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TITLE 30ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
PART 1TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
CHAPTER 326MEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT
SUBCHAPTER AGENERAL INFORMATION
RULE §326.3Definitions

Unless otherwise defined in this chapter, those definitions of words, terms, and abbreviations used in this chapter which are defined in 25 TAC §1.132 and §133.2 (relating to Definitions) apply. Should the definitions found in 25 TAC §1.132 change, such changes shall prevail over the definitions found in this section. Unless otherwise noted, all terms contained in this section shall be defined by their plain meaning. This section contains definitions for terms that appear throughout this chapter. Additional definitions may appear in the specific section to which they apply. The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

  (1) Active life--The period of operation beginning with the initial receipt of medical waste and ending at certification/completion of closure activities in accordance with §326.71 of this title (relating to Registration Application Contents).

  (2) Affiliated facility--A health care-related facility that generates a medical waste that is routinely stored, processed, or disposed of on a shared basis in an integrated medical waste management unit owned, operated by a hospital, and located within a contiguous health care complex.

  (3) Affiliated with--A person, "A," is affiliated with another person, "B," if either of the following two conditions applies:

    (A) "A" owns or controls more than 20% of the voting interest, fair market value, profits, proceeds, or capital gains of "B;" or

    (B) "B" owns or controls more than 20% of the voting interest, fair market value, profits, proceeds, or capital gains of "A."

  (4) Buffer zone--A zone free of medical waste processing and storage activities within and adjacent to a facility boundary (registration boundary) on property owned or controlled by the owner or operator of the facility.

  (5) Collection--The act of removing waste (or materials that have been separated for the purpose of recycling) for transport elsewhere.

  (6) Commence physical construction--The initiation of physical on-site construction on a site for which an application to authorize a medical waste management facility is pending, the construction of which requires approval of the commission. Construction of actual facility and necessary appurtenances requires approval of the commission, but other features not specific to medical waste management are allowed without commission approval.

  (7) Compacted waste--Waste that has been reduced in volume by a collection vehicle or other means with the exception of waste that has been reduced in volume by a small, in-house compactor device owned and/or operated by the generator of the waste.

  (8) Conditionally exempt small quantity generator--A person that generates no more than 220 pounds of hazardous waste in a calendar month.

  (9) Container--Any portable device in which a material is stored, transported, or processed.

  (10) Contaminated water--Water that has come into contact with waste.

  (11) Discharge--Includes deposit, conduct, drain, emit, throw, run, allow to seep, or otherwise release, or to allow, permit, or suffer any of these acts or omissions.

  (12) Facility--All contiguous land and structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on the land used for the storage or processing of medical waste.

  (13) Garbage--Solid waste consisting of putrescible animal and vegetable waste materials resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking, and consumption of food, including waste materials from markets, storage facilities, handling, and sale of produce and other food products.

  (14) Generator--Any person, by site or location, that produces medical waste to be shipped to any other person, or whose act or process produces a medical waste or first causes it to become regulated.

    (A) Small quantity generator (SQG)--A medical waste generator that produces 50 pounds or less per month of medical waste.

    (B) Large quantity generator (LQG)--A medical waste generator that produces more than 50 pounds per month of medical waste.

  (15) Hazardous waste--Any solid waste identified or listed as a hazardous waste 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 of 1976, 42 United States Code, §§6901 et seq., as amended.

  (16) Incinerator of Hospital/medical/infectious waste--Any device that combusts any amount of hospital waste and/or medical/infectious waste as defined under §113.2070(15) of this title (relating to Definitions).

  (17) Incineration--The process of burning special waste from health care-related facilities in an incinerator as defined in Chapter 101 of this title (relating to General Air Quality Rules) under conditions in conformance with standards prescribed in Chapter 111 of this title (relating to Control of Air Pollution from Visible Emissions and Particulate Matter).

  (18) Industrial solid waste--Solid waste resulting from or incidental to any process of industry or manufacturing, or mining or agricultural operations.

  (19) Inert material--A natural or man-made non-putrescible, non-hazardous material that is essentially insoluble, usually including, but not limited to, soil, dirt, clay, sand, gravel, brick, glass, concrete with reinforcing steel, and rock.

  (20) License--

    (A) A document issued by an approved county authorizing and governing the operation and maintenance of a medical waste facility used to process or store medical waste, other than hazardous waste, in an area not in the territorial limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality.

    (B) An occupational license as defined in Chapter 30 of this title (relating to Occupational Licenses and Registrations).

  (21) Liquid waste--Any waste material that is determined to contain "free liquids" as defined by United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Method 9095 (Paint Filter Test), as described in "Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Wastes, Physical/Chemical Methods" (EPA Publication Number SW-846).

  (22) Manifest--The waste shipping document originated and signed by the generator or offeror in accordance with §326.53(b)(8) and (9) of this title (relating to Transporters) and any other applicable requirements under 49 Code of Federal Regulations §172.202.

  (23) Medical waste--Treated and untreated special waste from health care-related facilities that is comprised of animal waste, bulk blood, bulk human blood, bulk human body fluids, microbiological waste, pathological waste, and sharps as those terms are defined in 25 TAC §1.132 (relating to Definitions) from the sources specified in 25 TAC §1.134 (relating to Application), as well as regulated medical waste as defined in 49 Code of Federal Regulations §173.134(a)(5), except that the term does not include medical waste produced on a farm or ranch as defined in 34 TAC §3.296(f) (relating to Agriculture, Animal Life, Feed, Seed, Plants, and Fertilizer), nor does the term include artificial, nonhuman materials removed from a patient and requested by the patient, including, but not limited to, orthopedic devices and breast implants. Health care-related facilities do not include:

    (A) single or multi-family dwellings; and

    (B) hotels, motels, or other establishments that provide lodging and related services for the public.

  (24) Municipal hazardous waste--Any municipal solid waste or mixture of municipal solid wastes that has been identified or listed as a hazardous waste by the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

  (25) Municipal solid waste--Solid waste resulting from or incidental to municipal, community, commercial, institutional, and recreational activities, including garbage, rubbish, ashes, street cleanings, dead animals, abandoned automobiles, and all other solid waste other than industrial solid waste.

  (26) New medical waste management facility--A medical waste facility that has not begun construction.

  (27) Notification--The act of filing information with the commission for specific solid waste management activities that do not require a permit or a registration, as determined by this chapter.

  (28) Nuisance--Waste that is stored, processed, or disposed of in a manner that causes the pollution of the surrounding land, the contamination of groundwater or surface water, the breeding of insects or rodents, or the creation of odors adverse to human health, safety, or welfare. A nuisance is further set forth in Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapters 341 and 382; Texas Water Code, Chapter 26; and any other applicable regulation or statute.

Cont'd...

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