§ 19-26. Definitions.

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Bulky waste means large items of solid waste such as household appliances, furniture, automobiles, large auto parts, trees, branches, stumps and other oversize wastes whose large size precludes or complicates their handling by normal solid waste collection, processing or disposal methods.

Collection means the act of removing solid wastes from a point of generation to a central storage point or to a disposal site, and from a central storage point to a disposal site.

Commercial solid waste means solid wastes generated by stores, offices, restaurants, warehouses and other nonmanufacturing activities.

Construction and demolition waste means waste building materials, packaging and rubble resulting from construction, remodeling, repair and demolition operations on pavements, houses, commercial buildings and other structures.

Demolition landfill means a sanitary landfill that is limited to receiving stumps, limbs, leaves, concrete, brick, wood, uncontaminated earth or other solid wastes as approved by the division of health services.

Director of environmental services means the county director of environmental services, or his authorized representative.

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.

Division of health services means the division of health services of the state department of environment, health, and natural resources.

Garbage means all putrescible solid wastes, animal and vegetable matter, animal offal and carcasses, and recognizable industrial by-products, but excluding sewage and human wastes.

Geographic area means the area which, pursuant to G.S. 130A-294, is designated for the collection, transportation, storage and disposal of solid waste in accordance with an approved solid waste management plan.

Hazardous waste means a solid waste, or combination of solid wastes, which 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.

Health director means the director of the county health department, or his authorized representative.

Incineration means the process of burning solid, semi-solid or gaseous combustible wastes to an inoffensive gas and residue containing little or no combustible material.

Industrial solid waste means solid wastes generated by industrial processes and manufacturing.

Infectious waste means solid waste capable of producing an infectious disease. The types of waste designated as infectious are: microbiological waste, pathological waste, blood products and sharps.

Institutional solid waste means solid waste generated by educational, health care, correctional and other institutional facilities.

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.

Microbiological waste includes cultures and stocks of etiologic agents. The term includes cultures of specimens from medical, pathological, pharmaceutical, research, commercial and industrial laboratories.

Open burning means any fire wherein the products of combustion are emitted directly into the outdoor atmosphere and are not directed thereto through a stack or chimney, incinerator or other similar devices.

Open dump means a solid waste disposal site which is not a sanitary landfill and which does not have a permit.

Pathological waste includes human tissues, organs, body parts, secretions and excretions, blood and body fluids that are removed during surgery and autopsies, and the carcasses and body parts of all animals that were exposed to pathogens in research, were used in the production of biologicals or in the in vivo testing of pharmaceuticals, or that died of known or suspected infectious disease.

Person means an individual, corporation, company, association, partnership, unit of local government, state agency, federal agency or other legal entity.

Putrescible means 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 carcasses.

Radioactive waste means any waste containing radioactive material as defined in G.S. 104E-5(14).

Recyclable corrugated cardboard means paper boxes and other thick, layered brown paper used in shipping or receiving which paper dealers in the county or adjacent counties are willing to purchase when it is delivered to them.

Recycling means the process by which recovered resources are transformed into new products so that the original products lose their identity.

Refuse means all nonputrescible waste.

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 such solid waste for recycling.

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 G.S. Ch. 130A, Art. 9 (130A-290 et seq.).

Sharps includes needles, syringes and scalpel blades.

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 such waste having similar characteristics and effects.

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. The term does not include:

(1)

Fecal waste from fowls and animals other than humans;

(2)

Solid or dissolved material in:

a.

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;

b.

Irrigation return flows; and

c.

Wastewater discharges and the sludges incidental to and generated by treatment which are point sources subject to permits granted under § 402 of the Water Pollution Control Act, as amended (P.L. 92-500), and permits granted under G.S. 143-215.1 by the state environmental management commission. However, any sludges that meet the criteria for hazardous waste under the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (P.L. 94-580), as amended, shall also be a solid waste for the purposes of this article;

(3)

Oils and other liquid hydrocarbons controlled under G.S. Ch. 143, Art. 21A (143-215.75 et seq.). However, any oils or other liquid hydrocarbons that meet the criteria for hazardous waste under the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (P.L. 94-580), as amended, shall also be a solid waste for the purposes of this article;

(4)

Any source, special nuclear or byproduct material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 2011);

(5)

Mining refuse covered by The Mining Act of 1971, G.S. 74-46—74-68, and regulated by the state mining commission (as defined under G.S. 143B-290). However, any specific mining waste that meets the criteria for hazardous waste under the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (P.L. 94-580), as amended, shall also be a solid waste for the purpose of this article.

Solid waste collector means any person who collects or transports solid waste by whatever means, including but not limited to, highway, rail and navigable waterway.

Solid waste container means large metal container used for the temporary storage of solid wastes and capable of being automatically emptied into collection vehicles.

Solid waste container site means any place owned, leased, rented or otherwise operated by the county environmental services department at which refuse, garbage or other solid waste is collected, transported or disposed of.

Solid waste disposal site means any place at which solid wastes are disposed of by incineration, sanitary landfill or any other method.

Solid waste generation means the act or process of producing solid waste.

Solid waste management means purposeful, systematic control of the generation, storage, collection, transport, separation, treatment, processing, recycling, recovery and disposal of solid waste.

Solid waste management facility means land, personnel and equipment used in the management of solid waste.

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.

Unit of local government means a county, city, town or incorporated village.

Vector means a carrier, usually an arthropod, that is capable of transmitting a pathogen from one (1) organism to another.

(Ord. of 4-2-90, § II; Ord. of 12-3-90, § 2)