S.C. Code Regs. § ch. 61, 61-107, 61-107.12, pt. I

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 9, September 27, 2024

Part I - Applicability, Definitions, and General Provisions

A. Applicability.

1. This regulation establishes the procedures, documentation, and other requirements which must be met for the proper operation and management of all solid waste incineration facilities, including all solid waste pyrolysis facilities, and waste-to-energy facilities burning solid waste used for energy recovery.

2. Facilities incinerating solid waste generated in the course of normal operations on property under the same ownership or control as the solid waste incineration facility are exempt from the requirements of this regulation. This exemption includes industrial boilers and furnaces that burn industrial by-products generated on-site, or on properties under the same ownership or control. Air curtain incinerators burning only yard-trimmings and land-clearing debris generated on-site, or generated on properties under the same ownership or control, are exempt from the requirements of this regulation. Air curtain incinerators used for emergency storm debris management at sites designated by state, county and municipal government are exempt from the requirements of this regulation.

3. Industrial boilers and industrial furnaces that burn Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) only, or burn RDF with a fossil fuel or wood are exempt from the requirements of this regulation.

4. Facilities that treat contaminated soils pursuant to other regulations are exempt from the requirements of this regulation.

5. Disposal of hazardous waste from conditionally exempt small quantity generators at solid waste incinerators is prohibited unless the incinerator is permitted under the South Carolina Hazardous Waste Management Regulations.

6. Government owned and operated incineration facilities that are used by an agency such as police, customs, agricultural inspection or a similar law enforcement agency to destroy illegal or prohibited goods, are exempt from the requirements of this regulation, but must comply with other applicable federal, state and local requirements.

7. Facilities using air curtain incinerators that never store more than four hundred cubic yards of clean wood, yard and land-clearing debris consisting of only untreated natural wood debris, untreated or unfinished wood waste, or a mixture of these specific waste stream on site at any given time, are conditionally exempt from the permitting requirements of this regulation when the conditions of subsections Part II.B., C., E., and F. of this regulation are maintained by the facility.

B. Definitions.

1. ''Air curtain incinerator'' means an incinerator that operates by forcefully projecting a curtain of air across an open chamber or pit in which burning occurs. Incinerators of this type can be constructed above or below ground and require a refractory lined chamber or pit.

2. ''Applicant'' means an individual, corporation, partnership, business association, or government entity that applies for the issuance, transfer, or modification of a permit under this article.

3. ''Ash'' means the solid residue from the incineration of solid waste.

4. ''Closure'' means the discontinuance of operation by ceasing to accept, treat, store, or dispose of solid waste in a manner which minimizes the need for further maintenance and protects human health and the environment.

5. ''Commercial solid waste'' means all types of solid waste generated by stores, offices, restaurants, warehouses, and other nonmanufacturing activities, excluding residential and industrial solid wastes.

6. ''Department'' means the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

7. ''Disclosure Statement'' means a sworn statement or affirmation, the form and content of which shall be determined by the Department and as required by Code Section 44-96-300.

8. ''Financial assurance mechanism'' means a mechanism designed to demonstrate that sufficient funds will be available to meet specific environmental protection needs of solid waste management facilities. Available financial assurance mechanisms include, but are not limited to, insurance, trust funds, surety bonds, letters of credit, certificates of deposit, and financial tests as determined by the Department by regulation.

9. ''Incineration'' means the use of controlled flame combustion to thermally break down solid, liquid, or gaseous combustible wastes, producing residue that contains little or no combustible materials.

10. ''Incinerator'' means any engineered device used in the process of controlled combustion of waste for the purpose of reducing the volume, and/or reducing or removing the hazardous potential of the waste charged by destroying combustible matter leaving the noncombustible ashes, material and/or residue.

11. ''Industrial boiler'' means a boiler that produces steam, heated air, or other heated fluids for use in a manufacturing process.

12. ''Industrial furnace'' means any of the following enclosed devices that are integral components of manufacturing processes and that use controlled flame devices to accomplish recovery of materials or energy:

a. Cement kilns;

b. Lime kilns;

c. Aggregate kilns;

d. Phosphate kilns;

e. Coke ovens;

f. Blast furnaces;

g. Smelting, melting and refining furnaces (including pyrometallurgical devices such as cupolas, reverberator furnaces, sintering machines, roasters, and foundry furnaces);

h. Titanium dioxide chloride process oxidation reactors;

i. Methane reforming furnaces;

j. Pulping liquor recovery furnaces;

k. Combustion devices used in the recovery of sulfur values from spent sulfuric acid; and,

l. Such other devices as the Department may determine on a case-by-case basis using one or more of the following factors:

(1) The design and use of the device primarily to accomplish recovery of material products;

(2) The use of the device to burn or reduce raw materials to make a material product;

(3) The use of the device to burn or reduce secondary materials as effective substitutes for raw materials, in processes using raw materials as principal feedstocks;

(4) The use of the device to burn or reduce secondary materials as ingredients in an industrial process to make a material product;

(5) The use of the device in common industrial practice to produce a material product; and,

(6) Other factors, as appropriate.

13. ''Industrial solid waste'' means solid waste generated by manufacturing or industrial processes that is not a hazardous waste regulated under subtitle C of RCRA. Such waste may include, but is not limited to, waste resulting from the following manufacturing processes: Electric power generation; fertilizer/agricultural chemicals; food and related products/by-products; inorganic chemicals; iron and steel manufacturing, leather and leather products; nonferrous metals manufacturing/foundries; organic chemicals; plastics and resins manufacturing; pulp and paper industry; rubber and miscellaneous plastic products; stone, glass, clay, and concrete products; textile manufacturing; transportation equipment; and water treatment. This term does not include mining waste or oil and gas waste.

14. ''Local government'' means a county, any municipality located wholly or partly within the county, and any other political subdivision located wholly or partly within the county when such political subdivision provides solid waste management services.

15. ''Medical waste,'' for the purposes of this regulations, means infectious waste as defined in South Carolina Infectious Waste Management Regulation 61-105.E.

16. ''Permit'' means the process by which the Department can ensure cognizance of, as well as control over, the management of solid wastes.

17. ''Putrescible wastes'' means solid waste that will rapidly decompose with the potential to cause odor and attract vectors.

18. ''Pyrolysis'' means the chemical decomposition of a material by heat in the absence of oxygen.

19. ''Recovered materials'' mean those materials which have known use, reuse, or recycling potential; can be feasibly used, reused, or recycled; and have been diverted or removed from the solid waste stream for sale, use, reuse, or recycling, whether or not requiring subsequent separation and processing. At least seventy-five percent (75%) by weight of the materials received during the previous calendar year must be used, reused, recycled, or transferred to a different site for use, reuse, or recycling in order to qualify as a recovered material.

20. ''Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF),'' for the purpose of this regulation, means a type of fuel produced from solid waste by separating some, or all, of the noncombustible from the combustible portions, shredding and classifying the waste by size. This includes all classes of RDF including low-density fluff RDF through densified RDF and pelletized RDF.

21. ''Region'' means a group of counties in South Carolina which is planning to or has prepared, approved, and submitted a regional solid waste management plan to the Department pursuant to Section 44-96-80.

22. ''Residential solid waste'' means solid waste (including garbage, trash, and sanitary waste from septic tanks) derived from households (including single and multiple residences.)

23. ''Solid waste'' means any garbage, refuse, or sludge from a waste treatment facility, water supply plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations and from community activities. This term does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage, recovered materials, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to NPDES permits under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, or the Pollution Control Act of South Carolina, as amended, or source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1964, as amended. Also excluded from this definition are application of fertilizer and animal manure during normal agricultural operations or refuse as defined and regulated pursuant to the South Carolina Mining Act, including processed mineral waste, which will not have a significant adverse impact on the environment.

24. ''Solid waste management'' means the systematic control of the generation, collection, source separation, storage, transportation, treatment, recovery, and disposal of solid waste.

25. ''Solid waste management facility'' means any solid waste disposal area, volume reduction plant, transfer station, or other facility, the purpose of which is the storage, collection, transportation, treatment, utilization, processing, recycling, or disposal, or any combination thereof, of solid waste. The term does not include a recovered materials processing facility or facilities which use or ship recovered materials, except that portion of the facilities which is managing solid waste.

26. ''Special waste'' means nonresidential and commercial solid wastes, other than regulated hazardous wastes, that are either difficult or dangerous to handle and require unusual management, including, but not limited to, those waste contained in Code Section 44-96-390(A).

27. ''Vector'' means a carrier that is capable of transmitting a pathogen from one organism to another including, but not limited to, flies and other insects, rodents, birds, and vermin.

28. ''Waste-to-energy facility,'' for the purposes of this regulation, means a facility that uses an enclosed device using controlled combustion to thermally break down solid, liquid, or gaseous combustible solid waste to an ash residue that contains little or no combustible material and that produces electricity, steam, or other energy as a result. The term does not include facilities that primarily burn fuels other than solid waste even if such facilities also burn some solid waste as a fuel supplement. The term also does not include facilities that burn vegetative, agricultural, or silvicultural wastes, clean dry wood, methane or other landfill gas, wood fuel derived from construction or demolition debris, or waste tires, alone or in combination with fossil fuels.''

29. "Waters of the United States" means:

a. All waters which are currently used, were used in the past, or may be susceptible to use in interstate or foreign commerce, including all waters which are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide;

b. All interstate waters, including interstate wetlands;

c. All other waters such as intrastate lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sand flats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds that the use, degradation, or destruction of which would affect or could affect interstate or foreign commerce including any such waters:

(1) Which are or could be used by interstate or foreign travelers for recreational or other purposes;

(2) From which fish or shellfish are or could be taken and sold in interstate or foreign commerce; or

(3) Which are used or could be used for industrial purposes by industries in interstate commerce;

d. All impoundments of waters otherwise defined as Waters of the United States under this definition;

e. Tributaries of waters identified in paragraph a through paragraph f of this definition;

f. The territorial sea;

g. Wetlands adjacent to waters (other than waters that are themselves wetlands) identified in paragraph a through paragraph f of this definition; and,

h. Waste treatment systems, including treatment ponds or lagoons designed to meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act, are not waters of the United States.

C. General Provisions.

1. No permit to construct a new solid waste incineration facility may be issued by the Department unless the proposed facility is consistent with the local or regional solid waste management plan and the state solid waste management plan. Consistency determinations shall be made in accordance with the state and county or regional solid waste management plans in effect on the date that a complete application is received by the Department. This subsection must not apply to industrial facilities managing solid waste generated in the course of normal operations on property under the same ownership or control as the waste management facility. However, these facilities shall be consistent with the applicable local zoning and land use ordinances, if any, provided that the industrial facility is not a commercial solid waste management facility. Prior to the issuance of a permit for a new or expanded facility, the Department shall approve an allowable capacity based on the local or regional solid waste management plan, the facility's design capacity, and the following criteria:

a. No solid waste incineration facility with a daily capacity in excess of six hundred (600) tons shall be permitted within the State.

b. No solid waste incineration facility with a daily capacity in excess of one hundred (100) tons shall be permitted to be sited within three (3) miles of another such facility.

2. The siting, design, construction, operation, closure, and post-closure activities of new or expanding solid waste incineration facilities shall conform to the standards set forth in this regulation, the facility's permit and in R.61-107.17. Solid Waste Management: Demonstration of Need.

3. A permit obtained from the Department pursuant to these regulations, or an exemption from permitting pursuant to these regulations, does not exempt the incineration facility from the necessity of obtaining other Department required permits (e.g. air quality, water pollution control).

4. No person owning or operating an incineration facility shall cause, suffer, allow, or permit the handling of regulated hazardous wastes or regulated infectious wastes at the incineration facility, unless the facility is specifically permitted for such wastes.

5. The Department shall require a disclosure statement from the permit applicant in accordance with Code Section 44-96-300. Local governments and regions comprised of local governments are exempt from this requirement. The Department may accept one (1) disclosure statement for multiple facility permit applicants.

6. A permit shall be required for each site or facility although the Department may include one or more different types of facilities in a single permit if the facilities are co-located on the same site.

7. Construction of an incinerator shall not be initiated until all required approvals are obtained.

8. The permittee of a solid waste incineration facility shall notify the Department prior to transfer of ownership or operation of the facility during its operating life or during the post-closure care period. The Department will approve a reissuance of the permit to the new owner provided that the facility is in compliance and the new owner agrees in writing to assume responsibility in accordance with these regulations. The Department must receive a disclosure statement and proof of financial assurance for the new permittee before a permit can be reissued.

9. Facilities that have a valid Department permit for managing hazardous or infectious waste, may request to be exempted from certain portions of this regulation.

S.C. Code Regs. ch. 61, 61-107, 61-107.12, pt. I

Replaced and amended by State Register Volume 40, Issue No. 06, eff. 6/24/2016.