CALIFORNIA STATUTES AND CODES
SECTIONS 40100-40201
PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE
SECTION 40100-40201
40100. Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions in
this article govern the construction of this division.
40105. "Authorized recycling agent" means a person that a local
governing body or private commercial entity authorizes or contracts
with to collect its recyclable waste material. An authorized
recycling agency may be a municipal collection service, private
refuse hauler, private recycling enterprise, or private nonprofit
corporation or association.
40106. (a) "Biomass conversion" means the controlled combustion,
when separated from other solid waste and used for producing
electricity or heat, of the following materials:
(1) Agricultural crop residues.
(2) Bark, lawn, yard, and garden clippings.
(3) Leaves, silvicultural residue, and tree and brush pruning.
(4) Wood, wood chips, and wood waste.
(5) Nonrecyclable pulp or nonrecyclable paper materials.
(b) "Biomass conversion" does not include the controlled
combustion of recyclable pulp or recyclable paper materials, or
materials that contain sewage sludge, industrial sludge, medical
waste, hazardous waste, or either high-level or low-level radioactive
waste.
(c) For purposes of this section, "nonrecyclable pulp or
nonrecyclable paper materials" means either of the following, as
determined by the board:
(1) Paper products or fibrous materials that cannot be
technically, feasibly, or legally recycled because of the manner in
which the product or material has been manufactured, treated, coated,
or constructed.
(2) Paper products or fibrous materials that have become soiled or
contaminated and as a result cannot be technically, feasibly, or
legally recycled.
40110. "Board" means the Department of Resources Recycling and
Recovery, or the Director of Resources Recycling and Recovery, as
appropriate.
40115. "City" or "county" includes city and county.
40115.5. "Closed disposal site" means a disposal site that ceases
to accept solid waste and is closed in accordance with applicable
statutes, regulations, and local ordinances in effect at the time of
the closure.
40116. "Compost" means the product resulting from the controlled
biological decomposition of organic wastes that are source separated
from the municipal solid waste stream, or which are separated at a
centralized facility. "Compost" includes vegetable, yard, and wood
wastes which are not hazardous waste.
40116.1. "Composting" means the controlled or uncontrolled
biological decomposition of organic wastes.
40117. "Gasification" means a technology that uses a noncombustion
thermal process to convert solid waste to a clean burning fuel for
the purpose of generating electricity, and that, at minimum, meets
all of the following criteria:
(a) The technology does not use air or oxygen in the conversion
process, except ambient air to maintain temperature control.
(b) The technology produces no discharges of air contaminants or
emissions, including greenhouse gases, as defined in subdivision (g)
of Section 38505 of the Health and Safety Code.
(c) The technology produces no discharges to surface or
groundwaters of the state.
(d) The technology produces no hazardous waste.
(e) To the maximum extent feasible, the technology removes all
recyclable materials and marketable green waste compostable materials
from the solid waste stream prior to the conversion process and the
owner or operator of the facility certifies that those materials will
be recycled or composted.
(f) The facility where the technology is used is in compliance
with all applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances.
(g) The facility certifies to the board that any local agency
sending solid waste to the facility is in compliance with this
division and has reduced, recycled, or composted solid waste to the
maximum extent feasible, and the board makes a finding that the local
agency has diverted at least 30 percent of all solid waste through
source reduction, recycling, and composting.
40118. "Department" means the Department of Resources Recycling and
Recovery.
40120. "Designated recycling collection location" means the place
where an authorized recycling agent has contracted with either the
local governing body or a private entity to pick up recyclable
material segregated from other waste material. "Designated recycling
collection location" includes, but is not limited to, the curbside of
a residential neighborhood or the service alley of a commercial
enterprise.
40120.05. "Director" means the Director of Resources Recycling and
Recovery.
40120.1. "Disposal" or "dispose" has the same meaning as "solid
waste disposal" as defined in Section 40192.
40121. "Disposal facility" or "facility" means any facility or
location where disposal of solid waste occurs.
40122. "Disposal site" or "site" means the place, location, tract
of land, area, or premises in use, intended to be used, or which has
been used, for the disposal of solid wastes.
40124. "Diversion" means activities which reduce or eliminate the
amount of solid waste from solid waste disposal for purposes of this
division, including Article 1 (commencing with Section 41780) of
Chapter 6.
40127. "Diversion program" means a program in the source reduction
and recycling element of a jurisdiction's integrated waste management
plan, specified in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 41000) of, or
Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 41300) of, Part 2 and that has the
purpose of diverting solid waste from landfill disposal or
transformation through source reduction, recycling, and composting
activities. "Diversion program" additionally includes any amendments,
revisions, or updates to the element, and any programs set forth in
a time extension, alternative requirement, or compliance order
approved by the board pursuant to Part 2 (commencing with Section
40900).
40130. "Enforcement agency" means the local agency designated
pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 43200) of Chapter 2 of
Part 4 for the purpose of carrying out this division, or the board
if no designation of a local agency has been approved by the board.
40131. "Enforcement program" means the regulations and procedures
adopted by the board pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section
43200) of Part 4.
40131.5. "Federal act" means the Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act of 1976, as amended (42 U.S.C. Sec. 6901 et seq.).
40135. "Fund" means the Integrated Waste Management Fund, which is
hereby created in the State Treasury. Any reference in this division
or any other provision of law to the Solid Waste Management Fund
shall mean the Integrated Waste Management Fund.
40135.1. "Account" means the Integrated Waste Management Account
created in the fund pursuant to Section 48001.
40140. "Hazard" includes any condition, practice, or procedure
which is or may be dangerous, harmful, or perilous to employees,
property, neighbors, or the general public.
40141. (a) "Hazardous waste" means a waste, defined as a "hazardous
waste" in accordance with Section 25117 of the Health and Safety
Code, or a combination of wastes, which because of its quantity,
concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics
may do either of the following:
(1) Cause, or significantly contribute to, an increase in
mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating
reversible, illness.
(2) Pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health
or environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or
disposed of, or otherwise managed.
(b) Unless expressly provided otherwise, "hazardous waste"
includes extremely hazardous waste and acutely hazardous waste.
40145. "Jurisdiction" means a city, county, or regional agency that
is approved by the board pursuant to Section 40975.
40148. "Large state facility" means those campuses of the
California State University and the California Community Colleges,
prisons within the Department of Corrections, facilities of the State
Department of Transportation, and facilities of other state
agencies, that the board determines, are primary campuses, prisons,
or facilities.
40150. "Local governing body" means the legislative body of the
city, county, or special district which has authority to provide
solid waste handling services.
40150.1. "Multicounty regional agency" means a regional agency, as
defined in Section 40181, that includes all of the jurisdictions that
are located in at least two or more rural counties.
40150.2. "Minor violation" means the failure of a person to comply
with a requirement or condition of an applicable law, regulation,
permit, information request, order, variance, or other requirement,
whether procedural or substantive, that an enforcement agency or the
board is authorized to implement or enforce pursuant to Part 5
(commencing with Section 45000) and that does not otherwise include
any of the following:
(a) A violation that results in injury to persons or property or
that presents a significant threat to human health or the
environment.
(b) A knowing, willful, or intentional violation.
(c) A violation that is a chronic violation or that is committed
by a recalcitrant violator. In determining whether a violation is
chronic or a violator is recalcitrant, the enforcement agency or
board, whichever issues the notice to comply, shall consider whether
there is evidence indicating that the violator has engaged in a
pattern of neglect or disregard with respect to applicable regulatory
requirements.
(d) A violation that results in an emergency response from a
public safety agency.
(e) A violation that enables the violator to benefit economically
from the noncompliance, either by reduced costs or competitive
advantage.
40151. "Nondisposal facility" means any solid waste facility
required to obtain a permit pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with
Section 44001) of Chapter 3 of Part 4, except a disposal facility or
a transformation facility.
40160. "Operator" means a person who operates a solid waste
facility or operates a disposal site.
40162. "Owner" means a person who holds fee title to, or a
leasehold or other possessory interest in, real property that is
presently in use as a solid waste facility or is a disposal site.
40170. "Person" includes an individual, firm, limited liability
company, association, partnership, political subdivision, government
agency, municipality, industry, public or private corporation, or any
other entity whatsoever.
40171. "Pollution" means the condition caused by the presence in or
on a body of water, soil, or air of any solid waste or substance
derived therefrom in such quantity, of such nature and duration, or
under such condition that the quality, appearance, or usefulness of
the water, soil, land, or air is significantly degraded or adversely
altered.
40172. "Processing" means the reduction, separation, recovery,
conversion, or recycling of solid waste.
40180. "Recycle" or "recycling" means the process of collecting,
sorting, cleansing, treating, and reconstituting materials that would
otherwise become solid waste, and returning them to the economic
mainstream in the form of raw material for new, reused, or
reconstituted products which meet the quality standards necessary to
be used in the marketplace. "Recycling" does not include
transformation, as defined in Section 40201.
40181. "Regional agency" means an agency formed pursuant to Chapter
5 (commencing with Section 6500) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the
Government Code and Article 3 (commencing with Section 40970) of
Chapter 1 of Part 2.
40182. "Regional water board" means a California regional water
quality control board.
40183. (a) "Rural city" or "rural regional agency" means a city or
regional agency that is located within a rural county as defined in
Section 40184.
(b) (1) Unless the board takes action pursuant to paragraph (2),
this section does not affect any reduction granted to a rural city by
the board pursuant to Section 41787 prior to January 1, 2008.
(2) The board may review and take action regarding any reduction
granted to a rural city by the board in accordance with subdivision
(b) of Section 41787.
40184. (a) "Rural county" means a county or multicounty regional
agency that annually disposes of no more that 200,000 tons of solid
waste.
(b) (1) Unless the board takes action pursuant to paragraph (2),
this section does not affect any reduction granted to a rural county
by the board pursuant to Section 41787 prior to January 1, 2008.
(2) The board may review and take action regarding any reduction
granted to a rural county in accordance with subdivision (b) of
Section 41787.
40190. "Segregated from other waste material" means any of the
following:
(a) The placement of recyclable materials in separate containers.
(b) The binding of recyclable material separately from the other
waste material.
(c) The physical separation of recyclable material from other
waste material.
40190.5. "Sharps waste" means waste generated by a household that
includes a hypodermic needle, syringe, or lancet.
40191. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), "solid waste"
means all putrescible and nonputrescible solid, semisolid, and liquid
wastes, including garbage, trash, refuse, paper, rubbish, ashes,
industrial wastes, demolition and construction wastes, abandoned
vehicles and parts thereof, discarded home and industrial appliances,
dewatered, treated, or chemically fixed sewage sludge which is not
hazardous waste, manure, vegetable or animal solid and semisolid
wastes, and other discarded solid and semisolid wastes.
(b) "Solid waste" does not include any of the following wastes:
(1) Hazardous waste, as defined in Section 40141.
(2) Radioactive waste regulated pursuant to the Radiation Control
Law (Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 114960) of Part 9 of Division
104 of the Health and Safety Code).
(3) Medical waste regulated pursuant to the Medical Waste
Management Act (Part 14 (commencing with Section 117600) of Division
104 of the Health and Safety Code). Untreated medical waste shall not
be disposed of in a solid waste landfill, as defined in Section
40195.1. Medical waste that has been treated and deemed to be solid
waste shall be regulated pursuant to this division.
40192. (a) Except as provided in subdivisions (b) and (c), "solid
waste disposal," "disposal," or "dispose" means the final deposition
of solid wastes onto land, into the atmosphere, or into the waters of
the state.
(b) For purposes of Part 2 (commencing with Section 40900), "solid
waste disposal," "dispose," or "disposal" means the management of
solid waste through landfill disposal or transformation at a
permitted solid waste facility, unless the term is expressly defined
otherwise.
(c) For purposes of Chapter 16 (commencing with Section 42800) and
Chapter 19 (commencing with Section 42950) of Part 3, Part 4
(commencing with Section 43000), Part 5 (commencing with Section
45000), Part 6 (commencing with Section 45030), and Chapter 2
(commencing with Section 47901) of Part 7, "solid waste disposal,"
"dispose," or "disposal" means the final deposition of solid wastes
onto land.
40193. "Solid waste enterprise" means any individual, partnership,
joint venture, unincorporated private organization, or private
corporation, which is regularly engaged in the business of providing
solid waste handling services.
40194. "Solid waste facility" includes a solid waste transfer or
processing station, a composting facility, a gasification facility, a
transformation facility, and a disposal facility. For purposes of
Part 5 (commencing with Section 45000), "solid waste facility"
additionally includes a solid waste operation that may be carried out
pursuant to an enforcement agency notification, as provided in
regulations adopted by the board.
40195. "Solid waste handling" or "handling" means the collection,
transportation, storage, transfer, or processing of solid wastes.
40195.1. (a) "Solid waste landfill" means a disposal facility that
accepts solid waste for land disposal, but does not include a
facility which receives only wastes generated by the facility owner
or operator in the extraction, beneficiation, or processing of ores
and minerals, or a cemetery which disposes onsite only the grass
clippings, floral wastes, or soil resulting from activities on the
grounds of that cemetery.
(b) For the purposes of Article 3 (commencing with Section 43500)
and Article 4 (commencing with Section 43600) of Chapter 2 of Part 4,
"solid waste landfill" does not include a facility which receives
only nonhazardous wood waste derived from timber production or wood
product manufacturing. For the purposes of the fee imposed by Section
48000, facilities which receive only nonhazardous wood waste derived
from timber production or wood product manufacturing shall,
notwithstanding Section 48000, pay a quarterly fee to the state board
on all solid waste disposed at each disposal site, which does not
exceed the amount of the fee due and payable to the state board by
those facilities during the 1992 calendar year.
40196. "Source reduction" means any action which causes a net
reduction in the generation of solid waste. "Source reduction"
includes, but is not limited to, reducing the use of nonrecyclable
materials, replacing disposable materials and products with reusable
materials and products, reducing packaging, reducing the amount of
yard wastes generated, establishing garbage rate structures with
incentives to reduce the amount of wastes that generators produce,
and increasing the efficiency of the use of paper, cardboard, glass,
metal, plastic, and other materials. "Source reduction" does not
include steps taken after the material becomes solid waste or actions
which would impact air or water resources in lieu of land,
including, but not limited to, transformation.
40196.3. "State agency" means every state office, department,
division, board, commission, or other agency of the state, including
the California Community Colleges and the California State
University. The Regents of the University of California are
encouraged to implement this division.
40196.5. "State board" means the State Board of Equalization.
40197. "State water board" means the State Water Resources Control
Board.
40200. (a) "Transfer or processing station" or "station" includes
those facilities utilized to receive solid wastes, temporarily store,
separate, convert, or otherwise process the materials in the solid
wastes, or to transfer the solid wastes directly from smaller to
larger vehicles for transport, and those facilities utilized for
transformation.
(b) "Transfer or processing station" or "station" does not include
any of the following:
(1) A facility, whose principal function is to receive, store,
separate, convert, or otherwise process in accordance with state
minimum standards, manure.
(2) A facility, whose principal function is to receive, store,
convert, or otherwise process wastes which have already been
separated for reuse and are not intended for disposal.
(3) The operations premises of a duly licensed solid waste
handling operator who receives, stores, transfers, or otherwise
processes wastes as an activity incidental to the conduct of a refuse
collection and disposal business in accordance with regulations
adopted pursuant to Section 43309.
40201. "Transformation" means incineration, pyrolysis,
distillation, or biological conversion other than composting.
"Transformation" does not include composting, gasification, or
biomass conversion.