In this subchapter:
(1) “Compost” is the disinfected and stabilized product of the decomposition process that is used or sold for use as a soil amendment, artificial top soil, growing medium amendment, or other similar uses.
(2) “Composting” means the controlled biological decomposition of organic materials through microbial activity. Depending on the specific application, composting can serve as both a volume reduction and a waste treatment measure. A beneficial organic composting activity is an appropriate waste management solution that shall divert compatible materials from the solid waste stream that cannot be recycled into higher grade uses and convert these materials into a useful product that is put to beneficial reuse as a soil amendment or mulch.
(3) “Life-cycle cost benefit analysis” means a method of determining the total equivalent costs and benefits of using products over their lifetimes or over any other period of time. These costs and benefits are all associated costs and all associated benefits of each product over the time under consideration and include initial costs, annual operating costs, annual savings, future costs, and residual (salvage) values. The use of this method permits exact comparisons of these total costs and benefits to determine the most cost-effective product.
(4) “Postconsumer waste” means a material or product that has served its intended use and has been discarded after passing through the hands of a final user. For the purpose of this subchapter, the term does not include industrial or hazardous waste.
(5) “Recyclable material” means material that can be or has been recovered or diverted from the waste stream for purposes of reuse, recycling, or reclamation, a substantial portion of which is consistently used in the manufacture of products which may otherwise be produced using raw or virgin materials. The term includes any waste stream, including post-use polymers and recoverable feedstocks that are converted through pyrolysis, gasification, solvolysis, or depolymerization into valuable raw materials or valuable intermediate and final products. Recyclable material is not solid waste unless the material is deemed to be hazardous solid waste by the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, whereupon it shall be regulated accordingly unless it is otherwise exempted in whole or in part from regulation under the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq.), by Environmental Protection Agency regulation. However, recyclable material may become solid waste at such time, if any, as it is abandoned or disposed of rather than recycled, whereupon it will be solid waste with respect only to the party actually abandoning or disposing of the material.
(6) “Recycled material” means materials, goods, or products that consist of recovered recyclable material or materials derived from recoverable feedstocks, post-use polymers, postconsumer waste, industrial waste, or hazardous waste which may be used in place of a raw or virgin material in manufacturing a new product or that are certified under a third-party certification system for mass balance attribution identified by the commission under § 361.4215. The term includes recycled plastics.
(6-a) “Recycled plastics” means products that are produced from:
(A) mechanical recycling of post-use polymers; or
(B) nonmechanical recycling of recoverable feedstocks or post-use polymers that are certified under a third-party certification system for mass balance attribution identified by the commission under § 361.4215.
(7) “Recycled product” means a product that is eligible to be considered a recycled product under the rules established by the commission under § 361.427. The term does not include a product sold as fuel.
(8) “Recycling” means a process by which materials that have served their intended use or are scrapped, discarded, used, surplus, or obsolete are collected, separated, or processed and returned to use in the form of raw materials or feedstocks used in the manufacture of new products. The term does not include incineration of plastics or waste-to-energy processes. Recycling includes:
(A) the composting process if the compost material is put to beneficial reuse as defined by the commission;
(B) the application to land, as organic fertilizer, of processed sludge or biosolids from municipal wastewater treatment plants and other organic matter resulting from poultry, dairy, livestock, or other agricultural operations; and
(C) the conversion of post-use polymers and recoverable feedstocks through pyrolysis, gasification, solvolysis, or depolymerization.
(9) “Source reduction” means an activity or process that avoids the creation of municipal solid waste in the state by reducing waste at the source and includes:
(A) redesigning a product or packaging so that less material is ultimately disposed of;
(B) changing a process for producing a good or providing a service so that less material is disposed of; or
(C) changing the way a material is used so that the amount of waste generated is reduced.
(10) “State agency” means a department, commission, board, office, council, or other agency in the executive branch of government that is created by the constitution or a statute of this state and has authority not limited to a geographical portion of the state. The term does not include a university system or institution of higher education as defined by § 61.003, Education Code.
(11) “Virgin material” means a raw material used in manufacturing that has not yet become a product.
(12) “Yard waste” means leaves, grass clippings, yard and garden debris, and brush, including clean woody vegetative material not greater than six inches in diameter, that results from landscaping maintenance and land-clearing operations. The term does not include stumps, roots, or shrubs with intact root balls.