Article 9.
Solid Waste Management.
§ 130A-290. Definitions.
(a) Unless a different meaning is required by the context, the following definitions shall apply throughout this Article:
(1) "Affiliate" has the same meaning as in 17 Code of Federal Regulations § 240.12b-2 (1 April 1996 Edition).
(1a) "Business entity" has the same meaning as in G.S. 55-1-40(2a).
(1b) "CERCLA/SARA" means the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, Pub. L. No. 96-510, 94 Stat. 2767, 42 U.S.C. § 9601 et seq., as amended, and the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-499, 100 Stat. 1613, as amended.
(1c) "Chemical or portable toilet" means a self-contained mobile toilet facility and holding tank and includes toilet facilities in recreational vehicles.
(1d) "Chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant" means any of the following when used as a liquid heat transfer agent in a mechanical refrigeration system: carbon tetrachloride, chlorofluorocarbons, halons, or methyl chloroform.
(2) "Closure" means the cessation of operation of a solid waste management facility and the act of securing the facility so that it will pose no significant threat to human health or the environment.
(2a) Recodified as subdivision (a)(2d) at the direction of the Revisor of Statutes. See note.
(2b) "Coal combustion residuals" means residuals, including fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag, mill rejects, and flue gas desulfurization residue produced by a coal-fired generating unit destined for disposal. The term does not include coal combustion products as defined in G.S. 130A-309.201(4).
(2c) "Coal combustion residuals landfill" means a facility or unit for the disposal of combustion products, where the landfill is located at the same facility with the coal-fired generating unit or units producing the combustion products, and where the landfill is located wholly or partly on top of a facility that is, or was, being used for the disposal or storage of such combustion products, including, but not limited to, landfills, wet and dry ash ponds, and structural fill facilities.
(2d) "Coal-fired generating unit" means a coal-fired generating unit, as defined by 40 Code of Federal Regulations § 96.2 (1 July 2001 Edition), that is located in this State and has the capacity to generate 25 or more megawatts of electricity.
(3) "Commercial" when applied to a hazardous waste facility, means a hazardous waste facility that accepts hazardous waste from the general public or from another person for a fee.
(3a) "Commission" means the Environmental Management Commission.
(4) "Construction" or "demolition" when used in connection with "waste" or "debris" means solid waste resulting solely from construction, remodeling, repair, or demolition operations on pavement, buildings, or other structures, but does not include inert debris, land-clearing debris or yard debris.
(4a) "Department" means the Department of Environmental Quality.
(5) Repealed by Session Laws 1995 (Regular Session, 1996), c. 594, s. 1.
(6) "Disposal" means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placing of any solid waste into or on any land or water so that the solid waste or any constituent part of the solid waste may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including groundwaters.
(7) "Garbage" means all putrescible wastes, including animal offal and carcasses, and recognizable industrial by-products, but excluding sewage and human waste.
(8) "Hazardous waste" means a solid waste, or combination of solid wastes, which because of its quantity, concentration or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics may:
a. Cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness; or
b. Pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of or otherwise managed.
(8a) "Hazardous waste constituent" has the same meaning as in 40 Code of Federal Regulations § 260.10 (1 July 2006).
(9) "Hazardous waste facility" means a facility for the collection, storage, processing, treatment, recycling, recovery, or disposal of hazardous waste. Hazardous waste facility does not include a hazardous waste transfer facility that meets the requirements of 40 Code of Federal Regulations § 263.12 (1 July 2006).
(10) "Hazardous waste generation" means the act or process of producing hazardous waste.
(11) "Hazardous waste disposal facility" means any facility or any portion of a facility for disposal of hazardous waste on or in land in accordance with rules adopted under this Article.
(12) "Hazardous waste management" means the systematic control of the collection, source separation, storage, transportation, processing, treatment, recovery and disposal of hazardous wastes.
(13) "Hazardous waste management program" means the program and activities within the Department pursuant to Part 2 of this Article, for hazardous waste management.
(13a) "Hazardous waste transfer facility" means a facility or location where a hazardous waste transporter stores hazardous waste for a period of more than 24 hours but less than 10 days.
(13b) "Industrial solid waste" means solid waste generated by manufacturing or industrial processes that is not hazardous waste.
(14) "Inert debris" means solid waste which consists solely of material that is virtually inert and that is likely to retain its physical and chemical structure under expected conditions of disposal.
(15) "Land-clearing debris" means solid waste which is generated solely from land-clearing activities.
(16) "Landfill" means a disposal facility or part of a disposal facility where waste is placed in or on land and which is not a land treatment facility, a surface impoundment, an injection well, a hazardous waste long-term storage facility or a surface storage facility.
(16a) "Leachate" means a liquid that has passed through or emerged from solid waste and contains soluble, suspended, or miscible materials removed from such waste. The term "leachate" does not include liquid adhering to tires of vehicles leaving a sanitary landfill and transfer stations.
(17) "Manifest" means the form used for identifying the quantity, composition and the origin, routing and destination of hazardous waste during its transportation from the point of generation to the point of disposal, treatment or storage.
(17a) "Medical waste" means any solid waste which 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 identified or listed pursuant to this Article, radioactive waste, household waste as defined in 40 Code of Federal Regulations § 261.4(b)(1) in effect on 1 July 1989, or those substances excluded from the definition of "solid waste" in this section.
(18) "Motor vehicle oil filter" means a filter that removes impurities from the oil used to lubricate an internal combustion engine in a motor vehicle.
(18a) "Municipal solid waste" means any 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, industrial waste managed in a solid waste management facility owned and operated by the generator of the industrial waste for management of that waste, or solid waste from mining or agricultural operations.
(18b) "Municipal solid waste management facility" means any publicly or privately owned solid waste management facility permitted by the Department that receives municipal solid waste for processing, treatment, or disposal.
(19) "Natural resources" means all materials which have useful physical or chemical properties which exist, unused, in nature.
(20) "Open dump" means any facility or site where solid waste is disposed of that is not a sanitary landfill and that is not a coal combustion residuals surface impoundment or a facility for the disposal of hazardous waste.
(21) "Operator" means any person, including the owner, who is principally engaged in, and is in charge of, the actual operation, supervision, and maintenance of a solid waste management facility and includes the person in charge of a shift or periods of operation during any part of the day.
(21a) "Parent" has the same meaning as in 17 Code of Federal Regulations § 240.12b-2 (1 April 1996 Edition).
(22) "Person" means an individual, corporation, company, association, partnership, unit of local government, State agency, federal agency or other legal entity.
(22a) "Pre-1983 landfill" means any land area, whether publicly or privately owned, on which municipal solid waste disposal occurred prior to 1 January 1983 but not thereafter, but does not include any landfill used primarily for the disposal of industrial solid waste.
(23) "Processing" means 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.
(24) "Recovered material" means a material that has known recycling potential, can be feasibly recycled, and has been diverted or removed from the solid waste stream for sale, use, or reuse. In order to qualify as a recovered material, a material must meet the requirements of G.S. 130A-309.05(c).
(25) "RCRA" means the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, Pub. L. 94-580, 90 Stat. 2795, 42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq., as amended.
(26) "Recyclable material" means those materials which are capable of being recycled and which would otherwise be processed or disposed of as solid waste.
(27) "Recycling" means any process by which solid waste, or materials which would otherwise become solid waste, are collected, separated, or processed, and reused or returned to use in the form of raw materials or products.
(28) "Refuse" means all nonputrescible waste.
(28a) "Refuse-derived fuel" means fuel that consists of municipal solid waste from which recyclable and noncombustible materials are removed so that the remaining material is used for energy production.
(29) "Resource recovery" means the process of obtaining material or energy resources from discarded solid waste which no longer has any useful life in its present form and preparing the solid waste for recycling.
(30) "Reuse" means a process by which resources are reused or rendered usable.
(31) "Sanitary landfill" means a facility for disposal of solid waste on land in a sanitary manner in accordance with the rules concerning sanitary landfills adopted under this Article.
(31a) "Secretary" means the Secretary of Environmental Quality.
(32) "Septage" means solid waste that is a fluid mixture of untreated and partially treated sewage solids, liquids, and sludge of human or domestic origin which is removed from a wastewater system. The term septage includes the following:
a. Domestic septage, which is either liquid or solid material removed from a septic tank, cesspool, portable toilet, Type III marine sanitation device, or similar treatment works receiving only domestic sewage. Domestic septage does not include liquid or solid material removed from a septic tank, cesspool, or similar treatment works receiving either commercial wastewater or industrial wastewater and does not include grease removed from a grease trap at a restaurant.
b. Domestic treatment plant septage, which is solid, semisolid, or liquid residue generated during the treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment works where the designed disposal is subsurface. Domestic treatment plant septage includes, but is not limited to, scum or solids removed in primary, secondary, or advanced wastewater treatment processes and a material derived from domestic treatment plant septage. Domestic treatment plant septage does not include ash generated during the firing of domestic treatment plant septage in an incinerator or grit and screenings generated during preliminary treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment works.
c. Grease septage, which is material pumped from grease interceptors, separators, traps, or other appurtenances used for the purpose of removing cooking oils, fats, grease, and food debris from the waste flow generated from food handling, preparation, and cleanup.
d. Industrial or commercial septage, which is material pumped from septic tanks or other devices used in the collection, pretreatment, or treatment of any water-carried waste resulting from any process of industry, manufacture, trade, or business where the design disposal of the wastewater is subsurface. Domestic septage mixed with any industrial or commercial septage is considered industrial or commercial septage.
e. Industrial or commercial treatment plant septage, which is solid, semisolid, or liquid residue generated during the treatment of sewage that contains any waste resulting from any process of industry, manufacture, trade, or business in a treatment works where the designed disposal is subsurface. Industrial or commercial treatment plant septage includes, but is not limited to, scum or solids removed in primary, secondary, or advanced wastewater treatment processes and a material derived from domestic treatment plant septage. Industrial or commercial treatment plant septage does not include ash generated during the firing of industrial or commercial treatment plant septage in an incinerator or grit and screenings generated during preliminary treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment works.
(33) "Septage management firm" means a person engaged in the business of pumping, transporting, storing, treating or disposing septage. The term does not include public or community wastewater systems that treat or dispose septage.
(34) "Sludge" means any solid, semisolid 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.
(35) "Solid waste" means 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, semisolid or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, institutional, commercial and agricultural operations, and from community activities. Notwithstanding sub-sub-subdivision b.3. of this subdivision, the term includes coal combustion residuals. The term does not include:
a. Fecal waste from fowls and animals other than humans.
b. Solid or dissolved material in:
1. Domestic sewage and sludges generated by treatment thereof in sanitary sewage collection, treatment and disposal systems which are designed to discharge effluents to the surface waters.
2. Irrigation return flows.
3. 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 permits granted under G.S. 143-215.1 by the Commission, including coal combustion products. However, any sludges that meet the criteria for hazardous waste under RCRA shall also be a solid waste for the purposes of this Article.
c. Oils and other liquid hydrocarbons controlled under Article 21A of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes. 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 Article.
d. Any source, special nuclear or byproduct material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 2011).
e. Mining refuse covered by the North Carolina Mining Act, G.S. 74-46 through 74-68 and regulated by the North Carolina Mining Commission (as defined under G.S. 143B-293.1). 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 Article.
f. Recovered material.
g. Steel slag that is a product of the electric arc furnace steelmaking process; provided, that such steel slag is sold and distributed in the stream of commerce for consumption, use, or further processing into another desired commodity and is managed as an item of commercial value in a controlled manner and not as a discarded material or in a manner constituting disposal.
h. Repealed by Session Laws 2024-1, s. 1.5, effective May 15, 2024.
(36) "Solid waste disposal site" means any place at which solid wastes are disposed of by incineration, sanitary landfill or any other method.
(37) "Solid waste generation" means the act or process of producing solid waste.
(38) "Solid waste management" means purposeful, systematic control of the generation, storage, collection, transport, separation, treatment, processing, recycling, recovery and disposal of solid waste.
(39) "Solid waste management facility" means land, personnel and equipment used in the management of solid waste.
(40) "Special wastes" means solid wastes that can require special handling and management, including white goods, whole tires, used oil, lead-acid batteries, and medical wastes.
(41) "Storage" means the containment of solid waste, either on a temporary basis or for a period of years, in a manner which does not constitute disposal.
(41a) "Subsidiary" has the same meaning as in 17 Code of Federal Regulations § 240.12b-2 (1 April 1996 Edition).
(41b) "Tire-derived fuel" means a form of fuel derived from scrap tires.
(42) "Treatment" means any method, technique or process, including neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical or biological character or composition of any hazardous waste so as to neutralize such waste or so as to render such waste nonhazardous, safer for transport, amenable for recovery, amenable for storage or reduced in volume. "Treatment" includes any activity or processing designed to change the physical form or chemical composition of hazardous waste so as to render it nonhazardous.
(43) "Unit of local government" means a county, city, town or incorporated village.
(44) "White goods" includes refrigerators, ranges, water heaters, freezers, unit air conditioners, washing machines, dishwashers, clothes dryers, and other similar domestic and commercial large appliances.
(44a) "Wooden pallet" means a wooden object consisting of a flat or horizontal deck or platform supported by structural components that is used as a base for assembling, stacking, handling, and transporting goods.
(45) "Yard trash" means solid waste consisting solely of vegetative matter resulting from landscaping maintenance.
(b) Unless a different meaning is required by the context, the following definitions shall apply throughout G.S. 130A-309.15 through G.S. 130A-309.24:
(1) "Public used oil collection center" means:
a. Automotive service facilities or governmentally sponsored collection facilities, which in the course of business accept for disposal small quantities of used oil from households; and
b. Facilities which store used oil in aboveground tanks, which are approved by the Department, and which in the course of business accept for disposal small quantities of used oil from households.
(2) "Reclaiming" means the use of methods, other than those used in rerefining, to purify used oil primarily to remove insoluble contaminants, making the oil suitable for further use; the methods may include settling, heating, dehydration, filtration, or centrifuging.
(3) "Recycling" means to prepare used oil for reuse as a petroleum product by rerefining, reclaiming, reprocessing, or other means or to use used oil in a manner that substitutes for a petroleum product made from new oil.
(4) "Rerefining" means the use of refining processes on used oil to produce high-quality base stocks for lubricants or other petroleum products. Rerefining may include distillation, hydrotreating, or treatments employing acid, caustic, solvent, clay, or other chemicals, or other physical treatments other than those used in reclaiming.
(5) "Used oil" means any oil which 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 due to the presence of impurities or loss of original properties, but which may be suitable for further use and is economically recyclable.
(6) "Used oil recycling facility" means any facility that recycles more than 10,000 gallons of used oil annually. (1969, c. 899; 1975, c. 311, s. 2; 1977, 2nd Sess., c. 1216; 1979, c. 464, s. 1; 1981, c. 704, s. 4; 1983, c. 795, ss. 1, 8.1; c. 891, s. 2; 1983 (Reg. Sess., 1984), c. 973, s. 2; 1985, c. 738, s. 1; 1987, c. 574, s. 1; 1987 (Reg. Sess., 1988), c. 1020, s. 1; c. 1058, s. 1; 1989, c. 168, s. 11; c. 742, s. 5; c. 784, s. 1; 1991, c. 342, s. 7; c. 621, s. 1; 1991 (Reg. Sess., 1992), c. 1013, s. 7; 1993, c. 173, ss. 1-3; c. 471, ss. 1, 2; 1995 (Reg. Sess., 1996), c. 594, ss. 1-5; 1997-27, s. 1; 1997-330, s. 3; 1997-443, s. 11A.81; 2005-362, s. 1; 2007-107, ss. 1.1(c), 1.8(a), (b); 2007-550, ss. 7(a), 12(a), (b); 2012-143, s. 1(d); 2013-413, s. 59.3; 2014-4, s. 5(c); 2014-115, s. 17; 2014-122, s. 3(d); 2015-1, s. 2(a); 2015-241, s. 14.30(u), (v); 2023-134, s. 5.9(f); 2024-1, s. 1.5.)