The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall
have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Agricultural materials--Litter, manure, bedding,
feed material, vegetative material, and dead animal carcasses from
agricultural operations.
(2) Agricultural operations--Operations involved in
the production of agricultural materials.
(3) Air contaminant--Particulate matter, radioactive
material, dust, fumes, gas, mist, smoke, vapor, or odor or any combination
thereof produced by processes other than natural. Water vapor shall
not be considered an air contaminant.
(4) All-weather roads--A roadway that has been designed
to withstand the maximum load imposed by vehicles entering and exiting
the facility during all types of weather conditions.
(5) Anaerobic composting--The controlled biological
decomposition of organic materials through microbial activity which
occurs in the absence of free oxygen. Anaerobic composting does not
include the stockpiling of organic materials.
(6) Backyard operations--The composting, land application,
and mulching of non-industrial organic material, such as grass clippings,
leaves, brush, clean wood material, or vegetative food material, generated
by a homeowner, tenant of a single or multi-family residential or
apartment complex, or a commercial or institutional complex where
the composting, land application or mulching occurs on the dwelling
property and the final product is utilized on the same property. Backyard
operations include neighborhood composting demonstration sites that
generate less than 50 cubic yards of final product per year.
(7) Batch (or Sampling batch)--The lot of produced
compost represented by one analytical sample (3,000 cubic yards or
5,000 cubic yards depending on facility type).
(8) Beneficial reuse--Any agricultural, horticultural,
reclamation, or similar use of compost as a soil amendment, mulch,
or component of a medium for plant growth, when used in accordance
with generally accepted practice and where applicable is in compliance
with the final product standards established by this chapter. Simply
offering a product for use does not constitute beneficial reuse. Beneficial
reuse does not include placement in a disposal facility, use as daily
cover in a disposal facility, or utilization for energy recovery.
(9) Bulking Agent--An ingredient in a mixture of composting
materials included to improve structure and porosity (which improve
convective air flow and reduce settling and compaction) and/or to
lower moisture content. Bulking agents may include but are not limited
to: compost, straw, wood chips, saw dust, or shredded brush.
(10) Clean wood material--Wood or wood materials, including
stumps, roots, or vegetation with intact rootball, sawdust, pallets,
and manufacturing rejects. Clean wood material does not include wood
that has been treated, coated or painted by materials such as, but
not limited to, paints, varnishes, wood preservatives, or other chemical
products. Clean wood material also does not include demolition material,
where the material is contaminated by materials such as, but not limited
to, paint or other chemicals, glass, electrical wiring, metal, and
sheetrock.
(11) Commission--The Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality.
(12) Compost--The stabilized product of the decomposition
process that is used or distributed for use as a soil amendment, artificial
topsoil, growing medium amendment, or other similar uses.
(13) Composting or functionally aerobic composting--The
controlled, biological decomposition of organic materials through
microbial activity that occurs in the presence of free oxygen. Composting
or functionally aerobic composting does not include the stockpiling
of organic materials.
(14) Cured compost (CC)--A highly stabilized product
that results from exposing mature compost to a prolonged period of
humification and mineralization.
(15) Dairy material--Products that have a Standard
of Identity defined in 21 Code of Federal Regulations Part 131.
(16) Distribute--To sell, offer for sale, expose for
sale, consign for sale, barter, exchange, transfer possession or title,
or otherwise supply.
(17) Executive director--The Executive Director of
the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality or their duly authorized
representative.
(18) Facility-- All contiguous land, structures, other
appurtenances, and improvements on land used for receiving and storing
organic materials and processing them into useable final products.
(19) Feedstock--Any material used for land application
or as a basis for the manufacture of compost, mulch, or other useable
final product.
(20) Final Product--Composted material meeting testing
requirements of §332.71 of this title (relating to Sampling and
Analysis Requirements for Final Product) and awaiting distribution
or disposal.
(21) Fish feedstocks--Fish, shellfish, or seafood and
by-products of these materials whether raw, processed, or cooked.
Fish feedstocks does not include oils and/or greases that are derived
from these same materials.
(22) Foreign matter--Inorganic and organic constituents
that are not readily decomposed, including metals, glass, plastics,
and rubber, but not including sand, dirt, and other similar materials.
(23) Grab sample--A single sample collected from one
identifiable location.
(24) Grease--See the definition of Oil in this section.
(25) Hours of operation--Those hours when the facility
is open to receive feedstock, incorporate feedstock into the process,
retrieve product from the process, and/or ship product.
(26) Land application--The spreading of yard trimmings,
manure, clean wood material, and/or vegetative food materials onto
the surface of the land or the incorporation of these materials within
three feet of the surface.
(27) Leachate--Liquid that has come in contact with
or percolated through materials being stockpiled, processed, or awaiting
removal and that has extracted, dissolved, or suspended materials.
Leachate also includes condensate from gases resulting from the composting
process.
(28) Manure--Animal excreta and residual materials
that have been used for bedding, sanitary, or feeding purposes for
such animals.
(29) Mature compost--Mature compost is the stabilized
product of composting that has achieved the appropriate level of pathogen
reduction (see definitions of "PFRP" and "PSRP" in this section) and
is beneficial to plant growth, and meets the requirements of Table
2 of §332.72 of this title (relating to Final Product Grades).
(30) Maturity--A measure of the lack of biological
activity in freshly aerated materials, resulting from the decomposition
of the incoming feedstock during the active composting period.
(31) Meat feedstocks--Meat and meat by-products whether
raw, processed, or cooked including whole animal carcasses, poultry,
and eggs. Meat feedstocks does not include oils and/or greases that
are derived from these same materials.
(32) Mixed municipal solid waste--Garbage, refuse,
and other solid waste from residential, commercial, industrial non-hazardous,
and community activities that is generated and collected in aggregate.
(33) Mulch--Ground, coarse, woody yard trimmings, and
clean wood material. Mulch is normally used around plants and trees
to retain moisture and suppress weed growth, and is intended for use
on top of soil or other growing media rather than being incorporated
into the soil or growing media. Mulch does not include wood from trees
or other plants that have been systemically killed using herbicides.
(34) Municipal sewage sludge--Solid, semi-solid, or
liquid residue generated during the treatment of domestic sewage in
treatment works. Sewage sludge includes, but is not limited to, domestic
septage; scum or solids removed in primary, secondary, or advanced
wastewater treatment processes; and material derived from sewage sludge.
Sewage sludge does not include ash generated during the firing of
sewage sludge in a sewage sludge incinerator or grit and screening
generated during preliminary treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment
works.
(35) Nuisance--Nuisances as set forth in the Texas
Health and Safety Code, Chapter 341, the Texas Water Code, Chapter
26, and §101.4 of this title (relating to Nuisance).
(36) Oil--Any material rendered from vegetative material,
dairy material, meat or fish feedstocks that is soluble in trichlorotrifluoroethane.
It includes other material extracted by the solvent from an acidified
sample and not volatilized during the test. Oil and greases do not
include grease trap waste.
(37) One hundred-year floodplain--Any land area that
is subject to a 1.0% or greater chance of flooding in any given year
from any source.
(38) Operator--The person(s) responsible for operating
the facility or part of a facility.
(39) Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QAQC) plan--A
written plan to describe standard operating procedures used to sample,
prepare, store, and test final product, and report test results. The
plan outlines quality assurance criteria, as well as quality control
procedures, needed to meet the operational specifications of this
chapter.
(40) Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP)--A QAQC
plan prepared by the agency that may be substituted for the QAQC plan.
(41) Paper--A material made from plant fibers (such
as, but not limited to wood pulp, rice hulls, and kenaf). The sludge
byproduct resulting from the production of paper may be approved as
a feedstock pursuant to §332.33(b) of this title (relating to
Required Forms, Applications, Reports, and Request To Use the Sludge
Byproduct of Paper Production).
(42) Permit--A written document issued by the commission
that, by its conditions, may authorize the owner or operator to construct,
install, modify, or operate a facility or operation in accordance
with specific limitations.
(43) Person--Any individual, partnership, corporation,
association, governmental subdivision, or public or private organization
of any character.
(44) PFRP--The process to further reduce pathogens
as described in 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 503, Appendix
B.
(45) Positively-sorted organic material--Positively-sorted
organic material includes materials such as, but not limited to, yard
trimmings, clean wood materials, manure, vegetative material, paper,
and meat and fish feedstocks that are sorted or pulled out as targeted
compostable organic materials from mixed municipal solid waste prior
to the initiation of processing.
(46) Processing--Actions that are taken to land apply
feedstocks or convert feedstock materials into finished compost, mulch,
or a useable final product. Processing does not include the stockpiling
of materials.
(47) PSRP--The process to significantly reduce pathogens
as described in 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 503, Appendix
B.
(48) Recyclable material--For purposes of this chapter,
a recyclable material is a material that has been recovered or diverted
from the solid waste stream for purposes of reuse, recycling, or reclamation,
a substantial portion of which is consistently used in the manufacture
of products that may otherwise be produced from raw or virgin materials.
Recyclable material is not solid waste unless the material is deemed
to be hazardous solid waste by the administrator of the United States
Environmental Protection Agency, whereupon it shall be regulated accordingly
unless it is otherwise exempted in whole or in part from regulation
under the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act. If, however, recyclable materials may
become solid waste at such time, if any, as it is abandoned or disposed
of rather than recycled, whereupon it will be solid waste with respect
only to the party actually abandoning or disposing of the material.
(49) 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.
Recycling includes the composting process if the compost material
is put to beneficial reuse as defined in this section.
(50) Residence--A single-family or multi-family dwelling.
(51) Run-off--Any rainwater, leachate, or other liquid
that drains over land from any part of a facility.
(52) Run-on--Any rainwater, leachate, or other liquid
that drains over land onto any part of a facility.
(53) Semi-mature compost (SMC)--Organic matter that
has been through the thermophilic stage and achieved the appropriate
level of pathogen reduction (see definitions of "PFRP" and "PSRP"
in this section). It has undergone partial decomposition but it is
not yet stabilized into mature compost. Semi-mature compost shall
not be packaged, as uncontrolled microbial transformations will occur.
(54) 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, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting
from industrial, municipal, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations
from community and institutional activities.
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