53 Pa. Stat. § 4000.103
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Abatement." The restoration, reclamation, recovery, etc., of a natural resource adversely affected by the activity of a person.
"Average daily volume." The mean daily volume received at a facility taking into account weather, seasonal variations, scheduled community cleanup days and other factors.
"Commission." The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and its authorized representatives.
"Commonwealth agency." The Commonwealth and its departments, boards, commissions and agencies, Commonwealth-owned universities, and the State Public School Building Authority, the State Highway and Bridge Authority, and any other authority now in existence or hereafter created or organized by the Commonwealth.
"Degradable plastic beverage carrier." Plastic beverage carriers that degrade by biological processes, photodegradation, chemodegradation or degradation by other natural processes. The degradation process does not produce or result in a residue or by-product considered to be hazardous waste.
"Department." The Department of Environmental Resources of the Commonwealth and its authorized representatives.
"Disposal." The deposition, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placing of solid waste into or on the land or water in a manner that the solid waste or a constituent of the solid waste enters the environment, is emitted into the air or is discharged to the waters of this Commonwealth.
"Feasibility study." A study which analyzes a specific municipal waste processing or disposal system to assess the likelihood that the system can be successfully implemented, including, but not limited to, an analysis of the prospective market, the projected costs and revenues of the system, the municipal waste-stream that the system will rely upon and various options available to implement the system.
"Host municipality." The municipality other than the county within which a municipal waste landfill or resource recovery facility is located or is proposed to be located.
"Leaf waste." Leaves, garden residues, shrubbery and tree trimmings, and similar material, but not including grass clippings.
"Local public agency."
"Management." The entire process, or any part thereof, of storage, collection, transportation, processing, treatment and disposal of solid wastes by any person engaging in such process.
"Municipal recycling program." A source separation and collection program for recycling municipal waste or source-separated recyclable materials, or a program for designated drop-off points or collection centers for recycling municipal waste or source-separated recyclable materials, that is operated by or on behalf of a municipality. The term includes any source separation and collection program for composting yard waste that is operated by or on behalf of a municipality. The term shall not include any program for recycling construction/demolition waste or sludge from sewage treatment plants or water supply treatment plants.
"Municipal waste." Any garbage, refuse, industrial lunchroom or office waste and other material, including solid, liquid, semisolid or contained gaseous material, resulting from operation of residential, municipal, commercial or institutional establishments and from community activities and any sludge not meeting the definition of residual or hazardous waste in the Solid Waste Management Act from a municipal, commercial or institutional water supply treatment plant, wastewater treatment plant or air pollution control facility. The term does not include source-separated recyclable materials.
"Municipal waste landfill." Any facility that is designed, operated or maintained for the disposal of municipal waste, whether or not such facility possesses a permit from the department under the Solid Waste Management Act. The term shall not include any facility that is used exclusively for disposal of construction/demolition waste or sludge from sewage treatment plants or water supply treatment plants.
"Municipality." A county, city, borough, incorporated town, township or home rule municipality. For the purposes of sections 902 and 904 only, the term shall include a council of governments, consortium or other similar entities established by two or more municipalities under 53 Pa.C.S. Ch. 23 Subch. A (relating to intergovernmental cooperation).
"Operator." A person engaged in solid waste processing or disposal. Where more than one person is so engaged in a single operation, all persons shall be deemed jointly and severally responsible for compliance with the provisions of this act.
"Person." Any individual, partnership, corporation, association, institution, cooperative enterprise, municipality, municipal authority, Federal Government or agency, State institution or agency (including, but not limited to, the Department of General Services and the State Public School Building Authority), or any other legal entity whatsoever which is recognized by law as the subject of rights and duties. In any provisions of this act prescribing a fine, imprisonment or penalty, or any combination of the foregoing, the term "person" shall include the officers and directors of any corporation or other legal entity having officers and directors.
"Plastic beverage carrier." Plastic rings or similar plastic connectors used as holding devices in the packaging of beverages, including, but not limited to, all carbonated beverages, liquors, wines, fruit juices, mineral waters, soda and beer.
"Pollution." Contamination of any air, water, land or other natural resources of this Commonwealth that will create or is likely to create a public nuisance or to render the air, water, land or other natural resources harmful, detrimental or injurious to public health, safety or welfare, or to domestic, municipal, commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational or other legitimate beneficial uses, or to livestock, wild animals, birds, fish or other life.
"Postconsumer material." Any product generated by a business or consumer which has served its intended end use and which has been separated or diverted from solid waste for the purposes of collection, recycling and disposition. The term includes industrial by-products that would otherwise go to disposal or processing facilities. The term does not include internally generated scrap that is commonly returned to industrial or manufacturing processes.
"Processing." Any technology used for the purpose of reducing the volume or bulk of municipal waste or any technology used to convert part or all of such waste materials for offsite reuse. Processing facilities include, but are not limited to, transfer facilities, composting facilities and resource recovery facilities.
"Project development." Those activities required to be conducted prior to constructing a processing or disposal facility that has been shown to be feasible, including, but not limited to, public input and participation, siting, procurement and vendor contract negotiations, and market and municipal waste supply assurance negotiations.
"Public agency." Any Commonwealth agency or local public agency.
"Reasonable expansion." The growth of an existing permitted municipal waste landfill to land which is contiguous to the existing municipal waste landfill, which contiguous land is owned in fee by the owner of the municipal waste landfill or which land is subject to an irrevocable option exercisable within one year in favor of the owner of the municipal waste landfill on the date that written notice of the development of a plan or a plan revision pursuant to section 503(b) and which contiguous land contains the same geological features which are present at the existing municipal waste landfill and for which a permit application under the Solid Waste Management Act is filed within one year of such notice.
"Recycled content." Goods, supplies, equipment, materials and printing containing postconsumer materials.
"Recycling." The collection, separation, recovery and sale or reuse of metals, glass, paper, leaf waste, plastics and other materials which would otherwise be disposed or processed as municipal waste or the mechanized separation and treatment of municipal waste (other than through combustion) and creation and recovery of reuseable materials other than a fuel for the operation of energy.
"Recycling facility." A facility employing a technology that is a process that separates or classifies municipal waste and creates or recovers reuseable materials that can be sold to or reused by a manufacturer as a substitute for or a supplement to virgin raw materials. The term "recycling facility" shall not mean transfer stations or landfills for solid waste nor composting facilities or resource recovery facilities.
"Remaining available permitted capacity." The remaining permitted capacity that is actually available for processing or disposal to the county or other municipality that generated the waste.
"Remaining permitted capacity." The weight or volume of municipal waste that can be processed or disposed of at an existing municipal waste processing or disposal facility. The term shall include only weight or volume capacity for which the department has issued a permit under the Solid Waste Management Act. The term shall not include any facility that the department determines, or has determined, has failed and continues to fail to comply with the provisions of the Solid Waste Management Act, the regulations promulgated pursuant thereto, any order issued pursuant thereto or any permit conditions.
"Residual waste." Any garbage, refuse, other discarded material or other waste, including solid, liquid, semisolid or contained gaseous materials resulting from industrial, mining and agricultural operations and any sludge from an industrial, mining or agricultural water supply treatment facility, waste water treatment facility or air pollution control facility, provided that it is not hazardous. The term shall not include coal refuse as defined in the act of September 24, 1968 (P.L. 1040, No. 318), known as the Coal Refuse Disposal Control Act. The term shall not include treatment sludges from coal mine drainage treatment plants, disposal of which is being carried on pursuant to and in compliance with a valid permit issued pursuant to the act of June 22, 1937 (P.L. 1987, No. 394), known as The Clean Streams Law.
"Resource recovery facility." A processing facility that provides for the extraction and utilization of materials or energy from municipal waste that is generated offsite, including, but not limited to, a facility that mechanically extracts materials from municipal waste, a combustion facility that converts the organic fraction of municipal waste to usable energy, and any chemical and biological process that converts municipal waste into a fuel product. The term also includes any facility for the combustion of municipal waste that is generated offsite, whether or not the facility is operated to recover energy. The term does not include:
"Secretary." The Secretary of Environmental Resources of the Commonwealth.
"Solid waste." Solid waste, as defined in the act of July 7, 1980 (P.L. 380, No. 97), known as the Solid Waste Management Act.
"Solid Waste Abatement Fund." The fund created pursuant to section 701 of the Solid Waste Management Act.
"Solid Waste Management Act." The act of July 7, 1980 (P.L. 380, No. 97).
"Source-separated recyclable materials." Materials that are separated from municipal waste at the point of origin for the purpose of recycling.
"Storage." The containment of any municipal waste on a temporary basis in such a manner as not to constitute disposal of such waste. It shall be presumed that the containment of any municipal waste in excess of one year constitutes disposal. This presumption can be overcome by clear and convincing evidence to the contrary.
"Transportation." The offsite removal of any municipal waste at any time after generation.
"Treatment." Any method, technique or process, including, but not limited to, neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical or biological character or composition of any municipal waste so as to neutralize such waste or so as to render such waste safer for transport, suitable for recovery, suitable for storage or reduced in volume.
"Waste reduction." Design, manufacture or use of a product to minimize weight of municipal waste that requires processing or disposal, including, but not limited to:
53 P.S. § 4000.103