For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
BOARD. The County Board of Commissioners.
BULKY WASTE. Large items of solid waste such as furniture 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.
COMMINGLED RECYCLING. “Mixed” recycling which accepts a wide range of materials that reduces the amount of disposal garbage and does not require sorting. Paper, metals, plastic, and the like, can be disposed of in one container. Only clean recyclables may be placed in the commingle container.
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 non-hazardous material.
DEPARTMENT. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
ELECTRONIC RECYCLING. Personal computers, monitors, LCD screen/flat screen monitors, VCRs, radios, stereos, DVD players, microwaves, power supplies, rechargeable batteries, vacuums, banking equipment, telephones, pagers, networking equipment, laptops, keyboards, mice, power cables, medical equipment (non-hazardous), printers, copy machines, fax machines, cell phones, transformers, scanners, portable electronic devices, servers, hubs, ink cartridges, toner cartridges, remote modems, projectors, cameras, televisions, and all electronics with a power cord.
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 of 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 hereto, or in the production or testing of biologicals, but does not include any hazardous waste, radioactive waste, household waste as defined in 40 C.F.R. § 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 or 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, 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 vivo testing of pharmaceuticals, or that died with a known or suspected disease transmissible to humans.
PERSON. Any individual, corporation, company, association, partnership, unit or 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 products.
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 disposal of solid waste on land in a sanitary manner in accordance with the rules concerning sanitary landfills adopted pursuant to G.S. Ch. 130A, Art. 9.
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, waste supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, or any other waste having similar characteristics and effects.
SOLID WASTE.
(1) Any hazardous or non-hazardous garbage, refuse, or sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, domestic sewage and sludge 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.
(2) The term does not include:
(a) Fecal waste from fowls and animals other than humans;
(b) Solid or dissolved material in: domestic sewage and sludge generated by treatment thereof in sanitary sewage collection, treatment, and disposal systems that are designed to discharge effluents to the surface waters; irrigation return flows; and wastewater discharges and the sludge incidental to and generated by treatment which are point sources subject to permits granted under § 402 of the Water Pollution Control Act, as amended (Pub. Law No. 92-500), and permits granted under G.S. § 143-215.1 by the Environmental Management Commission. However, any sludge that meets the criteria for hazardous waste under RCRA shall also be a solid waste for purposes of this definition;
(c) Oils and other liquid hydrocarbons controlled under G.S. Ch. 143, Art. 21A. However, any oils or the liquid hydrocarbons that meet the criteria for hazardous waste under RCRA shall also be a SOLID WASTE for the purpose of this definition;
(d) Any source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 2011); or
(e) Mining refuse covered by the state’s Mining Act, G.S. §§ 74-46 to 74-68 and regulated by the state’s Mining Commission. However, any specific mining waste that meets the criteria for hazardous waste under RCRA shall also be a SOLID WASTE for the purpose of this definition.
SOLID WASTE COLLECTOR. Any person who collects or transports solid waste.
SOLID WASTE CONVENIENCE CENTER. Any place owned, leased, or operated by the county at which solid waste containers or recycling containers have been placed.
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.
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 12-5-2016)