West Virginia Code § 22-15-2

Definitions
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Unless the context clearly requires a different meaning, as used in this article the terms:
"Advanced recycling" means a manufacturing process for the conversion of post-use
polymers and recovered feedstocks into basic hydrocarbon raw materials, feedstocks,
chemicals, and other products like waxes and lubricants through processes that include
pyrolysis, gasification, depolymerization, catalytic cracking, hydrogenation, solvolysis, and
other similar technologies. The recycled products produced at advanced recycling facilities
include, but are not limited to, monomers, oligomers, plastics, plastics and chemical
feedstocks, basic and unfinished chemicals, waxes, lubricants, couatings, and other basic
hydrocarbons. Advanced recycling shall not be considered solid waste management or solid
waste disposal. t
"Advanced recycling facility" means a facility that receives, stores, and converts post-use
polymers and recovered feedstocks it receives using advanced recycling. An advanced
recycling facility is a manufacturing facility subjectl to applicable department manufacturing
regulations for air, water, and land use. Advansced recycling facilities shall not be considered
solid waste facilities.
"Agronomic rate" means the whole sgewage sludge application rate, by dry weight, designed:
(1) To provide the amount of nitrogen needed by the food crop, feed crop, fiber crop, cover
crop, or vegetation on the land; and
(2) To minimize the amount of nitrogen in the sewage sludge that passes below the root zone
of the crop or vegetation grown on the land to the groundwater.
"Applicant" mVeans the person applying for a commercial solid waste facility permit or similar
renewal permit and any person related to such person by virtue of common ownership,
common management, or family relationships as the director may specify, including the
following: Spouses, parents, children, and siblings.
"Approved solid waste facility" means a solid waste facility or practice which has a valid
permit under this article.
"Back hauling" means the practice of using the same container to transport solid waste and
to transport any substance or material used as food by humans, animals raised for human
consumption, or reusable item which may be refilled with any substance or material used as
food by humans.
"Bulking agent" means any material mixed and composted with sewage sludge.
"Catalytic cracking" is a manufacturing process through which post-use polymers are heated
and melted in the absence of oxygen and then processed in the presence of a catalyst to
produce valuable raw materials and intermediate and final products, including, but not
limited to, plastic monomers, chemicals, waxes, lubricants, plastic and chemical feedstocks,
and other basic hydrocarbons.
"Class A facility" means a commercial solid waste facility which handles an aggregate of
between 10,000 and 30,000 tons of solid waste per month. Class A facility includes two or
more Class B solid waste landfills owned or operated by the same person in the same county,
if the aggregate tonnage of solid waste handled per month by such landfills eexceeds 9,999
tons of solid waste per month.
"Commercial recycler" means any person, corporation, or business entity whose operation
involves the mechanical separation of materials for the purpose uof reselling or recycling at
least 70 percent by weight of the materials coming into the commercial recycling facility.
"Commercial solid waste facility" means any solid waste facility that accepts solid waste
generated by sources other than the owner or operatoar of the facility and does not include
an approved solid waste facility owned and operated by a person for the sole purpose of the
disposal, processing, or composting of solid waste clreated by that person or such person and
other persons on a cost-sharing or nonprofit bsasis and does not include land upon which
reused or recycled materials are legitimately applied for structural fill, road base, mine
reclamation, and similar applications, and does not include any solid waste facility that
accepts solid waste collected pursuagnt to and under a common carrier certificate of
convenience and necessity issued by the Public Service Commission by the owner or
operator (or its affiliate(s)) of tehe solid waste facility for consolidation and subsequent
transport to a disposal or recycling facility: Provided, That the owner or operator of the solid
waste facility shall compLly with §22-15-12 and §22-15-13 of this code: Provided, however,
That any such solid waste facility be located on a site that contains a mixed waste processing
and resource recovery facility that possesses a solid waste facility permit from the
Department of Environmental Protection.
"Compost" means a humus-like material resulting from aerobic, microbial, or thermophilic
decWomposition of organic materials.
"Composting" means the aerobic, microbial, or thermophilic decomposition of natural
constituents of solid waste to produce a stable, humus-like material.
"Commercial composting facility" means any solid waste facility processing solid waste by
composting, including sludge composting, organic waste or yard waste composting, but does
not include a composting facility owned and operated by a person for the sole purpose of
composting waste created by that person or such person and other persons on a cost-sharing
or nonprofit basis and shall not include land upon which finished or matured compost is
applied for use as a soil amendment or conditioner.
"Cured compost" or "finished compost" means compost which has a very low microbial or
decomposition rate which will not reheat or cause odors when put into storage and that has
been put through a separate aerated curing cycle stage of 30 to 60 days after an initial
composting cycle or compost which meets all regulatory requirements after the initial
composting cycle.
"Department" means the Department of Environmental Protection.
"Depolymerization" means a manufacturing process where post-use polymers are broken
into smaller molecules such as monomers and oligomers or raw, intermediate, or final
products, plastics and chemical feedstocks, basic and unfinished chemicals, waxes,
lubricants, coatings, and other basic hydrocarbons.
"Energy recovery incinerator" means any solid waste facility at wuhich solid wastes are
incinerated with the intention of using the resulting energy for the generation of steam,
electricity, or any other use not specified herein.
"Gasification" means a manufacturing process througha which recovered feedstocks are
heated and converted into a fuel and gas mixture in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere and the
mixture is converted into valuable raw materials anld intermediate and final products,
including, but not limited to, plastic monomerss, chemicals, waxes, lubricants, plastic and
chemical feedstocks, and other basic hydrocarbons that are returned to economic utility in
the form of raw materials and products. i
"Hydrogenation" is a manufacturing process through which hydrogen is used to remove
impurities from post-use polymers or recovered feedstock to enable further processing into
valuable raw materials and intermediate and final products, including, but not limited to,
plastic monomers, chemicals, waxes, lubricants, plastic and chemical feedstocks, and other
basic hydrocarbons.
"Incineration techno logies" means any technology that uses controlled flame combustion to
thermally breVak down solid waste, including refuse-derived fuel, to an ash residue that
contains little or no combustible materials, regardless of whether the purpose is processing,
disposal, electric or steam generation, or any other method by which solid waste is
incinerated.
"Incinerator" means an enclosed device using controlled flame combustion to thermally
break down solid waste, including refuse-derived fuel, to an ash residue that contains little
or no combustible materials.
"Landfill" means any solid waste facility used for the disposal of solid waste on or in the land
for the purpose of permanent disposal. The facility is situated, for purposes of this article, in
the county where the majority of the spatial area of the facility is located.
"Materials recovery facility" means any solid waste facility at which source-separated
materials or materials recovered through a mixed waste processing facility are manually or
mechanically shredded or separated for purposes of reuse and recycling, but does not
include a composting facility.
"Mature compost" means compost which has been produced in an aerobic, microbial, or
thermophilic manner and does not exhibit phytotoxic effects.
"Mixed solid waste" means solid waste from which materials sought to be reused or recycled
have not been source-separated from general solid waste.
"Mixed waste processing facility" means any solid waste facility at which materials are
recovered from mixed solid waste through manual or mechanical means for purposes of
reuse, recycling, or composting.
"Municipal solid waste incineration" means the burning of any soulid waste collected by any
municipal or residential solid waste disposal company.
"Open dump" means any solid waste disposal which does not have a permit under this
article, or is in violation of state law, or where solid waaste is disposed in a manner that does
not protect the environment.
"Person" or "persons" means any industrial user, public or private corporation, institution,
association, firm, or company organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state
or country; State of West Virginia; governmiental agency, including federal facilities; political
subdivision; county commission; municipal corporation; industry; sanitary district; public
service district; drainage district; soil conservation district; watershed improvement district;
partnership; trust; estate; person or individual; group of persons or individuals acting
individually or as a group; or any legal entity whatever.
"Post-use polymer" means a plastic to which all the following apply:
(1) The plastic is der ived from any industrial, commercial, agricultural, or domestic
activities; V
(2) It is not mixed with solid waste or hazardous waste onsite or during processing at the
advanced recycling facility;
(3) The plastic's use or intended use is as a feedstock for the manufacturing of plastic and
chemical feedstocks, other basic hydrocarbons, raw materials, or other intermediate
products or final products using advanced recycling;
(4) The plastic has been sorted from solid waste and other regulated waste but may contain
residual amounts of solid waste such as organic material and incidental contaminants or
impurities (e.g., paper labels and metal rings); and
(5) The plastic is processed at an advanced recycling facility or held at the facility prior to
processing.
"Publicly owned treatment works" means any treatment works owned by the state or any
political subdivision thereof, any municipality or any other public entity which processes raw
domestic, industrial, or municipal sewage by any artificial or natural processes in order to
remove or so alter constituents as to render the waste less offensive or dangerous to the
public health, comfort, or property of any of the inhabitants of this state before the
discharge of the plant effluent into any of the waters of this state, and which produces
sewage sludge.
"Pyrolysis" means a manufacturing process through which post-use polymeres are heated in
the absence of oxygen until melted and thermally decomposed and are then cooled,
condensed, and converted into valuable raw materials and intermediater and final products,
including, but not limited to, plastic monomers, chemicals, waxes, lubricants, plastic and
chemical feedstocks, and other basic hydrocarbons, that are returned to economic utility in
the form of raw materials or products.
"Recovered feedstock" means one or more of the following materials that has been
processed so that it may be used as feedstock in an advanced recycling facility:
(1) Post-use polymers; l
(2) Materials for which the United States Environmental Protection Agency has made a
nonwaste determination pursuant to 40 C.iF.R. 241.3(c), or has otherwise determined are
feedstocks and not solid waste; g
(3) Recovered feedstock does not include unprocessed municipal solid waste;
(4) Recovered feedstock is not mixed with solid waste or hazardous waste onsite or during
processing at an advanced recycling facility.
"Recycling facility" m eans any solid waste facility for the purpose of recycling at which
neither land dVisposal nor biological, chemical, or thermal transformation of solid waste
occurs: Provided, That mixed waste recovery facilities, sludge processing facilities, and
composting facilities are not considered recycling facilities nor considered to be reusing or
recycling solid waste within the meaning of this article, §22-15A-1 et seq. and §22C-4-1 et
seq. of this code.
"Sewage sludge" means solid, semisolid, or liquid residue generated during the treatment of
domestic sewage in a treatment works. Sewage sludge includes, but is not limited to,
domestic septage, scum, or solids removed in primary, secondary, or advanced wastewater
treatment processes and a material derived from sewage sludge. "Sewage sludge" does not
include ash generated during the firing of sewage sludge in a sewage sludge incinerator.
"Sewage sludge processing facility" is a solid waste facility that processes sewage sludge for:
(A) Land application; (B) incineration; or (C) disposal at an approved landfill. Such processes
include, but are not limited to, composting, lime stabilization, thermophilic, microbial, and
anaerobic digestion.
"Secretary" means the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection or such
other person to whom the secretary has delegated authority or duties pursuant to §22-1-1 et
seq. of this code.
"Sludge" means any solid, semisolid, residue, or precipitate, separated from or created by a
municipal, commercial, or industrial waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant,
air pollution control facility, or any other such waste having similar origin.
"Solid waste" means any garbage, paper, litter, refuse, cans, bottles, waste processed for the
express purpose of incineration; sludge from a waste treatment plant; water supply
treatment plant or air pollution control facility; and other discarded materials, including
offensive or unsightly matter, solid, liquid, semisolid, or containeud liquid or gaseous material
resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, or community activities but does not include
solid or dissolved material in sewage or solid or dissolved mtaterials in irrigation return flows
or industrial discharges which are point sources and have permits under §22-5A-1 et seq. of
this code, or source, special nuclear, or byproduct material as defined by the Atomic Energy
Act of 1954, as amended, including any nuclear or byproduct material considered by federal
standards to be below regulatory concern, or a hazardous waste either identified or listed
under §22-5E-1 et seq. of this code or refuse, sslurry, overburden, or other wastes or material
resulting from coal-fired electric power or steam generation, the exploration, development,
production, storage, and recovery of coal, oil, and gas, and other mineral resources placed
or disposed of at a facility which is rgegulated under chapter 22, chapter 22A, or chapter 22B
of this code, so long as placement or disposal is in conformance with a permit issued
pursuant to those chapters, ore post-use polymers and recovered feedstocks converted at an
advanced recycling facility or held at the facility prior to conversion.
"Solid waste disposal" means the practice of disposing of solid waste including placing,
depositing, dumping, throwing, or causing any solid waste to be placed, deposited, dumped,
or thrown.
"Solid waste disposal shed" means the geographical area which the solid waste management
boaWrd designates and files in the state register pursuant to §16-26-8 of this code.
"Solid waste facility" means any system, facility, land, contiguous land, improvements on the
land, structures, or other appurtenances or methods used for processing, recycling, or
disposing of solid waste, including landfills, transfer stations, materials recovery facilities,
mixed waste processing facilities, sewage sludge processing facilities, commercial
composting facilities, and other such facilities not herein specified, but not including land
upon which sewage sludge is applied in accordance with §22-15-20 of this code. The facility
shall be deemed to be situated, for purposes of this article, in the county where the majority
of the spatial area of the facility is located: Provided, That a salvage yard, licensed and
regulated pursuant to the terms of §17-23-1 et seq. of this code, is not a solid waste facility
and an advanced recycling facility is not a solid waste facility.
"Solid waste facility operator" means any person or persons possessing or exercising
operational, managerial, or financial control over a commercial solid waste facility, whether
or not the person holds a certificate of convenience and necessity or a permit for the facility.
"Solvolysis" means a manufacturing process through which post-use polymers are purified
with the aid of solvents, while heated at low temperatures and/or pressurized to make useful
products, allowing additives and contaminants to be separated. The products of solvolysis
include monomers, intermediates, valuable chemicals, and raw materials. The process
includes, but is not limited to, hydrolysis, aminolysis, ammonoloysis, methaneolysis, and
glycolysis.
"Source-separated materials" means materials separated from general solid waste at the
point of origin for the purpose of reuse and recycling but does nout mean sewage sludge.

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