95-12. Word Usage and Definitions.

  1. For purposes of this article, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivatives shall have the meanings given herein. When not consistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future tense; words used in the plural include the singular, and words in the singular include the plural. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directive.
  2. The following terms are defined for purposes of this chapter:
    1. Board - The Board of Commissioners of Henderson County, North Carolina.
    2. Bulky Waste - Large items of solid waste, such as white goods, furniture (excluding cushions), large auto parts, trees, large blocks of concrete and asphalt, stumps and other oversize waste whose large size precludes or complicates their handling by normal solid waste collection, processing or disposal methods.
    3. Civil Penalty - A monetary fine assessed according to a schedule adopted by the Henderson County Solid Waste Department due to a violation of this article.
    4. Collector - Any person who picks up or hauls solid waste or recyclable materials for a fee.
    5. Commercial Establishment - Any retail, wholesale, institutional, religious, governmental, service establishment or other nonresidential establishment which may generate garbage, litter or other solid waste.
    6. Commission - The Environmental Management Commission.
    7. Composting - The controlled decomposition of organic waste by naturally occurring bacteria, yielding a stable, humus-like, pathogen-free final product.
    8. Construction or Demolition - When used in connection with waste or debris means solid waste resulting solely from construction, remodeling, repair or demolition operations on pavement, buildings or other structures.
    9. Corrugated Cardboard - Non waxed paper boxes and other thick layered brown paper, formed with grooves and ridges, used in shipping or in which shipped goods are received.
    10. County - Henderson County.
    11. Covered - Encased by a tarpaulin, camper cover, metal cover, rigid cover, plastic, canvas or other suitable material, which is secured to prevent spillage, leakage or materials from blowing from the vehicle. Solid waste in plastic bags shall not be considered covered.
    12. Department - The North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources.
    13. Dwelling - Any residential unit housed in a building used for residential purposes or manufactured homes or a structure used for residential purposes on any property.
    14. EPA - The United States Environmental Protection Agency.
    15. Facility - Solid waste management facility, including the landfill, transfer station, recycling center, wood waste mulching area and other designated areas located at 191 Transfer Station Drive, Hendersonville, NC. 28791.
    16. Garbage - All putrescible wastes, including animal offal and carcasses, and recognizable industrial by-products, but excluding sewage and human waste.
    17. Hauler - Any person, permitted or not, who collects and transports refuse or other solid wastes or recyclable materials on public or private streets in Henderson County.
    18. Hazardous Refuse - Includes any rusted, jagged appliances or machinery, specifically, iceboxes and refrigerators, whose doors have not been properly dismantled, or which has been determined by the Solid Waste Director to constitute a health or safety hazard.
    19. Hazardous Waste
      1. A solid waste or combination of solid wastes which, because of its quantity, concentration or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics, may cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness or pose a substantial problem or potential hazard to human health or the environment if improperly treated, stored, transported or disposed of or otherwise managed.
      2. Any substance classified as a hazardous waste by the EPA.
    20. Individual - Any person, organization, business or other entity generally capable of owning real estate.
    21. Industrial Waste - All waste, including garbage, solids, semisolids, sludge and liquids created or generated by factories, processing plants or other manufacturing enterprises.
    22. Microbiological Waste - Cultures and stocks of infectious agents, including but not limited to specimens from medical, pathological, pharmaceutical, research, commercial and industrial laboratories.
    23. Mixed Paper - Envelopes, catalogs, bulk mail, magazines, computer paper, copy paper, file folders, phone books, gray cartons, adding machine tapes, letters, scratch pads, soft-covered books and other material as defined by the Recycling Center Manager.
    24. Open Burning - Any fire whose products of combustion are emitted directly into the outdoor atmosphere without passing through a stack or chimney, approved incinerator or other similar device.
    25. Open Dump - The consolidation or collection of solid waste from 1 or more sources at a disposal site which has unsanitary conditions, insignificant or no cover or insignificant or no management. This term shall include any disposal area which has not been approved by the Department.
    26. Pathological Waste - Human tissues, organs and body parts and the carcasses and body parts of all animals that were known to have been exposed to pathogens that are potentially dangerous to humans during research, were used in the production of biologicals or in vivo testing of pharmaceuticals or that died with a known or suspected disease transmissible to humans.
    27. Permit - Written authorization from the Solid Waste Director to haul solid waste or recyclable material in Henderson County for hire or compensation.
    28. Permitted Hauler - Any solid waste or recyclable material hauler authorized by the Solid Waste Director to transport refuse, solid waste or recyclable material for hire or compensation.
    29. Person - Any individual, firm, organization, partnership, corporation, company or unincorporated association.
    30. Putrescible Waste - Solid waste capable of being decomposed by microorganisms with sufficient rapidity as to cause nuisance from odors and gases, such as kitchen wastes, offal and carcasses.
    31. Radioactive Material - Any material which emits ionizing radiation spontaneously.
    32. Recycle, Recyclables Or Recyclable Material - Those materials or that process by which solid waste, or materials which would otherwise become solid waste, are collected, separated or processed and reused or returned to use in the form of raw materials or products.
    33. Refuse - All nonputrescible waste.
    34. Refuse Receptacle or Receptacle -- A metal or plastic container or other material approved by the Solid Waste Director.
    35. Regulated Medical Waste - Blood and body fluids in individual containers in volumes greater than 20 milliliters, microbiological waste and pathological waste that have not been treated.
    36. Rubbish - Solid or liquid waste from residences, commercial establishments or institutions.
    37. Sharps - Needles, syringes with attached needles, capillary tubes, slides and cover slips, scalpel blades, test tubes and blood collection tubes.
    38. Solid Waste - Any hazardous or nonhazardous garbage or other refuse, rubbish, litter, trash, tires and other discarded solid materials and solid or semisolid waste materials resulting from industrial, commercial and agricultural operations and from community activities, but does not include solids or dissolved materials in domestic sewage or other significant pollutants in water resources, such as silt, dissolved or suspended solids in industrial wastewater effluent, dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or other common water pollutants. As used herein, "solid waste" shall refer collectively to any or all of the aforementioned waste materials, unless otherwise specified.
    39. Transfer Station - A permanent structure with mechanical equipment used for the collection or compaction of solid waste prior to the transportation of solid waste for final disposal.
    40. Unsanitary Accumulation - Any amount of solid waste which is odoriferous, pestiferous or otherwise threatening to human health as determined by the Solid Waste Department.
    41. Used Motor Oil - Any oil that has been refined from crude oil or synthetic oil and, as a result of use, storage or handling, has become unsuitable for its original purpose.
    42. White Goods - Inoperative or discarded refrigerators, ranges, water heaters, freezers and other similar domestic and commercial large appliances.
    43. Yard Waste - Solid waste consisting solely of vegetative matter, such as leaves, grass, limbs and trimmings, resulting from landscaping maintenance.