42 USC 6942 – Federal guidelines for plans
(a) Guidelines for identification of regions
For purposes of encouraging and facilitating the development of regional planning for solid waste management, the Administrator, within one hundred and eighty days after October 21, 1976, and after consultation with appropriate Federal, State, and local authorities, shall by regulation publish guidelines for the identification of those areas which have common solid waste management problems and are appropriate units for planning regional solid waste management services. Such guidelines shall consider—
(1) the size and location of areas which should be included,
(2) the volume of solid waste which should be included, and
(3) the available means of coordinating regional planning with other related regional planning and for coordination of such regional planning into the State plan.
(b) Guidelines for State plans
Terms Used In 42 USC 6942
- Administrator: means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. See 42 USC 6903
- 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. See 42 USC 6903
- 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. See 42 USC 6903
- resource conservation: means reduction of the amounts of solid waste that are generated, reduction of overall resource consumption, and utilization of recovered resources. See 42 USC 6903
- resource recovery: means the recovery of material or energy from solid waste. See 42 USC 6903
- 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. See 42 USC 6903
- 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. See 42 USC 6903
- 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. See 42 USC 6903
- 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. See 42 USC 6903
Not later than eighteen months after October 21, 1976, and after notice and hearing, the Administrator shall, after consultation with appropriate Federal, State, and local authorities, promulgate regulations containing guidelines to assist in the development and implementation of State solid waste management plans (hereinafter in this chapter referred to as “State plans”). The guidelines shall contain methods for achieving the objectives specified in section 6941 of this title. Such guidelines shall be reviewed from time to time, but not less frequently than every three years, and revised as may be appropriate.
(c) Considerations for State plan guidelines
The guidelines promulgated under subsection (b) shall consider—
(1) the varying regional, geologic, hydrologic, climatic, and other circumstances under which different solid waste practices are required in order to insure the reasonable protection of the quality of the ground and surface waters from leachate contamination, the reasonable protection of the quality of the surface waters from surface runoff contamination, and the reasonable protection of ambient air quality;
(2) characteristics and conditions of collection, storage, processing, and disposal operating methods, techniques and practices, and location of facilities where such operating methods, techniques, and practices are conducted, taking into account the nature of the material to be disposed;
(3) methods for closing or upgrading open dumps for purposes of eliminating potential health hazards;
(4) population density, distribution, and projected growth;
(5) geographic, geologic, climatic, and hydrologic characteristics;
(6) the type and location of transportation;
(7) the profile of industries;
(8) the constituents and generation rates of waste;
(9) the political, economic, organizational, financial, and management problems affecting comprehensive solid waste management;
(10) types of resource recovery facilities and resource conservation systems which are appropriate; and
(11) available new and additional markets for recovered material and energy and energy resources recovered from solid waste as well as methods for conserving such materials and energy.