Solid Waste Management Act

The act governs the management and disposal of solid waste, barring disposal outside authorized areas and setting distinct requirements for particular waste streams, including infectious waste, waste tires, dead animals, and coal combustion residues, while carving out defined exclusions. Its central mechanism is a licensing system for disposal operations, in which the administering department reviews applications, local health officers validate or refuse them subject to appeal, and the department may revoke or deny a license, adopt implementing rules, conduct inspections, grant variances, and require ground water monitoring and financial assurance; it also provides for statewide public education on household hazardous waste. Compliance is backed by administrative enforcement, civil penalties, and judicial actions, and the act sets out who bears liability along with the defenses and exclusions from it.

Editorial summary generated from the text of this act. It is not part of the statute — read the sections below for the operative language.