FINAL BILL REPORT

SHB 2308

C 101 L 04

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Requiring the department of ecology to develop specific criteria for the types of solid wastes that are allowed to be received by inert waste landfills.

Sponsors: By House Committee on Fisheries, Ecology & Parks (originally sponsored by Representatives Schoesler and Cox).

House Committee on Fisheries, Ecology & Parks

Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Energy & Water

Background:

The Department of Ecology (Department) is required to adopt administrative rules that establish the minimum functional standards for landfills. The original rules for landfills were adopted by the Department in 1985. On February 10, 2003, substantial revisions to the rules took effect. New landfills are required to abide by the rule revisions immediately, while existing landfills must satisfy the new requirements over a phased transition period.

Among the changes in the new landfill rules are the criteria for limited purpose landfills that only accept inert waste. The new rules affect both the functional standards for inert waste landfills and the criteria for what can be accepted into an inert waste landfill. A waste material can be accepted into an inert waste landfill only if it satisfies a number of criteria. These include being inflammable, being resistant to biological and chemical degradation, and not being capable of producing a leachate or emission that has a potential negative impact on the environment.

Regardless of the outcome of the tests for inert status, the new rules categorically include a number of waste types into the inert waste category. These are certain cured concretes, certain asphaltic materials, brick and masonry that was used for construction purposes, ceramic materials produced from clay or porcelain, certain glasses, and stainless steel and aluminum.

Summary:

Standards for inert waste landfills must be developed to contain, at a minimum, a list of substances that an inert waste landfill may accept if the landfill satisfies certain criteria. Landfills that must be allowed to accept the list of substances are any inert waste landfills that were operational prior to February 10, 2003, and are located in a county with less than 45,000 residents and at a site that receives less than 25 inches of rain annually, based on a five-year average.

The wastes that qualifying inert waste landfills must be allowed to accept include:

      •    cured concrete, masonry, and asphaltic materials;

      •    glass, regardless of its composition;

      •    brick and masonry;

      •    stainless steel; and

      •    other materials defined in the Washington Administrative Code.

The Department may prohibit these materials from being disposed of in a qualifying landfill if the materials have been made more dangerous than the inherent material to human health or the environment through exposure to chemical, physical, biological, or radiological substances.

The Department is also directed to work with the owners and operators of inert waste landfills to transition into a limited purpose landfill.

Votes on Final Passage:

House 80  16

Senate 49  0

Effective: June 10, 2004