§342J-2 - Definitions. - Hawaii Statutes

PART II.  DEFINITIONS AND GENERAL PROVISIONS

 

     §342J-2  Definitions.  As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

     “Any state” means any of the several states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

     “Complaint” means any written charge filed with or by the department that a person is violating any provision of this chapter or any rule or order adopted pursuant to this chapter.

     “Department” means the department of health.

     “Director” means the director of health or the director’s authorized agent.

     “Disposal” means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any hazardous or solid waste into or on any land or water so that hazardous or solid waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment, be emitted into the air, or discharged into any waters, including ground waters.

     “Financial responsibility” means a trust fund, surety bond, insurance, corporate guarantee, or letter of credit provided by owners or operators of hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities to assure proper closure, post closure, corrective action, and compensation for injuries to people or damage to property.

     “Generator” means any person, by site, whose act or process produces hazardous waste or whose act first causes a hazardous waste to become subject to regulation under this chapter.

     “Hazardous waste” means a solid waste, or combination of solid wastes, which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may:

     (1)  Cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in a serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness; or

     (2)  Pose a substantial existing or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed.

     “Hazardous waste broker” means any person who:

     (1)  Acts as an intermediary between:

         (A)  A generator and a transporter; or

         (B)  A generator and a person who treats, stores, or disposes of hazardous waste; or

         (C)  A generator and another broker; and

     (2)  Performs one or more of the following:

         (A)  Mixes hazardous wastes of different United States Department of Transportation shipping descriptions by placing them into a single container or tank as defined in 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 260 (provided that a broker who mixes hazardous waste must comply with all statutory and regulatory provisions applicable to generators);

         (B)  Packages or repackages hazardous waste;

         (C)  Labels, marks, or manifests hazardous waste;

         (D)  Performs waste characterization of hazardous waste; or

         (E)  Arranges the storage, treatment, transportation, disposal, or recycling of hazardous waste for a fee based upon the completion of the transaction.

     “Hazardous waste management” means the systematic control over the generation, collection, source separation, storage, transportation, processing, treatment, recovery, and disposal of hazardous waste.

     “Hazardous waste management facility” or “facility” means all contiguous land and structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on the land used for treating, storing, or disposing of hazardous waste.  A facility may consist of several treatment, storage, or disposal operational units (for example, one or more landfills, surface impoundments, or combinations of them).

     “Household waste” means any material (including garbage, trash and sanitary wastes in septic tanks) derived from households (including single and multiple residences, hotels, motels, bunk houses, ranger stations, crew quarters, campgrounds, picnic grounds and day user recreation areas).

     “Manifest” means the form used for identifying the quantity, composition, origin, routing, and destination of hazardous waste during its transportation from the point of generation to the point of treatment, storage, or disposal.

     “Operator” means the person responsible for the overall operation of a facility.

     “Owner” means the person who owns the facility or part of the facility.

     “Party” means each person or agency named as party or properly entitled to be a party in any court or agency proceeding.

     “Permit” means written authorization from the director for the owner or operator of a proposed or existing hazardous waste management facility to engage in the treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous waste.  A permit authorizes the owner or operator to treat, store, or dispose of hazardous waste in a manner or amount, or to do any act, not forbidden by this chapter or by rules adopted under this chapter, but requiring review by the department.

     “Person” means any individual, partnership, firm, joint stock company, association, public or private corporation, federal agency, the State or any of its political subdivisions, any state and any of its political subdivisions, trust, estate, interstate body, or any other legal entity.

     “Pollution” means hazardous waste pollution.

     “RCRA” means the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as amended, 42 United States Code §§6901 to 6991i.

     “Solid waste” means garbage, refuse, and other discarded materials, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous materials resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, sludge from waste treatment plants and water supply treatment plants, and residues from air pollution control facilities and community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage, irrigation return flows, or industrial discharges which are subject to permit under chapter 342D.

     “Storage” means the containment of hazardous waste, temporarily or for a period of years, in a manner which does not constitute disposal.

     “Transporter” means a person engaged in the off-site transportation of hazardous waste by air, rail, highway, water, or pipeline.

     “Treatment” means any method, technique, or process, including neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any hazardous waste so as to neutralize the waste or render it nonhazardous, less hazardous, safer for transport, amenable for recovery, amenable for storage, or reduced in volume.  This term includes any activity or processing designed to change the physical form or chemical composition of hazardous waste so as to render it nonhazardous. [L 1989, c 212, pt of §5; am L 1990, c 298, §9; am L 1991, c 259, §§3, 4; am L 1994, c 267, §3; am L 1995, c 180, §24]