2022 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
Title 30 - Minerals, Oil, and Gas and Environmental Quality
§30:2153. Definitions

RS 30:2153 - Definitions

As used in this Chapter, the following terms shall have the meaning ascribed to them in this Section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(1) "Advanced recycling" means a manufacturing process for the conversion of post-use polymers and recovered feedstocks into basic hydrocarbon raw materials, feedstocks, chemicals, and other products like waxes and lubricants through processes that include pyrolysis, gasification, depolymerization, catalytic cracking, reforming, hydrogenation, solvolysis, and other similar technologies. The recycled products produced at advanced recycling facilities include but are not limited to monomers, oligomers, plastics, plastic and chemical feedstocks, basic and unfinished chemicals, crude oil, naphtha, waxes, lubricants, coatings, and other basic hydrocarbons. Energy recovery or the conversion of post-use polymers into fuel shall not be considered recycling as defined in R.S. 30:2412. Advanced recycling shall not be considered solid waste disposal, processing, incineration, combustion, or storage.

(2) "Advanced recycling facility" means a facility that receives, stores, and converts post-use polymers and recovered feedstocks it receives using advanced recycling. An advanced recycling facility is subject to applicable department regulations. Advanced recycling facilities shall not be considered solid waste disposal, processing, incineration, combustion, or storage facilities.

(3) "Depolymerization" means a manufacturing process through which polymers or plastic materials are broken down into smaller molecules without damaging the monomers themselves and then converted into a raw, intermediate, or final product, including monomers, oligomers, plastics, plastic and chemical feedstocks, basic and unfinished chemicals, crude oil, naphtha, liquid transportation fuels, waxes, lubricants, coatings, and other basic hydrocarbons.

(4) "Gasification" means a manufacturing process through which recovered feedstocks are heated and converted into a fuel and gas mixture in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere and the mixture is converted into raw, intermediate, and final products, including but not limited to plastic monomers, chemicals, waxes, lubricants, chemical feedstocks, crude oil, diesel, gasoline, and diesel and gasoline blendstocks, home heating oil and other fuels, including ethanol and transportation fuel, that are returned to economic utility in the form of raw materials, products, or fuels.

(5) "Post-use polymer" means a plastic to which all of the following apply:

(a) The plastic is derived from any industrial, commercial, agricultural, or domestic activities.

(b) The plastic is not mixed with solid waste or hazardous waste onsite or during processing at the advanced recycling facility.

(c) The plastics' use or intended use is as a feedstock for the manufacturing of crude oil, fuels, feedstocks, blendstocks, raw materials, or other intermediate products or final products using advanced recycling.

(d) The plastic has been sorted from solid waste or other regulated waste but may contain residual amounts of solid waste such as organic material and incidental contaminants or impurities such as paper labels or metal rings.

(e) The plastic is processed at an advanced recycling facility or held at such facility prior to processing.

(6 ) "Pyrolysis" means a manufacturing process through which post-use polymers are heated in the absence of oxygen until melted and thermally decomposed and are then cooled, condensed, and converted into valuable raw, intermediate, and final products, including but not limited to plastic monomers, chemicals, waxes, lubricants, chemical feedstocks, crude oil, diesel, gasoline, and diesel and gasoline blendstocks, home heating oil and other fuels, including ethanol and transportation fuel, that are returned to economic utility in the form of raw materials, products, or fuels.

(7)(a) "Recovered feedstock" means one or more of the following materials that have been processed so that it may be used as feedstock in an advanced recycling facility:

(i) Post-use polymers.

(ii) Materials for which the United States Environmental Protection Agency or the department has made a non-waste determination pursuant to 40 CFR 241.3(c), or has otherwise determined are feedstocks and not solid waste.

(b) The term "recovered feedstock" shall not include the following:

(i) Unprocessed municipal waste.

(ii) Commonly recycled paper that is segregated from solid waste.

(iii) Commonly recycled paper that is collected as part of a collection system that commingles the paper with other solid waste at any point from the time of collection through the materials recovery.

(iv) Material that is mixed with solid waste or hazardous waste onsite or during processing at an advanced recycling facility.

(8) "Resource management" means the process by which solid waste is collected, transported, stored, separated, processed, or disposed of in any other way, according to an orderly, purposeful, and planned program. The term "resource management" shall not include the storage of post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks or the conversion of post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks through advanced recycling.

(9) "Resource recovery" means the process by which materials, excluding those under control of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which still have useful physical or chemical properties after serving a specific purpose are reused or recycled for the same or other purposes, including uses as an energy source. The term "resource recovery" shall not include the conversion of post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks through advanced recycling.

(10) "Resource recovery and management facility" means any solid waste disposal area or other facility, the purpose of which is resource recovery or the disposal, recycling, processing, or storage of solid waste, excluding any "processing, treatment, or disposal facility" as defined in R.S. 30:2173. The term "resource recovery and management facility" shall not include a facility that stores post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks or converts post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks through advanced recycling.

(11) "Sanitary landfill" means a controlled area of land upon which nonhazardous solid waste is deposited in such a manner that protects the environment with no on-site burning of wastes, and so located, contoured, and drained that it will not constitute a source of water pollution.

(12) "Sanitary landfilling" means an engineered method of disposing of nonhazardous solid waste on land in a manner that protects the environment.

(13)(a) "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, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities, but does not include or mean 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 R.S. 30:2074, or source, special nuclear, or byproduct material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. Section 2011 et seq.), or hazardous waste subject to permits under R.S. 30:2171 et seq.

(b) The definition of solid waste shall not include any of the following:

(i) Uncontaminated scrap metal materials which are purchased for resale to be recycled or reused and are not destined for disposal.

(ii) Wastewaters in tanks, sumps, and existing ditches as defined by rule, upstream or downstream of designated internal or final state or federal wastewater discharge points which require no further treatment to meet applicable state or federal permit limits.

(iii) Wastewaters in tanks, sumps, and existing ditches as defined by rule, which only require pH adjustment to meet applicable pH permit limits or solids settling to meet total suspended solids permit limits.

(iv) Automotive fluff which results from the shredding of automobiles by a scrap metal recycling facility authorized under the laws of the state of Louisiana and from which metals have been recovered to the maximum extent practicable by the scrap metal recycling facility.

(v) Post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks that are converted through advanced recycling or are held at, or for the purpose of conversion at, an advanced recycling facility prior to conversion.

(14) "Solid waste disposal facility" means any land area or structure or combination of land areas and structures, used for storing, salvaging, processing, reducing, incinerating, or disposing of solid wastes, excluding any "processing, treatment, or disposal facility" as defined in R.S. 30:2173 and any facility where solid waste management activities are limited to transferring solid waste from collection vehicles to other vehicles for transport without processing. The term "solid waste disposal facility" shall not include a facility that stores post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks or converts post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks through advanced recycling.

(15) "Solvolysis" means a manufacturing process through which post-use plastics are reacted with the aid of solvents while heated at low temperatures or pressurized to make useful products, while allowing additives and contaminants to be separated. The products of solvolysis include but are not limited to monomers, intermediates, and valuable raw materials. The process includes but is not limited to hydrolysis, aminolysis, ammonolysis, methanolysis, ethanolysis, and glycolysis.

Acts 1979, No. 449, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1980; Acts 1991, No. 379, §1; Acts 1993, No. 555, §1, eff. June 10, 1993; Acts 1997, No. 96, §1; Acts 2010, No. 152, §1; Acts 2021, No. 460, §1.