US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 42USC6903]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
                    CHAPTER 82--SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL
 
                    SUBCHAPTER I--GENERAL PROVISIONS
 
Sec. 6903. Definitions

    As used in this chapter:
    (1) The term ``Administrator'' means the Administrator of the 
Environmental Protection Agency.
    (2) The term ``construction,'' with respect to any project of 
construction under this chapter, means (A) the erection or building of 
new structures and acquisition of lands or interests therein, or the 
acquisition, replacement, expansion, remodeling, alteration, 
modernization, or extension of existing structures, and (B) the 
acquisition and installation of initial equipment of, or required in 
connection with, new or newly acquired structures or the expanded, 
remodeled, altered, modernized or extended part of existing structures 
(including trucks and other motor vehicles, and tractors, cranes, and 
other machinery) necessary for the proper utilization and operation of 
the facility after completion of the project; and includes preliminary 
planning to determine the economic and engineering feasibility and the 
public health and safety aspects of the project, the engineering, 
architectural, legal, fiscal, and economic investigations and studies, 
and any surveys, designs, plans, working drawings, specifications, and 
other action necessary for the carrying out of the project, and (C) the 
inspection and supervision of the process of carrying out the project to 
completion.
    (2A) The term ``demonstration'' means the initial exhibition of a 
new technology process or practice or a significantly new combination or 
use of technologies, processes or practices, subsequent to the 
development stage, for the purpose of proving technological feasibility 
and cost effectiveness.
    (3) The term ``disposal'' means the discharge, deposit, injection, 
dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste or hazardous 
waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or hazardous 
waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted 
into the air or discharged into any waters, including ground waters.
    (4) The term ``Federal agency'' means any department, agency, or 
other instrumentality of the Federal Government, any independent agency 
or establishment of the Federal Government including any Government 
corporation, and the Government Printing Office.
    (5) The term ``hazardous waste'' means a solid waste, or combination 
of solid wastes, which because of its quantity, concentration, or 
physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may--
        (A) cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in 
    mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating 
    reversible, illness; or
        (B) pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human 
    health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, 
    transported, or disposed of, or otherwise managed.

    (6) The term ``hazardous waste generation'' means the act or process 
of producing hazardous waste.
    (7) The term ``hazardous waste management'' means the systematic 
control of the collection, source separation, storage, transportation, 
processing, treatment, recovery, and disposal of hazardous wastes.
    (8) For purposes of Federal financial assistance (other than rural 
communities assistance), the term ``implementation'' does not include 
the acquisition, leasing, construction, or modification of facilities or 
equipment or the acquisition, leasing, or improvement of land.
    (9) The term ``intermunicipal agency'' means an agency established 
by two or more municipalities with responsibility for planning or 
administration of solid waste.
    (10) The term ``interstate agency'' means an agency of two or more 
municipalities in different States, or an agency established by two or 
more States, with authority to provide for the management of solid 
wastes and serving two or more municipalities located in different 
States.
    (11) The term ``long-term contract'' means, when used in relation to 
solid waste supply, a contract of sufficient duration to assure the 
viability of a resource recovery facility (to the extent that such 
viability depends upon solid waste supply).
    (12) The term ``manifest'' means the form used for identifying the 
quantity, composition, and the origin, routing, and destination of 
hazardous waste during its transportation from the point of generation 
to the point of disposal, treatment, or storage.
    (13) The term ``municipality'' (A) means a city, town, borough, 
county, parish, district, or other public body created by or pursuant to 
State law, with responsibility for the planning or administration of 
solid waste management, or an Indian tribe or authorized tribal 
organization or Alaska Native village or organization, and (B) includes 
any rural community or unincorporated town or village or any other 
public entity for which an application for assistance is made by a State 
or political subdivision thereof.
    (14) The term ``open dump'' means any facility or site where solid 
waste is disposed of which is not a sanitary landfill which meets the 
criteria promulgated under section 6944 of this title and which is not a 
facility for disposal of hazardous waste.
    (15) The term ``person'' means an individual, trust, firm, joint 
stock company, corporation (including a government corporation), 
partnership, association, State, municipality, commission, political 
subdivision of a State, or any interstate body and shall include each 
department, agency, and instrumentality of the United States.
    (16) The term ``procurement item'' means any device, good, 
substance, material, product, or other item whether real or personal 
property which is the subject of any purchase, barter, or other exchange 
made to procure such item.
    (17) The term ``procuring agency'' means any Federal agency, or any 
State agency or agency of a political subdivision of a State which is 
using appropriated Federal funds for such procurement, or any person 
contracting with any such agency with respect to work performed under 
such contract.
    (18) The term ``recoverable'' refers to the capability and 
likelihood of being recovered from solid waste for a commercial or 
industrial use.
    (19) The term ``recovered material'' means waste material and 
byproducts which have been recovered or diverted from solid waste, but 
such term does not include those materials and byproducts generated 
from, and commonly reused within, an original manufacturing process.
    (20) The term ``recovered resources'' means material or energy 
recovered from solid waste.
    (21) The term ``resource conservation'' means reduction of the 
amounts of solid waste that are generated, reduction of overall resource 
consumption, and utilization of recovered resources.
    (22) The term ``resource recovery'' means the recovery of material 
or energy from solid waste.
    (23) The term ``resource recovery system'' means a solid waste 
management system which provides for collection, separation, recycling, 
and recovery of solid wastes, including disposal of nonrecoverable waste 
residues.
    (24) The term ``resource recovery facility'' means any facility at 
which solid waste is processed for the purpose of extracting, converting 
to energy, or otherwise separating and preparing solid waste for reuse.
    (25) The term ``regional authority'' means the authority established 
or designated under section 6946 of this title.
    (26) The term ``sanitary landfill'' means a facility for the 
disposal of solid waste which meets the criteria published under section 
6944 of this title.
    (26A) The term ``sludge'' means any solid, semisolid or liquid waste 
generated from a municipal, commercial, or industrial wastewater 
treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control 
facility or any other such waste having similar characteristics and 
effects.
    (27) The term ``solid waste'' means any garbage, refuse, sludge from 
a waste 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, 
commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community 
activities, but does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic 
sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or 
industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under 
section 1342 of title 33, or source, special nuclear, or byproduct 
material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (68 
Stat. 923) [42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.].
    (28) The term ``solid waste management'' means the systematic 
administration of activities which provide for the collection, source 
separation, storage, transportation, transfer, processing, treatment, 
and disposal of solid waste.
    (29) The term ``solid waste management facility'' includes--
        (A) any resource recovery system or component thereof,
        (B) any system, program, or facility for resource conservation, 
    and
        (C) any facility for the collection, source separation, storage, 
    transportation, transfer, processing, treatment or disposal of solid 
    wastes, including hazardous wastes, whether such facility is 
    associated with facilities generating such wastes or otherwise.

    (30) The terms ``solid waste planning'', ``solid waste management'', 
and ``comprehensive planning'' include planning or management respecting 
resource recovery and resource conservation.
    (31) The term ``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.
    (32) The term ``State authority'' means the agency established or 
designated under section 6947 of this title.
    (33) The term ``storage'', when used in connection with hazardous 
waste, means the containment of hazardous waste, either on a temporary 
basis or for a period of years, in such a manner as not to constitute 
disposal of such hazardous waste.
    (34) The term ``treatment'', when used in connection with hazardous 
waste, 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 such 
waste or so as to render such waste nonhazardous, safer for transport, 
amenable for recovery, amenable for storage, or reduced in volume. Such 
term includes any activity or processing designed to change the physical 
form or chemical composition of hazardous waste so as to render it 
nonhazardous.
    (35) The term ``virgin material'' means a raw material, including 
previously unused copper, aluminum, lead, zinc, iron, or other metal or 
metal ore, any undeveloped resource that is, or with new technology will 
become, a source of raw materials.
    (36) The term ``used oil'' means any oil which has been--
        (A) refined from crude oil,
        (B) used, and
        (C) as a result of such use, contaminated by physical or 
    chemical impurities.

    (37) The term ``recycled oil'' means any used oil which is reused, 
following its original use, for any purpose (including the purpose for 
which the oil was originally used). Such term includes oil which is re-
refined, reclaimed, burned, or reprocessed.
    (38) The term ``lubricating oil'' means the fraction of crude oil 
which is sold for purposes of reducing friction in any industrial or 
mechanical device. Such term includes re-refined oil.
    (39) The term ``re-refined oil'' means used oil from which the 
physical and chemical contaminants acquired through previous use have 
been removed through a refining process.
    (40) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, the term 
``medical waste'' means any solid waste which is generated in the 
diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of human beings or animals, in 
research pertaining thereto, or in the production or testing of 
biologicals. Such term does not include any hazardous waste identified 
or listed under subchapter III of this chapter or any household waste as 
defined in regulations under subchapter III of this chapter.
    (41) The term ``mixed waste'' means waste that contains both 
hazardous waste and source, special nuclear, or by-product material 
subject to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.).

(Pub. L. 89-272, title II, Sec. 1004, as added Pub. L. 94-580, Sec. 2, 
Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2798; amended Pub. L. 95-609, Sec. 7(b), Nov. 8, 
1978, 92 Stat. 3081; Pub. L. 96-463, Sec. 3, Oct. 15, 1980, 94 Stat. 
2055; Pub. L. 96-482, Sec. 2, Oct. 21, 1980, 94 Stat. 2334; Pub. L. 100-
582, Sec. 3, Nov. 1, 1988, 102 Stat. 2958; Pub. L. 102-386, title I, 
Secs. 103, 105(b), Oct. 6, 1992, 106 Stat. 1507, 1512.)

                       References in Text

    The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, referred to in pars. (27) and (41), 
is act Aug. 1, 1946, ch. 724, as added by act Aug. 30, 1954, ch. 1073, 
Sec. 1, 6