Unless the context clearly requires a different meaning, as used in this article, the terms:

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(a) "Approved solid waste facility" means a commercial solid waste facility or practice which has a valid permit or compliance order under article fifteen, chapter twenty-two of this code.

(b) "Commercial solid waste facility" means any solid waste facility which accepts solid waste generated by sources other than the owner or operator of the facility and does not include an approved solid waste facility owned and operated by a person for the sole purpose of disposing of solid wastes created by that person or that person and another person on a cost-sharing or nonprofit basis and does not include land upon which reused or recycled materials are legitimately applied for structural fill, road base, mine reclamation and similar applications.

(c) "Commercial recycler" means any person, corporation or business entity whose operation involves the mechanical separation of materials for the purpose of reselling or recycling at least seventy percent by weight of the materials coming into the commercial recycling facility.

(d) "Class A facility" means a commercial solid waste facility which handles an aggregate of between ten and thirty thousand tons of solid waste per month. Class A facility includes two or more Class B solid waste landfills owned or operated by the same person in the same county, if the aggregate tons of solid waste handled per month by such landfills exceeds nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine tons of solid waste per month.

(e) "Class B facility" means a commercial solid waste facility which receives or is expected to receive an average daily quantity of mixed solid waste equal to or exceeding one hundred tons each working day, or serves or is expected to serve a population equal to or exceeding forty thousand persons, but which does not receive solid waste exceeding an aggregate of ten thousand tons per month. Class B facilities do not include construction/demolition facilities: Provided, That the definition of Class B facility may include such reasonable subdivisions or subclassifications as the director may establish by legislative rule proposed in accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.

(f) "Compliance order" means an administrative order issued pursuant to section ten, article fifteen, chapter twenty-two of this code authorizing a solid waste facility to operate without a solid waste permit.

(g) "Open dump" means any solid waste disposal which does not have a permit under this article, or is in violation of state law, or where solid waste is disposed in a manner that does not protect the environment.

(h) "Person" means any industrial user, public or private corporation, institution, association, firm or company organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state or country; the State of West Virginia; governmental agency, including federal facilities; political subdivision; county commission; municipal corporation; industry; sanitary district; public service district; drainage district; soil conservation district; watershed improvement district; partnership; trust; estate; person or individual; group of persons or individuals acting individually or as a group; or any legal entity whatever.

(i) "Sludge" means any solid, semisolid, residue or precipitate, separated from or created by a municipal, commercial or industrial waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility or any other such waste having similar origin.

(j) "Solid waste" means any garbage, paper, litter, refuse, cans, bottles, waste processed for the express purpose of incineration, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility, other discarded material, including offensive or unsightly matter, solid, liquid, semisolid or contained liquid or gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining or community activities but does not include solid or dissolved material in sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources and have permits under article eleven, chapter twenty-two of this code, or source, special nuclear or byproduct material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, including any nuclear or byproduct material considered by federal standards to be below regulatory concern, or a hazardous waste either identified or listed under article eighteen, chapter twenty-two of this code, or refuse, slurry, overburden or other waste or material resulting from coal-fired electric power or steam generation, the exploration, development, production, storage and recovery of coal, oil and gas, and other mineral resources placed or disposed of at a facility which is regulated under article two, three, four, six, seven, eight, nine or ten, chapter twenty-two or chapter twenty-two-a of this code, so long as such placement or disposal is in conformance with a permit issued pursuant to said chapters. "Solid waste" does not include materials which are recycled by being used or reused in an industrial process to make a product, as effective substitutes for commercial products, or are returned to the original process as a substitute for raw material feedstock.

(k) "Solid waste disposal" means the practice of disposing of solid waste including placing, depositing, dumping or throwing or causing to be placed, deposited, dumped or thrown any solid waste.

(l) "Solid waste disposal shed" means the geographical area which the solid waste management board designates and files in the state register pursuant to section nine, article three of this chapter.

(m) "Solid waste facility" means any system, facility, land, contiguous land, improvements on the land, structures or other appurtenances or methods used for processing, recycling or disposing of solid waste, including landfills, transfer stations, resource-recovery facilities and other such facilities not herein specified. Such facility is situated, for purposes of this article, in the county where the majority of the spatial area of such facility is located.

(n) "Energy recovery incinerator" means any solid waste facility at which solid wastes are incinerated with the intention of using the resulting energy for the generation of steam, electricity or any other use not specified herein.

(o) "Incineration technologies" means any technology that uses controlled flame combustion to thermally break down solid waste, including refuse-derived fuel, to an ash residue that contains little or no combustible materials, regardless of whether the purpose is processing, disposal, electric or steam generation or any other method by which solid waste is incinerated.

(p) "Incinerator" means an enclosed device using controlled flame combustion to thermally break down solid waste, including refuse-derived fuel, to an ash residue that contains little or no combustible materials.

(q) "Materials recovery facility" means any solid waste facility at which solid wastes are manually or mechanically shredded or separated so that materials are recovered from the general waste stream for purposes of reuse and recycling.