Current through Rules and Regulations filed through September 23, 2024
(1)
General: Comprehensive solid waste management planning at local and regional levels in the state is critical to assisting communities in meeting the statewide goal of reducing waste, providing for effective solid waste management, and ensuring ten years of collection capability and disposal capacity. In order to effectively implement the planning provisions of the Solid Waste Management Act, ongoing cooperation must occur among local governments, Regional Development Centers, citizens, private industry, and state agencies. The following outlines the responsibilities of those involved with implementing solid waste management planning.
(2)
Department of Community Affairs: It is the responsibility of the Department to promote the policy of the State of Georgia, in furtherance of its responsibility to protect the public health, safety, and well-being of its citizens and to protect and enhance the quality of its environment, to institute and maintain a comprehensive statewide program for effective solid waste management through planning and education.
(a) The Department shall develop, promote, and establish standards and procedures for solid waste management planning; and have plenary authority over solid waste management planning in the State of Georgia.
(b) The Department shall assist local governments by providing technical assistance in preparing and implementing solid waste management plans which address the integrated solid waste management needs of their residents.
(c) The Department shall use all available resources, including the solid waste management plans of local governments to encourage and promote regional alternatives for solid waste management.
(d) The Department shall undertake and carry out such activities as may be necessary to mediate or otherwise assist in resolving conflicts relating to the solid waste management planning process, in the same manner as those procedures established pursuant the Georgia Planning Act, O.C.G.A. §
50-8-1et seq.
(e) The Department shall coordinate solid waste management planning responsibilities outlined in the Act with those of other state agencies, Regional Development Centers, and local governments.
(f) The Department shall review all solid waste management plans and amendments for consistency with the Minimum Planning Standards and Procedures. For plans found to be in compliance, the Department will issue a letter notifying the Regional Development Center serving the local government(s) within the planning jurisdiction that the plan is eligible for local adoption. Once the Department receives written confirmation that all local governments in a multi-jurisdictional plan, or the local government in a single plan, have adopted the plan, the Department will notify the local government(s) in writing that their plan is approved and they are eligible for municipal solid waste handling and/or facility grants, loans, and permits.
(g) The Department may verify reasonable consistency between the data reported by local governments on the Annual Solid Waste Survey and in the Full-Cost Report with the information compiled in each local government's solid waste management plan. Where reporting is found to be in conflict with plans, the Department will require the local government to amend either the report or the plan to reflect actual conditions of solid waste management programs and activities within the jurisdiction.
(h) The Department will compile the results of the Annual Solid Waste Survey and Full-Cost Report, along with information gathered by EPD regarding the amount of solid waste handled by permitted disposal facilities and remaining capacities at permitted landfills, and report that information to the Governor and the General Assembly on an annual basis.
(3)
Department of Natural Resources/Environmental Protection Division: It is the responsibility of DNR/EPD to promote the policy of the State of Georgia, in furtherance of its responsibility to protect the public health, safety, and well-being of its citizens and to protect and enhance the quality of its environment, to institute and maintain a comprehensive state-wide program for effective solid waste management through facility permitting, permit compliance, and enforcement of solid waste management regulations. Accordingly, DNR may undertake the following:
(a) Review local, multi-jurisdictional, and regional solid waste management plans for:
1. Effective and sound solid waste management strategies;
2. Compliance with DNR rules, regulations, and individual facilities' permit conditions; and
3. Consistency of permit requests with solid waste plans.
(b) Verify ten-year disposal capacity assurance as presented in solid waste plans.
(c) Coordinate with the Department of Community Affairs to verify remaining capacities in permitted disposal facilities.
(d) Compile reports of the amount of waste handled by permitted solid waste disposal facilities and remaining capacities at permitted landfills in Georgia, and provide that information to the Department of Community Affairs by January 1 of each year.
(4)
Local Governments: It is the responsibility of municipal and county governments in the State of Georgia to serve the public needs by promoting, establishing and implementing sound comprehensive solid waste management planning. Accordingly, the governing body of municipalities and counties shall have the authority and responsibility to:
(a) Develop and implement solid waste management plans at the local, multi-jurisdictional, or regional level. However, no municipality or county shall take any action to adopt a solid waste management plan until receipt of notification from their Regional Development Center that the plan has been reviewed and found by the Department to be consistent with the minimum planning standards and procedures for solid waste management.
(b) Develop, establish, and implement land use regulations that are consistent with the solid waste management plan.
(c) Take all action necessary or desirable to implement the approved and adopted comprehensive solid waste management plan.
(d) Participate in good faith in mediation or other forms of resolving conflicts related to solid waste management plans and regional solid waste management planning issues.
(e) Complete and provide to the Department of Community Affairs a Solid Waste Annual Survey and Full-Cost Report in a timely fashion.
(5)
Regional Development Centers: It is the responsibility of Regional Development Centers in the State of Georgia to serve the public needs by providing necessary technical assistance to local governments to promote, establish, and implement comprehensive solid waste management planning by municipal and county governments and regional coalitions in conformity with the minimum planning standards and procedures for Solid Waste Management. The specific responsibilities of Regional Development Centers are:
(a) If requested, assist one or more counties or municipalities, or both, in developing, establishing, and/or implementing a solid waste management plan.
(b) To undertake and carry out such planning and technical assistance activities as the Board of Directors or the Department may deem necessary for the development and implementation of solid waste management plans for municipalities and counties, or any combination of the two in its region.
(c) Specific planning and technical assistance activities may include, but shall not be limited to, the following:
1. A Center may coordinate and provide planning technical assistance to local governments preparing solid waste management plans.
2. A Center may develop and prepare a solid waste management plan for a county or municipality or a combination thereof.
3. A Center may provide technical assistance and/or prepare a solid waste management plan specifically for the purpose of promoting regional alternatives and solid waste management solutions.
4. Each Center shall review solid waste management plans for internal inconsistencies and potential inter-jurisdictional conflicts or conflicts with other local government plans in the region, including but not limited to a local government's Comprehensive Plan.
5. Each Center shall coordinate mediation or other forms of resolving conflicts relating to solid waste management plans among local governments within its region, pursuant to the procedures of Mediation of Interjurisdictional Conflicts adopted by the Board of Directors of the Department of Community Affairs and as amended.
6. Each Center shall also participate in good faith in mediation or other forms of resolving conflicts relating to solid waste management plans when such conflict involves another Regional Development Center.
7. Each Center shall determine the effect of any government's failure to adopt a multi-jurisdictional or regional plan, or an amendment to such, on the ability of the other jurisdictions to successfully implement the plan, and make recommendations to the Department regarding plan acceptance and permit eligibility.
8. Each center shall manage the Development of Regional Impact process according to the procedures and guidelines promulgated by the Department.
(6)
Privately Owned Solid Waste Handling Facilities: It is the responsibility of privately owned solid waste handling facilities in the State of Georgia to operate in compliance with Georgia Code. Accordingly, in order for a solid waste facility to be considered consistent with the planning standards a solid waste facility must, at a minimum:
(a) When seeking a permit or permit modification, demonstrate that all generating jurisdictions from which waste will be received are part of an approved solid waste management plan and have a strategy to meet, and are actively engaged in meeting, the goal to reduce by 25 percent the per capita rate of municipal solid waste disposed statewide in solid waste facilities as compared with the per capita municipal solid waste disposal rate in FY 1992.
(b) Maintain accurate written records of the amount, in tons, of solid waste received at their municipal solid waste disposal facility.
O.C.G.A. Secs. 12-8-20et seq., 12-8-31.1.
