Utah Administrative Code
Topic - Environmental Quality
Title R315 - Waste Management and Radiation Control, Waste Management
Rule R315-301 - Solid Waste Authority, Definitions, and General Requirements
Section R315-301-2 - Definitions
Current through Bulletin 2024-06, March 15, 2024
Terms used in Rules R315-301 through R315-320 are defined in Sections 19-1-103, 19-6-102, and 19-6-803. In addition, the following definitions apply to Rules R315-301 through R315-320.
(1) "Active area" means that portion of a facility where solid waste recycling, reuse, treatment, storage, or disposal operations are being conducted.
(2) "Airport" means a public use airport open to the public without prior permission and without restrictions within the physical capacities of available facilities.
(3) "Aquifer" means a geological formation, group of formations, or portion of a formation that contains sufficiently saturated permeable material to yield usable quantities of groundwater to wells or springs.
(4) "Areas susceptible to mass movement" means those areas of influence, characterized as having an active or substantial possibility of mass movement, where the movement of earth material at, beneath, or adjacent to the landfill unit, because of natural or human induced events, results in the downslope transport of soil and rock material by gravitational influence. Areas of mass movement include landslides, avalanches, debris slides and flows, soil fluction, block sliding, and rock falls.
(5) "Asbestos waste " means friable asbestos, which is any material containing more than 1% asbestos as determined using the method specified in Appendix A, 40 CFR Part 763.1, 2001 ed., which is incorporated by reference, that if dry, can be crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder by hand pressure.
(6) "Background concentration" means the concentration of a contaminant in groundwater upgradient or a lateral hydraulically equivalent point from a facility, practice, or activity, and which has not been affected by that facility, practice, or activity.
(7) "Class I Landfill" means a non commercial landfill or a landfill that meets the definition found in Subsection 19-6-102(3)(b)(iii) and is permitted by the director:
(8) "Class II Landfill" means a non commercial landfill or a landfill that is permitted by the director:
(9) "Class III Landfill" means a non commercial landfill that is permitted by the director to receive for disposal only industrial solid waste.
(10) "Class IV Landfill" means a non commercial landfill that is permitted by the director to receive for disposal only:
(11) "Class V Landfill" means a commercial nonhazardous solid waste disposal facility, as defined by Subsection 19-6-102(3), that is permitted by the director to receive for disposal:
(12) "Class VI Landfill" means a commercial nonhazardous solid waste landfill, as defined by Subsection 19-6-102(3), that is permitted by the director to receive for disposal only:
(13) "Closed facility" means any facility that no longer receives solid waste and has completed an approved closure plan, and any landfill on which an approved final cover has been installed.
(14) "Commercial solid waste" means any type of solid waste generated by stores, offices, restaurants, warehouses, and other nonmanufacturing activities, excluding household waste and industrial wastes.
(15) "Composite liner" means a liner system consisting of two components; the upper component consisting of a synthetic flexible membrane liner, and the lower component consisting of a layer of compacted soil. The composite liner shall have the synthetic flexible membrane liner installed in direct and uniform contact with the compacted soil component and be constructed of specified materials and compaction to meet specified permeabilities.
(16) "Composting" means a method of solid waste management whereby the organic component of the waste stream is biologically decomposed under controlled aerobic conditions, at a temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit, 60 degrees Celsius, or higher, for at least part of each day of a consecutive seven day period, to a state in which the end product or compost can be handled, stored, or applied to the land without adversely affecting human health or the environment.
(17) "Construction or demolition waste" means solid waste from building materials, packaging, and rubble resulting from construction, remodeling, repair, abatement, rehabilitation, renovation, and demolition operations on pavements, houses, commercial buildings, and other structures, including waste from a very small quantity generator of hazardous waste, as defined by Section R315-260-10, that may be generated by these operations.
(18) "Contaminant" means any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water or soil that is a result of human activity.
(19) "Displaced" or "displacement" means the relative movement of any two sides of a fault measured in any direction.
(20) "Drop box facility" means a facility used for the placement of a large detachable container or drop box for the collection of solid waste for transport to a solid waste disposal facility. The facility includes the area adjacent to the containers for necessary entrance, exit, unloading, and turn around areas. Drop box facilities normally serve the general public with uncompacted loads and receive waste from off-site. Drop box facilities do not include residential or commercial waste containers on the site of waste generation.
(21) "Energy recovery" means the recovery of energy in a usable form from incineration, burning, or any other means of using the heat of combustion of solid waste that involves high temperature, above 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, processing.
(22) "Existing facility" means any facility that has:
(23) "Expansion of a solid waste disposal facility" means any lateral expansion beyond the property boundaries outlined in the permit application for the current permit under which the facility is operating.
(24) "Facility" means the contiguous land, structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on the land used for treating, storing, or disposing of solid waste. A facility may consist of several treatment, storage, or disposal operational units, for example, one or more incinerators, landfills, container storage areas, or combinations of these.
(25) "Floodplain" means the land that has been or may be covered by flood water which has a 1% chance of occurring any given year. The flood is also referred to as the base flood or 100-year flood.
(26) "Free liquids" means liquids which readily separate from the solid portion of a waste under ambient temperature and pressure or as determined by Test Method 9095B, Paint Filter Liquids Test, as provided in EPA Publication SW-846, "Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste, Physical/Chemical Methods" available at the US EPA Hazardous Waste Test Methods/SW-846 website.
(27) "Garbage" means discarded animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food, and of a character and proportion as to be capable of attracting or providing food for vectors. Garbage does not include sewage and sewage sludge.
(28) "Groundwater" means subsurface water that is in the zone of saturation including perched groundwater.
(29) "Groundwater quality standard" means a standard for maximum allowable contamination in groundwater as set by Section R315-308-4.
(30) "Hazardous waste" means hazardous waste as defined by Subsection 19-6-102(9) and Section R315-261-3.
(31) "Holocene fault" means a fracture or zone of fractures along which rocks on one side of the fracture have been displaced with respect to those on the other side, which has occurred in the most recent epoch of the Quaternary period extending from the end of the Pleistocene, approximately 11,000 years ago, to the present.
(32) "Household size" means a container for a material or product that is normally and reasonably associated with households or household activities. The containers are of a size and design to hold materials or products generally for immediate use and not for storage, five gallons or less in size.
(33) "Household waste" means any solid waste, including garbage, trash, and sanitary waste in septic tanks, derived from households including single and multiple residences, hotels, motels, bunkhouses, ranger stations, crew quarters, campgrounds, picnic grounds, and day use recreation areas.
(34) "Incineration" means a controlled thermal process by which solid wastes are physically or chemically altered to gas, liquid, or solid residues that are also regulated solid wastes. Incineration includes the thermal destruction of solid waste for energy recovery. Incineration does not include smelting operations where metals are reprocessed or the refining, processing, or burning of used oil for energy recovery as described in Rule R315-15.
(35) "Industrial solid waste" means any solid waste generated at a manufacturing or other industrial facility that is not a hazardous waste or that is a hazardous waste from a very small quantity generator of hazardous waste, as defined by Section R315-260-10, generated by an industrial facility. Industrial solid waste includes waste from the following industries or resulting from the following manufacturing processes and associated activities:
(36) "Industrial solid waste facility" means a facility that receives only industrial solid waste from on-site or off-site sources for disposal.
(37) "Inert waste" means noncombustible, nonhazardous solid wastes that keep their physical and chemical structure under expected conditions of disposal, including wastes that exhibit resistance to biological or chemical change.
(38) "Landfill" means a disposal facility where solid waste is or has been placed in or on the land and that is not a landtreatment facility or surface impoundment.
(39) "Landtreatment, landfarming, or landspreading facility" means a facility or unit within a facility where solid waste is applied onto or incorporated into the soil surface for biodegradation.
(40) "Lateral expansion of the solid waste disposal area" means:
(41) "Lateral hydraulically equivalent point" means a point located hydraulically equal to a facility and in the groundwater with similar geochemistry such that the groundwater, at that point, has not been affected by the facility.
(42) "Leachate" means a liquid that has passed through or emerged from solid waste and that may contain soluble, suspended, miscible, or immiscible materials removed from the waste.
(43) "Lithified earth material" means any rock, including any naturally occurring and naturally formed aggregates or masses of minerals or small particles of older rock that formed by crystallization of magma or by induration of loose sediments. This term does not include human made materials, such as fill, concrete and asphalt, or unconsolidated earth materials, soil, or regolith lying at or near the earth surface.
(44) "Lower explosive limit" means the lowest percentage by volume of a mixture of explosive gases that will propagate a flame in air at 25 degrees Celsius, 77 degrees Fahrenheit, and atmospheric pressure.
(45) "Maximum horizontal acceleration in lithified earth material" means the maximum expected horizontal acceleration depicted on a seismic hazard map, with a 90% or greater probability that the acceleration will not be exceeded in 250 years, or the maximum expected horizontal acceleration based on-site specific seismic risk assessment.
(46) "Municipal solid waste landfill" means a permitted nonhazardous solid waste landfill that may receive municipal solid waste for disposal.
(47) "Municipal solid waste" means household waste, nonhazardous commercial solid waste, and nonhazardous sludge.
(48) "New facility" means any facility that:
(49) "Off-site" means any site which is not on-site.
(50) "On-site" means the geographically contiguous property that may be divided by public or private right-of-way, where the entrance and exit between the properties is at a cross roads intersection, and access is by crossing, as opposed to going along the right-of-way. Property separated by a private right-of-way, which the site owner or operator controls, and to which the public does not have access, is also considered on-site property.
(51) "Operator" means the person, as defined by Subsection 19-1-103(4), responsible for the overall operation of a facility.
(52) "Owner" means the person, as defined by Subsection 19-1-103(4), who has an ownership interest in a facility or part of a facility.
(53) "PCB" or "PCBs" means any chemical substance that is limited to the biphenyl molecule that has been chlorinated to varying degrees or any combination of materials which contain these substances.
(54) "Permeability" means the ease with which a porous material allows water and the solutes contained therein to flow through it. This is usually expressed in units of centimeters per second (cm/sec) and termed hydraulic conductivity. Soils and synthetic liners with a permeability for water of 1 x 10-7 cm/sec or less may be considered impermeable.
(55) "Permit" means the plan approval as required by Subsection 19-6-108(3)(a), or equivalent control document issued by the director to implement the requirements of the Utah Solid and Hazardous Waste Act.
(56) "Pile" means any noncontainerized accumulation of solid waste that is used for treatment or storage.
(57) "Poor foundation conditions" means those areas where features exist which indicate that a natural or human induced event may result in inadequate foundation support for the structural components of a landfill unit.
(58) "Putrescible waste" means solid waste which contains organic matter capable of being decomposed by microorganisms and of such a character and proportion as to be capable of attracting or providing food for vectors including birds and mammals.
(59) "Qualified groundwater scientist" means a scientist or engineer who has received a baccalaureate or post graduate degree in the natural sciences or engineering and has sufficient training and experience in groundwater hydrology and related fields as may be demonstrated by state registration, professional certification, or completion of accredited university programs that enable that individual to make sound professional judgments regarding groundwater monitoring, contaminant fate and transport, and corrective action.
(60) "Recycling" means extracting valuable materials from the waste stream and transforming or remanufacturing them into usable materials that have a demonstrated or potential market.
(61) "Recyclable materials" means those solid wastes that can be recovered from or otherwise diverted from the waste stream for recycling, such as metals, paper, glass, and plastics.
(62) "Run-off" means any rainwater, leachate, or other liquid that has contacted solid waste and drains over land from any part of a facility.
(63) "Run-on" means any rainwater, leachate, or other liquid that drains over land onto the active area of a facility.
(64) "Scavenging" means the unauthorized removal of solid waste from a facility.
(65) "Seismic impact zone" means an area with a 10% or greater probability that the maximum horizontal acceleration in lithified earth material, expressed as a percentage of the earth's gravitational pull, will exceed 0.10g in 250 years.
(66) "Septage" means a semisolid consisting of settled sewage solids combined with varying amounts of water and dissolved materials generated from septic tank systems.
(67) "Sharps" means any discarded or contaminated article or instrument from a health facility that may cause puncture or cuts. This waste may include needles, syringes, blades, needles with attached tubing, pipettes, pasteurs, broken glass, and blood vials.
(68) "Sludge" means any solid, semisolid, or liquid waste, including grit and screenings generated from:
(69) "Solid waste disposal facility" means a landfill, incinerator, or landtreatment area.
(70) "Solid waste incinerator facility" means a facility at which solid waste is received from on-site or off-site sources and is subjected to the incineration process. An incinerator facility that incinerates solid waste for any reason, including energy recovery, volume reduction, or to make it non infectious, is a solid waste incinerator facility and is subject to Rules R315-301 through R315-320.
(71) "Special waste" means discarded solid waste that may require special handling or other solid waste that may pose a threat to public safety, human health, or the environment.
(72) Reserved.
(73) "Structural components" means liners, leachate collection systems, final covers, run-on or run-off systems, and any other component used in the construction and operation of a landfill that is necessary for the protection of human health and the environment.
(74) "Surface impoundment or impoundment" means a facility or part of a facility which is a natural topographic depression, human made excavation, or diked area formed primarily of earthen materials, although it may be lined with synthetic materials, which is designed to hold an accumulation of liquid waste or waste containing free liquids, and which is not an injection well. Examples of surface impoundments are holding, storage, settling, and aeration pits, ponds, and lagoons.
(75) "Transfer station" means a permanent, fixed, supplemental collection and transportation facility that is staffed by a minimum of one employee of the owner or operator during hours of operation and is used by persons and route collection vehicles to deposit collected solid waste from off-site into a transfer vehicle for transport to a solid waste handling or disposal facility.
(76) "Transport vehicle" means a vehicle capable of hauling solid waste such as a truck, packer, or trailer that may be used by refuse haulers to transport solid waste from the point of generation to a transfer station or a disposal facility.
(77) "Treated wood" means any wood item that has been treated with the following or compounds containing the following:
(78) "Twenty-five year storm" means a 24-hour storm of the intensity that it has a 4% probability of being equaled or exceeded any given year. The storm could result in what is referred to as a 25-year flood.
(79) "Unit" or "Solid Waste Management Unit" means a distinct operational storage, treatment, or disposal area at a solid waste management facility that contains the features to make it capable of performing its intended function and of being closed as a separate entity.
(80) "Unit boundary" means a vertical surface located at the hydraulically downgradient limit of a landfill unit or other solid waste disposal facility unit which is required to monitor groundwater. This vertical surface extends down into the groundwater.
(81) "Unstable area" means a location that is susceptible to natural or human induced events or forces capable of impairing the integrity of the landfill structural components responsible for preventing releases from a facility. Unstable areas can include poor foundation conditions, areas susceptible to mass movements, and karst terrains.
(82) "Vadose zone" means the zone of aeration including soil and capillary water. The zone is bound above by the land surface and below by the water table.
(83) "Vector" means a living animal including insect or other arthropod which is capable of transmitting an infectious disease from one organism to another.
(84) "Washout" means the carrying away of solid waste by waters of a base or 100-year flood.
(85) "Waste tire storage facility" or "waste tire pile" means any site where more than 1,000 waste tires or 1,000 passenger tire equivalents are stored on the ground.
(86) "Wetlands" means those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and under normal conditions do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.
(87) "Yard waste" means vegetative matter resulting from landscaping, land maintenance, and land clearing operations including grass clippings, prunings, and other discarded material generated from yards, gardens, parks, and similar types of facilities. Yard waste does not include garbage, paper, plastic, processed wood, sludge, septage, or manure.