| (29) On-site--Medical waste managed on property that
is owned or effectively controlled by one entity and that is within
75 miles of the point of generation or generated at an affiliated
facility shall be considered to be managed on-site.
(30) Operate--To conduct, work, run, manage, or control.
(31) Operating hours--Those hours which the facility
is open to receive waste, process, and transport waste or material.
(32) Operating record--All plans, submittals, and correspondence
for a medical waste facility required under this chapter; required
to be maintained at the facility or at a nearby site acceptable to
the executive director.
(33) Operation--A medical waste site or facility is
considered to be in operation from the date that waste is first received
or deposited at the medical waste site or facility until the date
that the site or facility is properly closed in accordance with this
chapter.
(34) Operator--The person(s) responsible for operating
the facility or part of a facility.
(35) Owner--The person that owns a facility or part
of a facility.
(36) Permit--See the definition of permit contained
in §3.2 of this title (relating to Definitions).
(37) Physical construction--The first placement of
permanent construction on a site, such as the pouring of slab or footings,
the installation of piles, the construction of columns, the laying
of underground pipework, or any work beyond the stage of excavation.
Physical construction does not include land preparation, such as clearing,
grading, excavating, and filling; nor does it include the installation
of roads and/or walkways. Physical construction includes issuance
of a building or other construction permit, provided that permanent
construction commences within 180 days of the date that the building
permit was issued.
(38) Pollutant--Contaminated dredged spoil, solid waste,
contaminated incinerator residue, sewage, sewage sludge, munitions,
chemical wastes, or biological materials discharged into water.
(39) Pollution--The man-made or man-induced alteration
of the chemical, physical, biological, or radiological integrity of
an aquatic ecosystem.
(40) Processing--Activities including, but not limited
to, the extraction of materials, transfer, volume reduction, conversion
to energy, or other separation and preparation of solid waste for
reuse or disposal, including the treatment or neutralization of waste,
designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character
or composition of any waste to neutralize such waste, or to recover
energy or material from the waste, or render the waste safer to transport,
store, dispose of, or make it amenable for recovery, amenable for
storage, or reduced in volume.
(41) Public highway--The entire width between property
lines of any road, street, way, thoroughfare, bridge, public beach,
or park in this state, not privately owned or controlled, if any part
of the road, street, way, thoroughfare, bridge, public beach, or park
is opened to the public for vehicular traffic, is used as a public
recreational area, or is under the state's legislative jurisdiction
through its police power.
(42) Putrescible medical waste--Medical waste that
contains organic matter capable of being decomposed by microorganisms
and of such a character and proportion as to cause odors or gases
or are capable of providing food for or attracting birds, animals,
and disease vectors.
(43) Recycling--A process by which materials that have
served their intended use or are scrapped, discarded, used, surplus,
or obsolete are collected, separated, or processed and returned to
use in the form of raw materials in the production of new products.
(44) Registration--The act of filing information with
the commission for review and approval for specific solid waste management
activities that do not require a permit, as determined by this chapter.
(45) Regulated hazardous waste--A solid waste that
is a hazardous waste as defined in 40 Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR) §261.3 and that is not excluded from regulation as a hazardous
waste under 40 CFR §261.4(b), or that was not generated by a
conditionally exempt small quantity generator.
(46) Rubbish--Non-putrescible solid waste (excluding
ashes), consisting of both combustible and noncombustible waste materials.
Combustible rubbish includes paper, rags, cartons, wood, excelsior,
furniture, rubber, plastics, brush, or similar materials; noncombustible
rubbish includes glass, crockery, tin cans, aluminum cans, and similar
materials that will not burn at ordinary incinerator temperatures
(1,600 degrees Fahrenheit to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit).
(47) Run-off--Any rainwater or other liquid that drains
over land from any part of a facility.
(48) Run-on--Any rainwater or other liquid that drains
over land onto any part of a facility.
(49) Site--Same as facility.
(50) Site operating plan--A document that provides
general instruction for facility management and operating personnel
throughout the operating life of the facility in a manner consistent
with the engineer's design and the commission's regulations to protect
human health and the environment and prevent nuisances.
(51) Solid waste--Garbage, rubbish, refuse, sludge
from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or
air pollution control facility, and other discarded material, including
solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material resulting
from industrial, municipal, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations
and from community and institutional activities. The term does not
include:
(A) solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage,
or solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows, or industrial
discharges subject to regulation by permit issued under Texas Water
Code, Chapter 26;
(B) soil, dirt, rock, sand, and other natural or man-made
inert solid materials used to fill land if the object of the fill
is to make the land suitable for the construction of surface improvements;
or
(C) waste materials that result from activities associated
with the exploration, development, or production of oil or gas or
geothermal resources and other substance or material regulated by
the Railroad Commission of Texas under Texas Natural Resources Code, §91.101,
unless the waste, substance, or material results from activities associated
with gasoline plants, natural gas liquids processing plants, pressure
maintenance plants, or repressurizing plants and is hazardous waste
as defined by the administrator of the United States Environmental
Protection Agency under the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended
by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as amended (42 United
States Code, §§6901 et seq.).
(52) Source-separated recyclable material--Recyclable
material from those health care-related facilities as listed in 25
TAC §1.134 (relating to Application), that at the point of generation
has been separated, collected, and transported separately from medical
waste, or transported in the same vehicle as medical waste, but in
separate containers or compartments.
(53) Storage--The keeping, holding, accumulating, or
aggregating of medical waste at the end of which the medical waste
is processed, disposed, or stored elsewhere.
(A) Pre-collection--that storage by the generator,
normally on the generator's premises, prior to initial collection;
(B) Post-collection transporter--that storage by a
transporter while the medical waste is in transit. Any vehicle inactivity
such as not continuing a collection route for a period less than 72
hours is considered a temporary storage period. Exceeding 72 hours
of temporary storage will require the operator to obtain a medical
waste registration per Subchapter F of this chapter (relating to Operations
Requiring a Registration);
(C) Post-collection processor--that storage by a processor
at a processing facility while the waste is awaiting processing or
transfer to another storage, disposal, or recovery facility.
(54) Surface water--Surface water as included in water
in the state.
(55) Tank--A stationary device, designed to contain
an accumulation of waste, which is constructed primarily of non-earthen
materials (e.g., wood, concrete, steel, and plastic) that provide
structural support.
(56) Transfer station--A facility used for transferring
medical waste from collection vehicles to long-haul vehicles (one
transportation unit to another transportation unit). It is not a storage
facility such as one where individual residents can dispose of their
wastes in bulk storage containers that are serviced by collection
vehicles.
(57) Transportation unit--A truck, trailer, open-top
box, enclosed container, rail car, piggy-back trailer, ship, barge,
or other transportation vehicle used to contain medical waste being
transported from one geographical area to another.
Cont'd... |
