For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
BOARD. The Board of Commissioners of Camden County.
BULKY WASTE. Large items of solid waste such as furniture, large auto parts, trees, branches, stumps and other oversize wastes whose large size precludes or complicates their handling by normal solid waste collection, processing or disposal methods.
COLLECTION. The act of removing solid waste (or materials that have been separated for the purpose of recycling) to a transfer station, processing facility or disposal facility.
COMMERCIAL SOLID WASTE. All types of solid waste generated by stores, offices, restaurants, warehouses and other non-manufacturing activities, excluding residential and industrial waste.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION WASTE. Solid waste resulting solely from construction, remodeling, repair or demolition operations on buildings or other structures, but does not include inert debris, land-clearing debris, yard debris or used asphalt, asphalt mixed with dirt, sand, gravel, rock, concrete or similar nonhazardous material.
DEPARTMENT. The Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources.
GARBAGE. All putrescible waste, including animal offal and carcasses, and recognizable industrial by-products, but excluding sewage and human waste.
HAZARDOUS WASTE. Solid waste or a combination of solid wastes that, because of its quantity, concentration or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics may:
(1) Cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness; or
(2) Pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of or otherwise managed.
INCINERATION. The process of burning solid, semi-solid or gaseous combustible wastes to an inoffensive gas and a residue containing little or no combustible material.
INDUSTRIAL SOLID WASTE. Solid waste generated by industrial processes and manufacturing.
INERT DEBRIS. Solid waste that consists solely of material that is virtually inert and that is likely to retain its physical and chemical structure under expected conditions of disposal.
INSTITUTIONAL SOLID WASTE. Solid waste generated by educational, health care, correctional and other institutional facilities.
LAND-CLEARING DEBRIS. Solid waste that is generated solely from land-clearing activities.
LANDFILL. A disposal facility or part of a disposal facility where waste is placed in or on land and that is not a land treatment facility, a surface impoundment, an injection well, a hazardous waste long-term storage facility or a surface storage facility.
MEDICAL WASTE. Any solid waste that is generated in the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or animals, in research pertaining thereto, or in the production or testing of biologicals, but does not include any hazardous waste, radioactive waste, household waste, as defined in 40 CFR 261.4(b)(1), or those substances excluded from the definition of SOLID WASTE in this chapter.
MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE. Solid waste resulting from the operation of residential, commercial, industrial, governmental or institutional establishments that would normally be collected, processed and disposed of through a public or private solid waste management service. MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE does not include hazardous waste, sludge or solid waste from mining and agricultural operations.
MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITY. Any publicly- or privately-owned solid waste management facility permitted by the Department that receives municipal solid waste for processing, treatment or disposal.
PATHOLOGICAL WASTE. Human tissues, organs and body parts and the carcasses and body parts of any animals that were known to have been exposed to pathogens that are potentially dangerous to humans during research, were used in the production of biologicals or in in-vivo testing of pharmaceuticals or that died with a known or suspected disease transmittable to humans.
PERSON. Any individual, corporation, company, association, partnership, unit of local government, state agency, federal agency or other legal entity.
PROCESSING. Any technique designed to change the physical, chemical or biological character or composition of any solid waste so as to render it safe for transport; amenable to recovery, storage or recycling; safe for disposal; or reduced in volume or concentration.
PUTRESCIBLE. Solid waste capable of being decomposed by microorganisms with sufficient rapidity as to cause nuisances from odors and gases, such as kitchen wastes, offal and animal carcasses.
RADIOACTIVE WASTE. Waste containing any material, whether solid, liquid or gas, that emits ionizing radiation spontaneously.
RECYCLING. The process by which solid waste or recovered materials are collected, separated or processed and reused or returned to use in the form of raw materials or product.
REFUSE. Solid waste, other than garbage or ashes, from residences, commercial establishments and institutions.
REGULATED MEDICAL WASTE. Blood and body fluids in individual containers in volumes greater than 20 ml, microbiological waste and pathological waste that has not been treated pursuant to rules promulgated by the Department.
RESOURCE RECOVERY. The process of obtaining material or energy resources from discarded solid waste that no longer has any useful life in its present form and preparing the solid waste for recycling.
SANITARY LANDFILL. A facility for the disposal of solid waste on land in a sanitary manner in accordance with the rules concerning sanitary landfills adopted pursuant to G.S. §§ 130A-290 et seq.
SCRAP TIRE. A tire that is no longer suitable for its original intended purpose because of wear, damage or defect.
SEPTAGE. Solid waste that is a fluid mixture of untreated and partially treated sewage solids, liquids and sludge of human or domestic origin that is removed from a septic tank system.
SHARPS. Needles, syringes and scalpel blades.
SLUDGE. Any solid, semi-solid or liquid waste generated from a municipal, commercial, institutional or industrial wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility or any other waste having similar characteristics and effects.
SOLID WASTE. Any hazardous or nonhazardous garbage, refuse or sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility, domestic sewage and sludges generated by the treatment thereof in sanitary sewage collection treatment and disposal systems, and other material that is either discarded or is being accumulated, stored or treated prior to being discarded or has served its original intended use and is generally discarded, including solid, liquid, semi-solid or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, institutional, commercial and agricultural operations and from community activities. The term does not include:
(1) Fecal waste from fowls and animals other than humans;
(2) Solid or dissolved material in:
(a) Domestic sewage and sludges generated by treatment thereof in sanitary sewage collection, treatment and disposal systems that are designed to discharge effluents to the surface waters;
(b) Irrigation return flows; and
(c) Wastewater discharges and the sludges incidental to and generated by treatment which are point sources subject to permits granted under Section 402 of the Water Pollution Control Act, as amended (P.L. 92-500) and also known as the Clean Water Act, 33 USC 1251 et seq., and permits granted under G.S. § 143-215.1 by the Environmental Management Commission. However, any sludges that meet the criteria for hazardous waste under RCRA shall also be a solid waste for purposes of this definition.
(3) Oils and other liquid hydrocarbons controlled under G.S. § 143-215.75; (However, any oils or other liquid hydrocarbons that meet the criteria for hazardous waste under RCRA shall also be a solid waste for the purposes of this definition.)
(4) Any source, special nuclear or byproduct material, as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, 42 USC 2011; and/or
(5) Mining refuse, covered by the State Mining Act, G.S. §§ 74-46 through 74-68, and regulated by the State Mining Commission. However, any specific mining waste that meets the criteria for hazardous waste under RCRA shall also be a solid waste for the purposes of this definition.
SOLID WASTE COLLECTOR. Any person who collects or transports solid waste.
SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL SITE. A location at which solid waste is disposed of by incineration, sanitary landfill or other approved method.
SOLID WASTE RECEPTACLE. Container used for the temporary storage of solid waste while awaiting collection.
SOURCE SEPARATION. Setting aside recyclable materials at their point of generation by the generator.
TIRE. A continuous solid or pneumatic rubber covering encircling the wheel of a motor vehicle, as defined in G.S. § 20-4.01(23).
TRANSFER STATION. A site at which solid waste is concentrated for transport to a processing facility or disposal site. A TRANSFER STATION may be fixed or mobile.
USED OIL. Any oil that has been refined from crude oil or synthetic oil and, as a result of use, storage or handling, has become unsuitable for its original purpose.
WHITE GOODS. Inoperative and discarded refrigerators, ranges, water heaters, freezers and other similar domestic and commercial large appliances.
YARD TRASH. Solid waste consisting solely of vegetative matter resulting from landscaping maintenance.
(Ord. passed 7-20-92; Am. Ord. passed 8-15-94)
Statutory reference:
For provisions concerning the authority of the department, see G.S. § 143B-279.1
For provisions concerning RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act), see 42 USC 6901 et seq.