§ 8–1051. Definitions.

For the purpose of this chapter, the term:

(1) “Composting facility” means any location or structure which uses a microbial process to convert organic material, including wood, paper, mulch, or yard or food waste into a soil amendment.

(2) “Construction and demolition wastes” means the waste building materials and rubble resulting from construction, remodeling, repair, and demolition operation on houses, commercial buildings, pavements, and other structures.

(3) “Existing solid waste facility” means a solid waste facility in construction, including site preparation, or operating on March 23, 1995.

(4) “Final disposal” means depositing or placing solid waste for its final location.

(5) “Intermediate materials recycling facility” means a fully enclosed structure used for the receipt, separation, storage, conversion, baling, briquetting, crushing, compacting, grinding, shredding, or processing of paper, metal, glass, plastics, tires, bulk waste, or other nonbiodegradable recyclable materials for the purpose of reutilization of such materials. The term “intermediate materials recycling facility” shall not include a facility used for the storage or processing of biodegradable materials, construction and demolition wastes, white goods, and hazardous substances, as defined in § 8-109.02(4), and the rules and regulations pursuant thereto.

(6) “Open solid waste facility” means any privately owned or operated solid waste disposal or solid waste handling facility where solid waste is stored or processed outside of a fully enclosed building or structure.

(7) “Person” means any individual, partnership, corporation, trust, association, firm, joint stock company, organization, commission, or any other private entity.

(8) “Recyclable material” means material which would otherwise become solid waste, and that may be collected, separated, or processed and returned to the economic mainstream as a raw material or product.

(9) “Residue” means the solid waste, as measured by weight, requiring disposal after recyclable material is removed during or after processing.

(10) “Solid waste” means garbage, refuse, construction and demolition waste or any other waste product, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material, resulting from commercial, industrial, or government operation, or residential or community activity.

(11) “Solid waste disposal facility” means any facility where solid waste is discharged, deposited, tipped, dumped, or placed for final disposal, including an incinerator, waste-to-energy facility, rubble fill, or landfill.

(12) “Solid waste facility” means any privately owned or operated solid waste disposal facility or solid waste handling facility, which accepts solid waste that is not the incidental by-product of the facility’s manufacturing or operational processes.

(13) “Solid waste handling facility” means any facility where solid waste temporarily is deposited, or placed for processing, at any time prior to its final disposal at a solid waste disposal facility.

(14) “Source separated” means the end result when recyclable material is separated from solid waste at its point of origin for separate collection and processing.

(15) “Substantially alter” means to make any physical modification to a solid waste facility which increases or decreases the solid waste facility’s maximum annual capacity, by more than 10% per year, as indicated in the solid waste facility’s solid waste facility permit, or in any way alters or modifies the method by which the waste is processed or disposed, or which increases the amount of any air pollutant not previously emitted.

(16) “Abate” means to control disease vectors including rats and other vermin.

(17) “Arterial road” means a traffic route of 4 or more lanes with traffic controlled by traffic signal lights.

(18) “Best Available Control Technology” or “BACT” means measures, processes, methods, systems, or techniques to contain the emission of odors and air and liquid pollutants through procedures including enclosing processes or systems to eliminate emissions, and by collecting, capturing or treating pollutants before release from a process, stack, storage or fugitive emissions point.

(19) “Facility” means any building, structure, or portion of a site where solid waste is handled or stored.

(20) “Hazardous waste” means any waste defined as hazardous in § 8-1302(2).

(21) “Infectious waste” shall include, but is not limited to, the following types of solid waste:

(A) Cultures and stocks of infectious agents and associated biologicals, including cultures from medical and pathological laboratories, cultures and stocks of infectious agents from research and industrial laboratories, wastes from the production of biologicals, discarded live and attenuated vaccines, and culture dishes and devices used to transfer, inoculate, and mix cultures;

(B) Pathological wastes, including tissues, organs, and body parts that are removed during surgery or autopsy;

(D) Sharps that have been used in patient care or in medical, research, or industrial laboratories, including hypodermic needles, syringes, pasteur pipettes, broken glass, and scalpel blades;

(E) Contaminated animal carcasses, body parts, and bedding of animals that were exposed to infectious agents during research, production of biologicals, or testing of pharmaceuticals;

(F) Wastes from surgery or autopsy that were in contact with infectious agents, including soiled dressings, sponges, drapes, lavage tubes, drainage sets, underpads, and surgical gloves;

(G) Laboratory wastes from medical, pathological, pharmaceutical, or other research, commercial, or industrial laboratories that were in contact with infectious agents, including slides and cover slips, disposable gloves, laboratory coats and aprons;

(H) Dialysis wastes that were in contact with the blood of patients undergoing hemodialysis, including contaminated disposable equipment and supplies such as tubing, filters, disposable sheets, towels, gloves, aprons, and laboratory coats;

(I) Discarded medical equipment and parts that were in contact with infectious agents;

(J) Biological waste and discarded materials contaminated with blood, excretion, exudates or secretion from human beings or animals who are isolated to protect others from communicable diseases; and

(K) Any other waste material that results from the administration of medical care to a patient by a health care provider and is found by the Department of Health to pose a threat to human health or the environment.

(22) “Operations area” means any area where solid waste handling or related activities including storage, heavy equipment operations, truck idling, covering, uncovering, cleaning, queuing or parking occurs.

(23) “Radioactive hazardous waste” means any waste which contains or is contaminated with low level radioactive waste material emitting primarily gamma or beta radiation registering above normal background levels.

(24) “Residential street” means any street on which 50% or more of the street frontage is used for residential purposes, for residential and non-business property, or is zoned as residential property. The designation of a street as a residential street shall be determined block-by-block.

(25) “Site” means the total area of any lot or lots that are partially or completely occupied by a solid waste handling facility or its operations area or any lot or lots owned or leased by the owner or operator of a solid waste handling facility that are adjacent to a lot or lots that are partially or completely devoted to solid waste handling operations.

(26) “Tracking” means the deposit of a trail of liquid, liquid waste, muck, dust or of any garbage on public space by vehicles entering and exiting solid waste facilities.

(Feb. 27, 1996, D.C. Law 11-94, § 2, 42 DCR 7172; June 11, 1999, D.C. Law 12-286, § 2(a), 46 DCR 3435.)

Prior Codifications

1981 Ed., § 6-3451.

Section References

This section is referenced in § 8-105.02.

Emergency Legislation

For temporary addition of subchapter, see §§ 2-11 of the Solid Waste Facility Permit Emergency Act of 1994 (D.C. Act 10-384, December 28, 1994, 42 DCR 45).

For temporary addition of subchapter, see §§ 2 through 11 of the Solid Waste Facility Permit Emergency Act of 1995 (D.C. Act 11-144, October 23, 1995, 42 DCR 6038).

For temporary amendment of section, see § 2(a) and (b) of the Solid Waste Facility Permit Emergency Amendment Act of 1998 (D.C. Act 12-296, March 4, 1998, 45 DCR 1769), and § 2(a) of the Solid Waste Facility Permit Second Emergency Amendment Act of 1998 (D.C. Act 12-623, February 1, 1999, 45 DCR 1364).

Temporary Legislation

For temporary (225 day) amendment of section, see § 2 of Solid Waste Facility Permit Temporary Amendment Act of 1998 (D.C. Law 12-120, June 11, 1998, law notification 45 DCR 4037).

For temporary (225 day) addition of subchapter, see §§ 2 to 11 of Solid Waste Facility Permit Temporary Act of 1994 (D.C. Law 10-251, March 23, 1995, law notification 42 DCR 1650).

For temporary (225 day) addition of subchapter, see §§ 2 to 11 of Solid Waste Facility Permit Temporary Act of 1995 (D.C. Law 11-80, February 6, 1996, law notification 43 DCR 776).

Delegation of Authority

Delegation of authority pursuant to D.C. Law 10-251, the “Solid Waste Facility Permit Temporary Act of 1994”, see Mayor’s Order 95-754, May 19, 1995.

Delegation of authority pursuant to D.C. Law 11-94, the “District of Columbia Solid Waste Facility Permit Act of 1995”, see Mayor’s Order 98-53, April 15, 1998 ( 45 DCR 2700).