988-101, July 1988) (see 53 P.S.
§ 4000.101 et seq., as amended).
ALUMINUM
All empty aluminum beverage or food cans.
AQUACULTURE
The practice of raising plants or animals, such as fish or
shellfish, in man-made or natural bodies of water.
BENEFICIAL USE
Use or reuse of residual waste or residual material derived
from residual waste for commercial, industrial or governmental purposes,
where the use does not harm or threaten public health, safety, welfare
or the environment.
BIMETAL CONTAINERS
Empty food or beverage containers consisting of two metals,
such as steel and aluminum or steel and tin.
BULKY WASTE
Large items of solid waste, including, but not limited to,
appliances, furniture, large auto parts, trees, branches or stumps,
which may require special handling due to their size, shape or weight.
COMBUSTIBLE REFUSE
All paper, straw, excelsior, rags, rubbish, shoes and such
other refuse as may result from ordinary housekeeping or commercial
pursuits and which may be burned.
COMMERCIAL ESTABLISHMENT
Any establishment engaged in nonmanufacturing or nonprocessing
business, including, but not limited to, stores, markets, office buildings,
restaurants, shopping centers and theaters.
COMMISSION
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and its authorized
representatives.
COMMONWEALTH AGENCY
The commonwealth and its departments, boards, commissions
and agencies, commonwealth-owned universities, and the State Public
School Building Authority, the State Highway and Bridge Authority,
and any other authority now in existence or hereafter created or organized
by the commonwealth.
COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
Events that are sponsored by public or private agencies or
individuals, which include, but are not limited to, fairs, bazaars,
socials, picnics and organized sporting events attended by 200 or
more individuals per day.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION WASTE
Solid waste resulting from the construction or demolition
of buildings and other structures, including, but not limited to,
wood, plaster, metals, asphaltic substances, bricks, block and unsegregated
concrete. The term does not include the following if they are separate
from other waste and are used as clean fill:
A.
Uncontaminated soil, rock, stone, gravel, brick and block and
concrete and used asphalt.
B.
Waste from land clearing, grubbing and excavation, including
trees, brush, stumps and vegetative materials.
CORRUGATED PAPER
Structural paper material with an inner core shaped in rigid
parallel furrows and ridges.
DEPARTMENT
The Department of Environmental Protection of the commonwealth
and its authorized representatives.
DISPOSAL
The incineration, deposition, injection, dumping, spilling,
leaking, or placing of solid waste into or on the land or water in
a manner that the solid waste enters the environment, is emitted into
the air or is discharged to the waters of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
FACILITY
All land, structures and other appurtenances or improvements
where municipal or residual waste disposal or processing is permitted
or takes place, or where hazardous waste is treated, stored or disposed.
FOOD PROCESSING WASTE
Residual materials in liquid or solid form generated in the
slaughtering of poultry and livestock or in processing and converting
fish, seafood, milk, meat, and eggs to food products; it also means
residual materials generated in the processing, converting, or manufacturing
of fruits, vegetables, crops and other commodities into marketable
food items.
GARBAGE
All table, refuse, animal and vegetable matter, offal from
meat, fish and fowl, vegetables and fruits and parts thereof, and
other articles and materials ordinarily used for food and which have
become unfit for such use or which are for any reason discarded or
the animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, preparation,
cooking, and consumption of foods.
GLASS CONTAINERS
Bottles and jars made of clear, green or brown glass. Expressly
excluded are noncontainer glass, plate glass, automotive glass, light
bulbs, blue glass and porcelain and ceramic products.
HIGH-GRADE OFFICE PAPER
Bond, copier, letterhead or mimeograph paper typically sold
as "white ledger" paper and computer paper.
HOST MUNICIPALITY
The municipality other than the county within which a municipal
waste landfill or resource-recovery facility is located or is proposed
to be located.
INCOMBUSTIBLE REFUSE
All discarded articles or materials, except sewage, liquid
waste, garbage and combustible refuse.
INDUSTRIAL ESTABLISHMENT
Any establishment engaged in manufacturing or processing,
including, but not limited to, factories, foundries, mills, processing
plants, refineries, mines and slaughterhouses.
LEAF WASTE
Leaves from trees, bushes, shrubs and other plants, garden
residues, chipped or clipped shrubbery and tree trimmings, but not
including grass clippings.
LOCAL PUBLIC AGENCY
A.
Counties, cities, boroughs, towns, school districts and any
other authority now in existence or hereafter created or organized
by the commonwealth.
B.
All municipal or school or other authorities now in existence
or hereafter created or organized by any county, city, borough, or
school district, or any combination thereof.
C.
Any and all other public bodies, authorities, councils of government,
officers, or agencies or instrumentalities of the foregoing, whether
exercising a governmental or proprietary function.
MANAGEMENT
The entire process, or any part thereof, of storage, collection,
transportation, processing, treatment and disposal of solid wastes
by any person engaging in such process.
MUNICIPAL ESTABLISHMENT
Public facilities operated by the municipality and other
governmental and quasi-governmental authorities.
MUNICIPAL RECYCLING PROGRAM
A source-separation and collection program for recycling
municipal waste or source-separated recyclable materials, or a program
for designated dropoff points or collection centers for recycling
municipal waste of source-separated recyclable materials, that is
operated by or on behalf of a municipality. The term includes any
source-separation and collection program for composting yard, waste
that is operated by or on behalf of a municipality. The term shall
not include any program for recycling construction/demolition waste
or sludge from sewage treatment plants or water supply treatment plants.
MUNICIPAL WASTE
Any garbage, refuse, industrial lunchroom or office waste
and other material, including solid, liquid, semisolid or contained
gaseous material, resulting from operation of residential, municipal,
commercial or institutional establishments and from community activities;
and any sludge not meeting the definition of residual or hazardous
waste under Act 97 from a municipal, commercial or institutional water
supply treatment plant, wastewater treatment plant, or air-pollution
control facility. The term does not include source-separated recyclable
materials.
MUNICIPAL WASTE LANDFILL
Any facility that is designated, operated or maintained for
the disposal of municipal waste, whether or not such facility possesses
a permit from the Department under the Solid Waste Management Act.
The term shall not include any facility that is used exclusively for
disposal of construction/demolition waste or sludge from sewage treatments
plants or water supply treatment plants.
NEWSPAPER
Paper of the type commonly referred to as "newsprint" and
distributed at fixed intervals, having printed thereon news and opinions,
containing advertisements and other matters of public interest.
OCCUPIED DWELLING
A permanent structure, building or fixed mobile home that
is currently being used on a regular or temporary basis for human
habitation.
OPERATOR
A person engaged in solid waste processing or disposal. Where
more than one is so engaged in a single operation, all persons shall
be deemed jointly and severally responsible for compliance with the
provisions of this Part.
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, corporation, association, institution,
cooperative enterprise, municipal authority, federal government or
agency, state institution or agency, or any other legal entity which
is recognized by law as the subject of rights and duties. In any provisions
of this Part prescribing a fine, imprisonment or penalty, or any combination
of the foregoing, the term "person" shall include the officers, directors
and members of any corporation or other legal entity having officers,
directors and/or members.
PLASTIC CONTAINERS
Any empty plastic food and beverage containers accepted by
the collector or contractor. Due to the wide variety of types of plastics,
the municipality may stipulate specific types of plastic which may
be recycled.
POLLUTION
Contamination of any air, water, land or other natural resources
of this commonwealth that will create or is likely to create a public
nuisance or to render the air, water, land or other natural resources
harmful, detrimental or injurious to public health, safety or welfare,
or to domestic, municipal, commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational
or other legitimate beneficial uses, or to livestock, wild animals,
birds, fish or other life.
PROCESSING
Any technology used for the purpose of reducing the volume
or bulk of municipal or residual waste or any technology used to convert
part or all of such waste materials for off-site reuse. Processing
facilities include, but are not limited to, transfer facilities, composting
facilities and resource-recovery facilities. The term does not include
a collection or processing center that is only for source-separated
recyclable materials, including clear glass, colored glass, aluminum,
steel and bimetallic cans, high-grade office paper, newsprint, corrugated
paper and plastics.
PUBLIC NUISANCE
Any violation of any provision of this Part, rule or regulation
of any government agency, order of the Department or any term and
condition of any permit shall constitute a public nuisance.
RECYCLABLE MATERIALS
Materials generated by residences and commercial, municipal
and institutional establishments which can be separated from municipal
waste and returned to commerce to be reused as a resource in the development
of useful products. Recyclable materials may include, but are not
necessarily limited to, clear glass, colored glass, aluminum, steel
and bimetallic cans, high-grade office paper, newsprint, corrugated
paper, leaf waste, plastics, and other items selected by the municipality
or specified in future revisions to Act 101. The recyclable materials
selected by the municipality may be revised from time to time as deemed
necessary by the municipality.
RECYCLING
The collection, separation, recovery and sale or reuse of
metals, glass, paper, leaf waste, plastics and other materials which
would otherwise be disposed of or processed as municipal waste, or
the mechanical separation and treatment of municipal waste (other
than through combustion) and creation and recovery of reusable materials
other than as fuel for the operation of energy.
RECYCLING FACILITY
A facility employing a technology that is a process that
separates or classifies municipal waste and creates or recovers reusable
materials that can be sold to or reused by a manufacturer as a substitute
or a supplement to virgin raw materials. The term "recycling facility"
shall not mean transfer stations or landfills for solid waste nor
composting facilities or resource-recovery facilities.
REFUSE
All solid waste materials which are discharged as useless.
RESIDENCES
Any occupied single or multifamily dwellings or structures
having up to four dwelling units per structure for which the municipality
provides municipal waste collection service.
RESIDUAL WASTE
Any garbage, refuse, other discharged material or other waste,
including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous materials,
resulting from industrial, mining or agricultural water supply treatment,
a wastewater treatment facility or an air-pollution control facility,
provided that it is not hazardous. The term "residual waste" shall
not include coal refuse as defined in the Coal Refuse Disposal Control
Act (see 52 P.S. § 30.51 et seq.). Residual waste shall
not include treatment sludges from coal mine drainage treatment plants,
disposal of which is being carried on pursuant to and in compliance
with a valid permit issued pursuant to the Act of June 11, 1937 (P.L.
1987, No. 394), known as the "Clean Streams Law" (see 35 P.S. § 691.1
et seq.).
RESOURCE-RECOVERY FACILITY
A processing facility that provides for the extraction and
utilization of materials or energy from municipal waste that is generated
off site, including, but not limited to, a facility that mechanically
extracts materials from municipal waste, a combustion facility that
converts the organic fraction of municipal waste to usable energy,
and any chemical and biological process that converts municipal waste
into a fuel product. The term also includes any facility for the combustion
of municipal waste that is generated off site, whether or not the
facility is operated to recover energy. The term does not include:
any composting facility; methane gas extraction from a municipal waste
landfill; any separation and collection center, dropoff point or collection
center for recycling, or any source-separation or collection center
for composting leaf waste; and any facility, including all units in
the facility, with a total processing capacity of less than 50 tons
per day.
SCAVENGING
The unauthorized and uncontrolled removal of material placed
for collection or from a solid waste processing or disposal facility.
SEWAGE TREATMENT RESIDUES
Any coarse screenings, grit and dewatered or air-dried sludges
from sewage treatment plants and pumpings from septic tanks or septage
which are a municipal solid waste and require proper disposal under
Act 97, as amended.
SOLID WASTE
Any waste, including, but not limited to, municipal, residual
or hazardous wastes, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained
gaseous material. The term does not include coal ash or drill cuttings.
STORAGE
The containment of any waste on a temporary basis in such
a manner as not to constitute disposal of such. It shall be presumed
that the containment of any waste in excess of one year constitutes
disposal. The presumption can be overcome by clear and convincing
evidence to the contrary.
TRANSFER STATION/TRANSFER FACILITY
A facility which receives and processes or temporarily stores
municipal or residual waste at a location other than the generation
site, and which facilitates the transportation or transfer of municipal
or residual waste to a processing or disposal facility. The term includes
a facility that uses a method or technology to convert part or all
such waste materials for off-site reuse. The term does not include
a collection or processing center that is only for source-separated
recyclable materials, including clear glass, colored glass, aluminum,
steel and bimetallic cans, high-grade office paper, newsprint, corrugated
paper and plastics.
WASTE REDUCTION
Design, manufacture or use of a product to minimize weight
of municipal waste that requires processing or disposal, including,
but not limited to:
A.
Design or manufacturing activities which minimize the weight
or volume of materials contained in a product, or increase durability
or recyclability; and
B.
Use of products that contain as little material as possible,
are capable of being reused or recycled or have an extended useful
life.