Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions in this article govern the construction of this division.

“Authorized recycling agent” means a person that a local governing body or private commercial entity authorizes or contracts with to collect its recyclable waste material. An authorized recycling agency may be a municipal collection service, private refuse hauler, private recycling enterprise, or private nonprofit corporation or association.

materials, when separated from other solid waste:

waste.

“Board” means the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, or the Director of Resources Recycling and Recovery, as appropriate.

“City” or “county” includes city and county.

“Closed disposal site” means a disposal site that ceases to accept solid waste and is closed in accordance with applicable statutes, regulations, and local ordinances in effect at the time of the closure.

“Compost” means the product resulting from the controlled biological decomposition of organic wastes that are source separated from the municipal solid waste stream, or which are separated at a centralized facility. “Compost” includes vegetable, yard, and wood wastes which are not hazardous waste.

“Composting” means the controlled or uncontrolled biological decomposition of organic wastes.

“Gasification” means a technology that uses a noncombustion thermal process to convert solid waste to a clean burning fuel for the purpose of generating electricity, and that, at minimum, meets all of the following criteria:

“Department” means the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery.

“Designated recycling collection location” means the place where an authorized recycling agent has contracted with either the local governing body or a private entity to pick up recyclable material segregated from other waste material. “Designated recycling collection location” includes, but is not limited to, the curbside of a residential neighborhood or the service alley of a commercial enterprise.

“Director” means the Director of Resources Recycling and Recovery.

“Disposal” or “dispose” has the same meaning as “solid waste disposal” as defined in Section 40192.

“Disposal facility” or “facility” means a facility or location where disposal of solid waste occurs or an EMSW conversion facility.

“Disposal site” or “site” means the place, location, tract of land, area, or premises in use, intended to be used, or which has been used, for the disposal of solid wastes.

“Diversion” means activities which reduce or eliminate the amount of solid waste from solid waste disposal for purposes of this division, including Article 1 (commencing with Section 41780) of Chapter 6.

“Diversion program” means a program in the source reduction and recycling element of a jurisdiction’s integrated waste management plan, specified in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 41000) of, or Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 41300) of, Part 2 and that has the purpose of diverting solid waste from landfill disposal or transformation through source reduction, recycling, and composting activities. “Diversion program” additionally includes any amendments, revisions, or updates to the element, and any programs set forth in a time extension, alternative requirement, or compliance order approved by the board pursuant to Part 2 (commencing with Section 40900).

“Enforcement agency” means the local agency designated pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 43200) of Chapter 2 of Part 4 for the purpose of carrying out this division, or the board if no designation of a local agency has been approved by the board.

“Enforcement program” means the regulations and procedures adopted by the board pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 43200) of Part 4.

an energy content equal to, or greater than, 5,000 BTU per pound.

facility where solid waste conversion takes place that meets

all of the requirements of subdivision (a) may elect to be considered an EMSW facility for purposes of this division and Division 31 (commencing with Section 50000), except that if a portion of a transformation facility’s operations does not meet the requirements of subdivision (a), the facility shall be considered to be a transformation facility.

“Federal act” means the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended (42 U.S.C. Sec. 6901 et seq.).

“Fund” means the Integrated Waste Management Fund, which is hereby created in the State Treasury. Any reference in this division or any other provision of law to the Solid Waste Management Fund shall mean the Integrated Waste Management Fund.

“Account” means the Integrated Waste Management Account created in the fund pursuant to Section 48001.

“Hazard” includes any condition, practice, or procedure which is or may be dangerous, harmful, or perilous to employees, property, neighbors, or the general public.

“Jurisdiction” means a city, county, or regional agency that is approved by the board pursuant to Section 40975.

“Large state facility” means those campuses of the California State University and the California Community Colleges, prisons within the Department of Corrections, facilities of the State Department of Transportation, and facilities of other state agencies, that the board determines, are primary campuses, prisons, or facilities.

“Local governing body” means the legislative body of the city, county, or special district which has authority to provide solid waste handling services.

“Multicounty regional agency” means a regional agency, as defined in Section 40181, that includes all of the jurisdictions that are located in at least two or more rural counties.

“Minor violation” means the failure of a person to comply with a requirement or condition of an applicable law, regulation, permit, information request, order, variance, or other requirement, whether procedural or substantive, that an enforcement agency or the board is authorized to implement or enforce pursuant to Part 5 (commencing with Section 45000) and that does not otherwise include any of the following:

“Nondisposal facility” means any solid waste facility required to obtain a permit pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 44001) of Chapter 3 of Part 4, except a disposal facility or a transformation facility.

“Operator” means a person who operates a solid waste facility or operates a disposal site.

“Owner” means a person who holds fee title to, or a leasehold or other possessory interest in, real property that is presently in use as a solid waste facility or is a disposal site.

“Person” includes an individual, firm, limited liability company, association, partnership, political subdivision, government agency, municipality, industry, public or private corporation, or any other entity whatsoever.

“Pollution” means the condition caused by the presence in or on a body of water, soil, or air of any solid waste or substance derived therefrom in such quantity, of such nature and duration, or under such condition that the quality, appearance, or usefulness of the water, soil, land, or air is significantly degraded or adversely altered.

“Processing” means the reduction, separation, recovery, conversion, or recycling of solid waste.

“Pyrolysis” means the thermal decomposition of material at elevated temperatures in the absence or near absence of oxygen.

“Recycle” or “recycling” means the process of collecting, sorting, cleansing, treating, and reconstituting materials that would otherwise become solid waste, and returning them to the economic mainstream in the form of raw material for new, reused, or reconstituted products which meet the quality standards necessary to be used in the marketplace. “Recycling” does not include transformation, as defined in Section 40201 or EMSW conversion.

“Regional agency” means an agency formed pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 6500) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code and Article 3 (commencing with Section 40970) of Chapter 1 of Part 2.

“Regional water board” means a California regional water quality control board.

“Segregated from other waste material” means any of the following:

“Sharps waste” means waste generated by a household that includes a hypodermic needle, syringe, or lancet.

with Section 42950) of Part 3, Part 4 (commencing with Section 43000), Part 5 (commencing with Section 45000), Part 6 (commencing with Section 45030), and Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 47901) of Part 7, “solid waste disposal,” “dispose,” or “disposal” means the final deposition of solid wastes onto land.

“Solid waste enterprise” means any individual, partnership, joint venture, unincorporated private organization, or private corporation, which is regularly engaged in the business of providing solid waste handling services.

“Solid waste facility” includes a solid waste transfer or processing station, a composting facility, a gasification facility, a transformation facility, an EMSW conversion facility, and a disposal facility. For purposes of Part 5 (commencing with Section 45000), “solid waste facility” additionally includes a solid waste operation that may be carried out pursuant to an enforcement agency notification, as provided in regulations adopted by the department.

“Solid waste handling” or “handling” means the collection, transportation, storage, transfer, or processing of solid wastes.

“Source reduction” means any action which causes a net reduction in the generation of solid waste. “Source reduction” includes, but is not limited to, reducing the use of nonrecyclable materials, replacing disposable materials and products with reusable materials and products, reducing packaging, reducing the amount of yard wastes generated, establishing garbage rate structures with incentives to reduce the amount of wastes that generators produce, and increasing the efficiency of the use of paper, cardboard, glass, metal, plastic, and other materials. “Source reduction” does not include steps taken after the material becomes solid waste or actions which would impact air or water resources in lieu of land, including, but not limited to, transformation.

“State agency” means every state office, department, division, board, commission, or other agency of the state, including the California Community Colleges and the California State University. The Regents of the University of California are encouraged to implement this division.

“State board” means the State Board of Equalization.

“State water board” means the State Water Resources Control Board.

“Transformation” means incineration, pyrolysis, distillation, or biological conversion other than composting. “Transformation” does not include composting, gasification, EMSW conversion, or biomass conversion.