As used in this chapter, the singular includes the plural, and vice versa, and the masculine includes the feminine, and vice versa. Definitions not included in this section shall assume the meanings included in Part I, 9 VAC 20-80 and 9 VAC 20-101.
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings:
(1) “Abandoned facility” means any inactive solid waste management facility that has not met closure and post-closure requirements.
(2) “Agricultural” means all solid waste produced from farming operations or related commercial preparation of farm products for marketing. Pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers or other chemicals identified in 9 VAC 20-60, or empty containers for such materials, are not considered agricultural waste.
(3) “Agricultural operation” means any operation devoted to the bona fide production for sale of crops, animals or fowl, including, but not limited to, fruits and vegetables of all kinds; meat, dairy and poultry products; nuts, tobacco, nursery and floral products; and trees in such quantity and so spaced and maintained as to constitute a forest area.
(4) “Air-curtain destructor” means a special incinerator device, usually erected for a temporary period of time, used to reduce the mass of land clearing products, such as stumps, which device conforms to specifications established by the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board and is approved for use with a permit granted by such Board.
(5) “Approved facility” means a location permitted under this chapter to receive solid waste for disposal, transfer, processing, treatment, recycling or composting.
(6) “Arboreal waste” means that portion of the solid waste stream consisting of tree stumps, logs, tree prunings, woody brush, leaves and minimal soil and rock materials usually, but not always, generated by land-clearing activities (debris wastes).
(7) “Arboreal waste processing center” means an approved type of solid waste management facility wherein tree stumps, logs, tree prunings and woody brush are mechanically shredded, chipped, screened and sometimes bagged into mulch-like products for resale.
(8) “Base flood” is as defined in Chapter 740.3(2) of the Loudoun County Zoning Ordinance.
(9) “Biological waste” means feces, urine, vomitus, suctionings, live vaccines for animal use, blood, blood products and bodies or body parts.
(10) “Bird hazard” means an increase in the likelihood of bird/aircraft collisions that may cause damage to aircraft or injury to its occupants.
(11) “Board” means the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.
(12) “Buffer” means any device or natural growth, or combination thereof, which helps serve as a barrier to vision or noise between a solid waste management facility and adjoining property. No solid waste shall be deposited within the buffer area, herein defined as the area within a 300-foot setback from the facility property line, where such line abuts property zoned for residential use. Where the facility property line abuts property zoned for commercial or industrial use, the buffer areas shall have a minimum setback width of 200 feet from adjoining property lines. To the maximum extent feasible, this buffer area shall remain undisturbed, except for the following: storm water management ponds, ground water or methane gas monitoring facilities, access roads and fencing. Other uses will not be installed in buffer areas without approval of the Director of the Office of Solid Waste Management.
(13) “Burial” means to dispose of by depositing in or on the earth's surface and covering with approved material.
(14) “Cement bentonite grout” means a grout mixture consisting of neat Portland cement and four to six percent bentonite by volume.
(15) “Certificate to Operate” or “CTO” means a document issued by the Director of the Office of Solid Waste Management that certifies that construction of a solid waste management facility is complete and in conformity with approved construction plans. Active operations may not commence before receipt of this Certificate. This Certificate postdates the issuance of a permit which authorizes construction.
(16) “Clean fill” means natural soil, rock brick, ceramics or paving fragments which are virtually inert and pose neither a pollution threat to ground or surface waters nor a fire hazard.
(17) “Closed facility” means a solid waste management facility which has been properly secured in accordance with an approved facility closure plan.
(18) “Closure” means the act of securing a solid waste management facility pursuant to the requirements of this chapter.
(19) “Collector” or “hauler” means any person engaged in the removing or transporting of solid waste for compensation from two or more residential, commercial or industrial establishments in the County, whether or not a portion of such activity is conducted outside the County.
(20) “Compliance schedule” means a time schedule for measures to be employed on a solid waste management facility which will ultimately upgrade it to conform to the provisions of this chapter.
(21) “Compost” means a stabilized organic product produced by a controlled aerobic decomposition process in such a manner that the product can be handled, stored and/or applied to the land without adversely affecting public health or the environment.
(22) “Composted sludge” shall be as defined by the Virginia Sewerage Regulations.
(23) “Composting” means the manipulation or control of the natural aerobic process of decomposition of organic materials that allows development of thermophilic temperature as a result of biologically produced heat, with the final product (compost) being sufficiently stable for storage or application to the soil.
(24) “Construction/demolition/debris landfill” means a land burial facility engineered, constructed and operated to contain and isolate construction waste, demolition waste, debris-waste, inert waste or combinations of such solid wastes.
(25) “Construction waste” means solid waste which is produced or generated during the construction of structures. Construction waste consists of lumber, wire, sheetrock, broken brick, shingles, glass, pipes, concrete, metal and plastic, provided that such metal or plastic is a part of the materials of construction or empty containers for such materials. Paints, coatings, solvents, asbestos, any liquid, compressed gases or semi-liquids and garbage are not construction wastes.
(26) “Contamination” means the degradation above background of naturally occurring water, air or soil quality, either directly or indirectly, as a result of human activity.
(27) “Controlled site” means the location of a solid waste management facility that is enclosed within a building or an impervious surface, such as concrete, and where runoff water is directed to an approved treatment facility.
(28) “County regulatory agency” means any and all of the following County Departments: Solid Waste Management, Public Health, and Building and Development.
(29) “Cover material” means compactable soil or other approved material which is used to blanket solid waste in a landfill.
(30) “Debris waste” means that portion of the solid waste stream consisting of tree stumps, logs, tree prunings, woody brush, leaves and minimal soil and rock materials that are usually, but not always, generated by land-clearing activities (arboreal wastes).
(31) “Department of Environmental Quality” or “DEQ” means the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
(32) “Director of the Office of Solid Waste Management” or “Director” means the Director of the Office of Solid Waste Management of Loudoun County, or his or her authorized agent, responsible for the administration and enforcement of this chapter.
(33) “Disposal” means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placing of any solid waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment, be emitted into ( the air or be discharged into any waters.
(34) “EPA” means the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
(35) “Facilities Standards Manual” means the Facilities Standards Manual of the County.
(36) “Flood plain” means any land area susceptible to being inundated by water from the base flood and having a drainage area greater than 100 acres. For purposes of regulation under this chapter, a distinction shall be made between flood plains in watersheds of greater than 640 acres and those in watersheds of less than 640 acres.
(37) “Geologically unstable” means a site which, under normal conditions, is subject to sinkholes, sliding or collapsing.
(38) “Ground water” means any water, except capillary moisture or unsaturated zone moisture, beneath the land surface in the zone of saturation or beneath the bed of any stream, lake, reservoir or other body of surface water within the boundaries of this Commonwealth, regardless of whatever may be the subsurface geologic structure in which such water stands, flows, percolates or otherwise occurs.
(39) “Hazardous waste” has the same meaning as “hazardous waste” as described in the Virginia Hazardous Waste Regulations or by the EPA.
(40) “Health Director” means the Health Director of Loudoun County, or his or her authorized agent.
(41) “Household waste” means any waste material, including garbage, trash and refuse, derived from households. Households include single- and multiple-residences, hotels and motels, bunkhouses, ranger stations, crew quarters, campgrounds, picnic grounds and day-use recreation areas.
(42) “Incineration” means the controlled combustion of solid waste for disposal.
(43) “Incinerator” means a facility or device designed for the treatment of solid waste by combustion.
(44) “Inert waste” means solid waste which is physically, chemically and biologically stable from further degradation and considered to be nonreactive. Inert waste includes rubble, concrete, broken bricks, bricks and blocks.
(45) “Infectious waste” means solid waste which contains pathogens with sufficient virulence and quantity so that exposure to such waste by a susceptible host could result in an infectious disease, and as defined in Part III of the Regulated Medical Waste Management Regulations 9 VAC 20-120.
(46) “Karst” means a type of topography that is formed on limestone, gypsum and other rocks by dissolution, and that is characterized by sinkholes, caves and underground drainage.
(47) “Landfill” means a solid waste facility which uses burial as the primary means of disposal and includes sanitary landfills, industrial waste landfills or construction/demolition/debris landfills.
(48) “Landfill disposal area” means the area within the boundary of a landfill facility in which solid waste is buried or permitted for actual burial.
(49) “Landscape maintenance” means the care of lawns, shrubbery and vines, and includes the pruning of trees.
(50) “Leachate” means a liquid change that has passed through or emerged from solid waste and contains soluble and or suspended degradation products of waste, Leachate and any material with which it is mixed is solid waste, except that leachate that is pumped from a collection tank for transportation to disposal in an off-site facility is regulated as septage, and leachate discharged into a wastewater collection system is regulated as industrial wastewater.
(51) “Lift” means the daily landfill layer of compacted solid waste plus the cover material.
(52) “Litter” means any solid waste that is discarded or scattered about a solid waste management facility outside the immediate working area.
(53) “Lower explosive limit” means the lowest concentration by volume of a mixture of explosive gases in air that will explode or burn in air at twenty-five degrees Celsius and at atmospheric pressure.
(54) “Materials recovery” means a component of any comprehensive waste management program. The term “materials recovery” refers to the recovery of solid waste materials by source separation or mechanical means for resale into the secondary materials marketplace.
(55) “Materials recovery facility” or “MRF” means a solid waste facility which collects mixed solid wastes and manually or mechanically separates recyclable materials to be marketed and disposes of all non-recyclable wastes to a permitted facility, or a solid waste management facility for the collection, recovery and processing of materials, such as metals, paper or glass, from solid waste for the production of a fuel from solid waste.
(56) “Monitoring” means all methods, procedures and techniques used to systematically analyze, inspect and collect data on operational parameters of the facility or on the quality of air, groundwater, surface water, soils and soil gases.
(57) “Monitoring well” means a well point below the ground surface used for the purpose of obtaining periodic samples from ground water for quantitative and qualitative analyses.
(58) “Municipal solid waste” means that waste which is normally composed of residential, commercial, and institutional solid waste.
(59) “Nuisance” means an activity which unreasonably interferes with an individual's or the public's comfort, convenience or enjoyment such that it interferes with the rights of others by causing damage, annoyance or inconvenience, and as defined in Section 648.03(g) of these Codified Ordinances.
(60) “Office of Solid Waste Management” or “OSWM” means the Office of Solid Waste Management of Loudoun County.
(61) “Open burning” means the combustion of solid waste without:
A. Control of combustion air to maintain adequate temperature for efficient combustion;
B. Containment of the combustion reaction in an enclosed device to provide sufficient residence time and mixing for complete combustion; or
C. Control of the combustion products' emissions.
(62) “Open dump” means a non-permitted site on which any solid waste is placed, discharged, deposited, injected, dumped or spilled so as to create a nuisance or potential hazard to human health or the environment, including the pollution of air, land, surface water or ground water, and/or any permitted site that does not comply with this chapter. For further details regarding open dumps, see Sections 1080.04 and 1080.05. Further, an open dump is a nuisance, as defined in Section 648.03(g) of these Codified Ordinances.
(63) “Operational limits” means the solid waste disposal area as approved in the CTO.
(64) “Operator” means the person responsible for the overall operation and site management of a solid waste management facility.
(65) “Owner” means the person who owns a solid waste management facility or part of a solid waste management facility.
(66) “Pathological waste” means solid waste that consists of human tissues, organs, body parts, fetuses, placentas, effluences or similar materials, or animal tissues, organs, body parts, fetuses, placentas, effluences or similar materials from animals exposed to human pathogens for the purposes of testing or experimentation.
(67) “Perched water” means water that has become separated from the main ground water source by an impermeable layer of stratum and is capable of being recharged.
(68) “Permit” means the official document signed by the Director to own, operate or construct a solid waste management facility. Operations of a solid waste facility also requires a CTO.
(69) “Permit by rule” means a permit granted by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality when provisions of the State Solid Waste or Vegetative Waste Regulations state that a facility or activity is deemed to have a permit if it meets the requirements of the provision.
(70) “Permitted phase” means an area in an approved facility that is cleared, excavated and prepared in order that solid waste may be placed there.
(71) “Plume” means a liquid or air distribution of a substance, decreasing in concentration from the point of origin, and generally used to portray the movement of concentrations of pollutants in ground water or air.
(72) “Pollutant” means any substance which causes or contributes to, or may cause or contribute to, environmental degradation when discharged into the environment.
(73) “Post-closure” means the requirements placed upon solid waste disposal facilities after closure to ensure environmental and public health safety for a specified number of years after closure.
(74) “Progressive cover” means cover material placed over the working face of a solid waste disposal facility advancing over the deposited waste as new wastes are added, keeping the exposed area to a minimum.
(75) “Prohibited wastes” means any waste that is radioactive, hazardous, infectious or pathological.
(76) “Putrescible waste” means solid waste which contains organic material capable of being decomposed by micro-organisms and causes odors.
(77) “Radioactive waste” or “nuclear waste” means:
A. “Low-level radioactive waste,” which is material that:
1. Is not high-level radioactive waste, spent nuclear fuel, transuranic waste or by-product material as defined in Section 11e(2) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2014(e)(2)); and
2. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, consistent with existing law, classifies as low-level radioactive waste; or
B. “High-level radioactive waste,” which means:
1. The highly radioactive material resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, including liquid waste produced directly in reprocessing and any solid material derived from such liquid waste that contains fission products in sufficient concentrations; and
2. Other highly radioactive material that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, consistent with existing law, determines, by rule, requires permanent isolation.
(78) “RCRA” means the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (42 USC 6901 et seq.) and the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984, and the “Solid Waste Disposal Facility Criteria; Final Rule of October 1991” (40 CFR, Parts 257 and 258).
(79) “Reclaimed material” means a material which is processed or reprocessed to recover a usable product or is regenerated to a usable form.
(80) “Recyclable material” means any material separated from the waste stream for utilization as a raw material in the manufacture of a new product. The term “recyclable material” includes both source separated material and mechanically separated material. Recyclable materials include, but are not limited to, newspapers, office paper, glass, metal, plastic and corrugated cardboard.
(81) “Recycled material” means a material which is used, reused or reclaimed.
(82) “Recycling” means any process whereby material which would otherwise be solid waste is used or reused, or prepared for use or reuse, as an ingredient in an industrial process to make a product, or as an effective substitute for a commercial product.
(83) “Recycling drop-off centers” means collection sites for the acceptance by donation, redemption or purchase of recyclable materials from the public. Such a facility does not use power-driven processing equipment.
(84) “Recycling facility” means a solid waste facility which collects, repackages and markets previously separated recyclable materials.
(85) “Recycling residue” means:
A. Nonmetallic substances, including, but not limited to, plastic, rubber and insulation, which remain, after a shredder has separated for purposes of recycling, the ferrous and nonferrous metal from a motor vehicle, appliance or other discarded metallic item; and
B. Organic waste remaining after removal of metals, glass, plastics and paper which are to be recycled as part of a resource recovery process for municipal solid waste resulting in the production of a refuse derived fuel.
(86) “Resource recovery” means the recovery of material or energy from solid waste.
(87) “Runoff” means the surface flow of water or waste water from any part of a solid waste management facility.
(88) “Runon” means any rain water, leachate or other liquid that drains over land onto any part of a facility.
(89) “Salvage” means the authorized controlled removal of waste materials from a solid waste management facility.
(90) “Sanitary landfill” means an engineered land burial facility for the disposal of solid waste which is so located, designed, constructed and operated as to contain and isolate the solid waste so that it does not pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment.
(91) “Seasonal high water table” means a water table, normally perched, that occurs seasonally during wet periods, which is evidenced by observed water or chroma two mottles on a Munsell Soil Color Chart.
(92) “Secure site” means a site where measures have been taken to ensure the minimization of erosion, the migration of contaminants or other nuisances off that site.
(93) “Site” means all land and structures, other appurtenances and improvements thereon used for treating, storing and disposing of solid waste. The term “site” includes adjacent land used for utility systems, such as repair, storage, shipping or processing areas, or other areas incident to the management of solid waste. Further, the term “site” includes all sites, whether they are planned and managed facilities or open dumps.
(94) “Sludge” means any solid, semi-solid or liquid waste generated from a municipal, commercial or industrial wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility.
(95) “Solid waste” means any garbage, refuse, demolition or debris waste and other discarded material resulting from household disposal, commercial and industrial operations, agricultural operations and community activities. The term “solid waste” shall not include solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage, solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows, industrial discharges or special nuclear or by-product materials.
(96) “Solid waste boundary” means the outermost perimeter of the solid waste (projected on a horizontal plane) as it would exist at completion of the disposal activity.
(97) “Solid waste management facility” or “SWMF” means a site used for the planned treating, recycling, storing and disposing of solid waste. A facility may consist of several treatment, storage or disposal units. Further, “solid waste management facility” or “SWMF” means a facility so located, designed and operated that it does not impose a present or potential hazard to human health or the environment, including the pollution of air, land, surface water or ground water.
(98) “State Water Control Board” means the Commonwealth of Virginia State Water Control Board.
(99) “Surface waters sampling sites” means upgradient and downgradient sample points on any stream within 100 feet of the property boundary and the content or outfall of any storm water management, sediment control or other drainage device serving the disposal site.
(100) “SW-846” means “Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste, Physical/Chemical Methods,” EPA Publication SW-846, Second Edition, 1982, as amended by Update I (April, 1984), Update II (April, 1985) and the third edition, November, 1986.
(101) “Transfer station” means any intermediate solid waste storage or collection facility at which solid waste is transferred from collection vehicles to haulage vehicles for transportation to a central solid waste management facility for disposal, incineration or resource recovery.
(102) “Vector” means a living animal, insect or other arthropod which transmits an infectious disease from one organism to another.
(103) “Vegetative waste” means decomposable materials generated by yard and lawn care or land clearing activities and includes, but is not limited to, leaves, grass trimmings, woody wastes such as shrub and tree prunings, bark, limbs, roots and stumps.
(104) “Vegetative waste management facility” means a solid waste management facility that manages vegetative waste.
(105) “Vegetative Waste Management and Yard Waste Composting Regulations” means the Vegetative Waste Management and Yard Waste Composting Regulations of the State of Virginia Code 9 VAC 20-101.
(106) “Virginia Solid Waste Management Regulations” or "VSWMRs” means the Virginia Solid Waste Management Regulations of the State of Virginia.
(107) “VPDES” means the Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System regulation 9 VAC 25-30.
(108) “Waste energy plant” means a solid waste management facility that uses a furnace or similar equipment to reduce the volume of solid waste while producing an energy product for resale, usually steam, hot water or electricity or a combination thereof.
(109) “Water table” means the upper surface of the zone of saturation in ground waters in which the hydrostatic pressure is equal to the atmospheric pressure.
(110) “Working face” means that area within a landfill which is actively receiving solid waste for compaction and cover.
(111) “Yard waste” means decomposable waste materials generated by yard and lawn care and includes leaves, grass trimmings, brush, wood chips and shrub and tree trimmings. Yard waste shall not include roots or stumps that exceed six inches in diameter. (Note: Yard wastes are also vegetative waste; however, the terms are not interchangeable because vegetative wastes may include wastes that are not yard wastes.)
(112) “Yard waste compost” means a stabilized organic product produced from yard waste by a controlled aerobic decomposition process in such a manner that the product can be handled, stored and/or applied to the land so that it does not pose a present or potential hazard to human health or to the environment.
(113) “Yard waste composting” means the controlled aerobic decomposition process of yard waste by which yard waste compost is produced.
(114) “Yard waste composting facility” means an engineered facility for composting of yard waste which is so located, designed, constructed and operated to isolate, process and manage the yard waste and yard waste compost so that it does not pose a present or potential hazard to human health or the environment.
(Ord. 99-06. Passed 5-19-99.)