Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024
Section 33-2-2 - DefinitionsThe following definitions shall apply to this rule unless otherwise specified herein:
2.1. "Agricultural Land" is land on which a food crop, feed crop, or fiber crop is grown. This includes, but is not limited to, range land and land used as pasture. 2.2. "Agronomic rate" means the whole sewage sludge application rate, by dry weight, designed: (1) To provide the amount of nitrogen needed by the food crop, feed crop, fiber crop, cover crop or vegetation on the land; and (2) To minimize the amount of nitrogen in the sewage sludge that passes below the root zone of the crop or vegetation grown on the land to the ground water. 2.3. "Applicant" means the person applying for a commercial solid waste facility permit or similar renewal permit and any person related to such person by virtue of common ownership, common management or family relationships as the director may specify, including the following: spouses, parents, children and siblings. 2.4. "Approved solid waste facility" means a solid waste facility or practice which has a valid permit under W. Va. Code § 22-15-1 et seq. 2.5. "Backhauling" means the practice of using the same container to transport solid waste and to transport any substance or material used as food by humans, animals raised for human consumption or reusable item which may be refilled with any substance or material used as food by humans.2.6. "Bulking Agent" means materials mixed or composted with sewage sludge such as yard waste, wood chips, leaves and other living or dead plant tissues approved by the chief as suitable to promote the passage of air through a static pile or windrow. 2.7. "Bulk Sewage Sludge Product" is a material derived from sewage sludge that is sold or given away in quantities exceeding one metric ton. 2.8. "Chief" means the chief of the Office of Waste Management of the Division. 2.9. "Class A facility" means a commercial solid waste facility which handles an aggregate of between ten thousand and thirty thousand tons of solid waste per month. Class A facility includes two or more Class B solid waste landfills owned or operated by the same person in the same county, if the aggregate tons of solid waste handled per month by such landfills exceeds nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine tons of solid waste per month. 2.10. "Class B facility" means a commercial solid waste facility which receives or is expected to receive an average daily quantity of mixed solid waste equal to or exceeding one hundred tons each working day, or serves or is expected to serve a population equal to or exceeding forty thousand persons, but which does not receive solid waste exceeding an aggregate of ten thousand tons per month. Class B facilities do not include construction/demolition facilities.2.11. "Commercial composting facility" means any solid waste facility processing solid waste by composting, including sludge composting, organic waste or yard waste composting, but does not include a composting facility owned and operated by a person for the sole purpose of composting waste created by that person or such person and other persons on a cost-sharing or nonprofit basis and shall not include land upon which finished or matured compost is applied for use as a soil amendment or conditioner.2.12. "Commercial recycler" means any person, corporation or business entity whose operation involves the mechanical separation of materials for the purpose of reselling or recycling at least seventy percent (70%) by weight of the materials coming into the commercial recycling facility.2.13. "Commercial solid waste facility" means any solid waste facility which accepts solid waste generated by sources other than the owner or operator of the facility and does not include an approved solid waste facility owned and operated by a person for the sole purpose of the disposal, processing, or composting of solid wastes created by that person or such person and other persons on a cost-sharing or nonprofit basis and shall not include land upon which reused or recycled materials are legitimately applied for structural fill, road base, mine reclamation and similar applications.2.14. "Compost" means a humus like material resulting from aerobic, microbial, thermophilic decomposition of organic materials. 2.15. "Composting" means the aerobic, thermophilic decomposition of natural constituents of solid waste to produce a stable, humus-like material. 2.16. "Cured compost" or "finished compost" means compost which has a very low microbial or decomposition rate which will not reheat or cause odors when put into storage and that has been put through a separate aerated curing cycle stage of thirty to sixty days after the initial composting cycle or compost which meets all regulatory requirements after the initial composting cycle. 2.17. "Curing area" means an area where organic material that has undergone the rapid initial stage of decomposition is further stabilized into a humus-like material. 2.18. "Director" means the director of the division of environmental protection or such person to whom the director has delegated authority or duties pursuant to Chapter 22, Article 1 of the W. Va. Code. 2.19. "Distributor" is a person who prepares the product for distribution and marketing and is responsible for distributing and marketing the product. 2.20. "Division" means the Division of Environmental Protection.2.21. "Domestic septage" means either liquid or solid material (septage) removed from a septic tank, cesspool, portable toilet, Type III marine sanitation device, or similar treatment works that receives only domestic sewage. Domestic septage does not include liquid or solid material removed from a septic tank, cesspool, or similar treatment works that receives either commercial wastewater or industrial wastewater and does not include grease removed from a grease trap at a restaurant. 2.22. "Energy recovery incinerator" means any solid waste facility at which solid waste is incinerated with the intention of using the resulting energy for the generation of steam, electricity or any other use not specified herein. 2.23. "Exceptional Quality Compost" means compost resulting from sewage sludge, which compost meets the Table 1 metal limits of this rule and which has been treated to achieve Class A pathogen reduction requirements in accordance with 40 CFR 503.32(a) and one of the vector attraction requirements in 40 CFR 503.33(b)(1) through (b)(8). 2.24. "Incineration technologies" means any technology that uses controlled flame combustion to thermally break down solid waste, including refuse-derived fuel, to an ash residue that contains little or no combustible materials, regardless of whether the purpose is processing, disposal, electric or steam generation or any other method by which solid waste is incinerated. 2.25. "Incinerator" means an enclosed device using controlled flame combustion to thermally break down solid waste, including refuse-derived fuel, to an ash residue that contains little or no combustible materials. 2.26. "Land Application Site" means the location where sewage sludge is sprayed or spread onto the land surface; injected below the land surface; or incorporated into the soil so that the sewage sludge can either condition the soil or fertilize the crops or vegetation grown in the soil. 2.27. "Landfill" means any solid waste facility for the disposal of solid waste on or in the land for the purpose of permanent disposal. Such facility is situated, for purposes of W. Va. Code § 22-15-1 et seq., in the county where the majority of the spatial area of such facility is located. 2.28. "Materials recovery facility" means any solid waste facility at which source-separated materials or materials recovered through a mixed waste processing facility are manually or mechanically shredded or separated for purposes of reuse and recycling, but does not include a composting facility. 2.29. "Mature compost" means compost which has been produced in an aerobic, microbial, thermophylic manner and which does not exhibit toxic effects to plant species. 2.30. "Mixed solid waste" means solid waste from which materials sought to be reused or recycled have not been source-separated from general solid waste. 2.31. "Mixed waste processing facility" means any solid waste facility at which materials are recovered from mixed solid waste through manual or mechanical means for purposes of reuse, recycling or composting. 2.32. "Municipal solid waste incineration" means the burning of any solid waste collected by any municipal or residential solid waste disposal company. 2.33. "Odor" means a sensation resulting from the stimulation of the human sense of smell. 2.34. "Open dump" means any solid waste disposal which does not have a permit under W. Va. Code § 22-15-1 et seq., or is in violation of state law, or where solid waste is disposed in a manner that does not protect the environment. 2.35. "Other Container" is either an open or closed receptacle. This includes, but is not limited to, a bucket, box, carton, and vehicle or trailer with a load capacity of one metric ton or less. 2.36. "Person" or "persons" mean any industrial user, public or private corporation, institution, association, firm or company organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state or country; state of West Virginia; governmental agency, including federal facilities; political subdivision; county commission; municipal corporation; industry; sanitary district; public service district; drainage district; soil conservation district; watershed improvement district; partnership trust; estate; person or individual; group of persons or individuals acting individually or as a group; or any legal entity whatever. 2.37. "Producer" means any person producing sewage sludge at a publicly owned treatment works (POTW). 2.38. "Publicly owned treatment works" or "POTW" means any treatment works owned by the state or any political subdivision thereof, any municipality or any other public entity which processes raw domestic, industrial, or municipal sewage by artificial or natural processes in order to remove or so alter constituents as to render the waste less offensive or dangerous to the public health, comfort or property of any of the inhabitants of this state, before the discharge of the plant effluent into any waters of this state, and which produces sewage sludge. 2.39. "Recycling facility" means any solid waste facility for the purpose of recycling at which neither land disposal nor biological, chemical or thermal transformation of solid waste occurs: Provided, That mixed waste recovery facilities, sludge processing facilities and composting facilities are not considered recycling facilities nor considered to be reusing or recycling solid waste within the meaning of W. Va. Code § 22C-4-1 et seq. and 20-11-1 et seq. 2.40. "Representative sample" means a sample collected from a population or whole that exhibits the average or typical properties of the larger population or whole. 2.41. "Sewage sludge" means solid, semi-solid or liquid residue generated during the treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment works. Sewage sludge includes, but is not limited to, domestic septage, scum or solids removed in primary, secondary or advanced wastewater treatment processes and a material derived from sewage sludge. "Sewage sludge" does not include ash generated during the firing of sewage sludge in a sewage sludge incinerator. 2.42. "Sewage sludge processing facility" is a solid waste facility that processes sewage sludge for land application, incineration or disposal at an approved landfill. Such processes include, but are not limited to, composting, lime stabilization, thermophilic digestion and anaerobic digestion. 2.43. "Sludge" means any solid, semisolid, residue or precipitate, separated from or created by a municipal, commercial or industrial waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility or any other such waste having similar origin. 2.44. "Solid waste" means any garbage, paper, litter, refuse, cans, bottles, waste processed for the express purpose of incineration; sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility; and other discarded materials, including offensive or unsightly matter, solid, liquid, semisolid or contained liquid or gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining or community activities but does not include solid or dissolved material in sewage or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources and have permits under W. Va. Code '22-11-1 et seq., or source, special nuclear or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, including any nuclear or by-product material considered by federal standards to be below regulatory concern, or a hazardous waste either identified or listed under W. Va. Code '22-18-1 et seq., or refuse, slurry, overburden or other wastes or material resulting from coal-fired electric power or steam generation, the exploration, development, production, storage and recovery of coal, oil, and gas and other mineral resources placed or disposed of at a facility which is regulated under W. Va. Code §§ 22-2-1 et seq., 22-3-1 et seq., 22-4-1 et seq., 22-6-1 et seq., 22-7-1 et seq., 22-8-1 et seq., 22-9-1 et seq. or 22-10-1-1 et seq., so long as such placement or disposal is in conformance with a permit issued pursuant to such chapters. 2.45. "Solid waste disposal" means the practice of disposing of solid waste including placing, depositing, dumping or throwing or causing to be placed, deposited, dumped or thrown any solid waste. 2.46. "Solid waste facility" means any system, facility, land, contiguous land, improvements on the land, structures or other appurtenances or methods used for processing, recycling or disposing of solid waste, including landfills, transfer stations, materials recovery facilities, mixed waste processing facilities, sewage sludge processing facilities, commercial composting facilities and other such facilities not herein specified but not including land upon which sewage sludge is applied in accordance with W. Va. Code '22-15-20. Such facility shall be deemed to be situated, for purposes of this rule, in the county where the majority of the spatial area of such facility is located: Provided, That a salvage yard licensed and regulated pursuant to the terms of W. Va. Code '17-23-et seq., is not a solid waste facility. 2.47. "Solid waste facility operator" means any person or persons possessing or exercising operational, managerial or financial control over a commercial solid waste facility, whether or not such person holds a certificate of convenience and necessity or a permit for such a facility. 2.48. "Source separated materials" means materials separated from general solid waste at the point of origin for the purpose of reuse and recycling but does not mean sewage sludge. 2.49. "Source separated organic waste" means readily degradable organic material such as food waste, yard waste and wood waste, except pressure-treated wood waste, which is collected separately from the mixed solid waste stream. It does not include sewage sludge or domestic septage. 2.50. "Stabilization" means the decomposition of organic material to the point where it neither reheats when wetted nor gives off offensive odors and does not include pathogens, toxins or vectors in excess of Federal regulations 40 CFR 503.