Section 810.103  Definitions

 

Except as stated in this Section, or unless a different meaning of a word or term is clear from the context, the definition of words or terms in this Part will be the same as that applied to the same words or terms in the Environmental Protection Act (Act):

 

"Act" means the Environmental Protection Act [415 ILCS 5].

 

"Admixtures" are chemicals added to earth materials to improve for a specific application the physical or chemical properties of the earth materials.  Admixtures include lime, cement, bentonite, and sodium silicate.

 

"Agency" is the Environmental Protection Agency established by the Environmental Protection Act. [415 ILCS 5/3.105]

 

"Applicant" means the person submitting an application to the Agency for a permit for a solid waste disposal facility.

 

"Aquifer" means saturated (with groundwater) soils and geologic materials which are sufficiently permeable to readily yield economically useful quantities of water to wells, springs, or streams under ordinary hydraulic gradients and whose boundaries can be identified and mapped from hydrogeologic data.  (Section 3 of the Illinois Groundwater Protection Act [415 ILCS 55/3])

 

"Bedrock" means the solid rock formation immediately underlying any loose superficial material such as soil, alluvium, or glacial drift.

 

"Beneficially usable waste" means any solid waste from the steel and foundry industries that will not decompose biologically, burn, serve as food for vectors, form a gas, cause an odor, or form a leachate that contains constituents that exceed the limits for this type of waste as specified at 35 Ill. Adm. Code 817.106.

 

"Board" is the Pollution Control Board established by the Act. [415 ILCS 5/3.130]

 

"Borrow area" means an area from which earthen material is excavated for the purpose of constructing daily cover, final cover, a liner, a gas venting system, roadways, or berms.

 

"Chemical waste" means a non-putrescible solid whose characteristics are such that any contaminated leachate is expected to be formed through chemical or physical processes, rather than biological processes, and no gas is expected to be formed as a result.

 

"Coal combustion power generating facilities" means establishments that generate electricity by combusting coal and that utilize a lime or limestone scrubber system.

 

"Contaminated leachate" means any leachate whose constituent violate the standards of 35 Ill. Adm. Code 811.202.

 

"Dead animal disposal site" means an on-the-farm disposal site at which the burial of dead animals is done in accordance with the Illinois Dead Animal Disposal Act [225 ILCS 610] and regulations adopted pursuant thereto (8 Ill. Adm. Code 90).

 

"Design period" means that length of time determined by the sum of the operating life of the solid waste landfill facility plus the post-closure care period necessary to stabilize the waste in the units.

 

"Disposal" means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placing of any solid waste into or on any land or water or into any well such that solid waste or any constituent of the solid waste may enter the environment by being emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including groundwater.  [415 ILCS 5/3.185]  If the solid waste is accumulated and not confined or contained to prevent its entry into the environment, or there is no certain plan for its disposal elsewhere, such accumulation will constitute disposal.

 

"Disturbed areas" means those areas within a facility that have been physically altered during waste disposal operations or during the construction of any part of the facility.

 

"Documentation" means items, in any tangible form, whether directly legible or legible with the aid of any machine or device, including but not limited to affidavits, certificates, deeds, leases, contracts or other binding agreements, licenses, permits, photographs, audio or video recordings, maps, geographic surveys, chemical and mathematical formulas or equations, mathematical and statistical calculations and assumptions, research papers, technical reports, technical designs and design drawings, stocks, bonds, and financial records, that are used to support facts or hypotheses.

 

"Earth liners" means structures constructed from naturally occurring soil material that has been compacted to achieve a low permeability.

 

"Existing facility" or "Existing unit" means a facility or unit that is not defined in this Section as a new facility or a new unit.

 

"Existing MSWLF unit" means any municipal solid waste landfill unit that has received household waste before October 9, 1993. [415 ILCS 5/3.285]

 

"Facility" means a site and all equipment and fixtures on a site used to treat, store or dispose of solid or special wastes.  A facility consists of an entire solid or special waste treatment, storage, or disposal operation. All structures used in connection with or to facilitate the waste disposal operation will be considered a part of the facility.  A facility may include, but is not limited to, one or more solid waste disposal units, buildings, treatment systems, processing and storage operations, and monitoring stations.

 

"Field capacity" means that maximum moisture content of a waste, under field conditions of temperature and pressure, above which moisture is released by gravity drainage.

 

"Foundry sand" means pure sand or a mixture of sand and any additives necessary for use of the sand in the foundry process, but does not include such foundry process by-products as air pollution control dust or refractories.

 

"Gas collection system" means a system of wells, trenches, pipes and other related ancillary structures such as manholes, compressor housing, and monitoring installations that collects and transports the gas produced in a putrescible waste disposal unit to one or more gas processing points.  The flow of gas through such a system may be produced by naturally occurring gas pressure gradients or may be aided by an induced draft generated by mechanical means.

 

"Gas condensate" means the liquid formed as a landfill gas is cooled or compressed.

 

"Gas venting system" means a system of wells, trenches, pipes and other related structures that vents the gas produced in a putrescible waste disposal unit to the atmosphere.

 

"Geomembranes" means manufactured membrane liners and barriers of low permeability used to control the migration of fluids or gases.

 

"Geotextiles" are permeable manufactured materials used for purposes that include, but are not limited to, strengthening soil, providing a filter to prevent clogging of drains, and collecting and draining liquids and gases beneath the ground surface.

 

"Groundwater" means underground water which occurs within the saturated zone and within geologic materials where the fluid pressure in the pore space is equal to or greater than atmospheric pressure. (Section 3 of the Illinois Groundwater Protection Act)

 

"Household waste" means any solid waste (including garbage, trash, and sanitary waste in septic tanks) derived from households (including single and multiple residences, hotels and motels, bunkhouses, ranger stations, crew quarters, campgrounds, picnic grounds, and day-use recreation areas). [415 ILCS 5/3.230]

 

"Hydraulic barriers" means structures designed to prevent or control the seepage of water.  Hydraulic barriers include, but are not limited to, cutoff walls, slurry walls, grout curtains, and liners.

 

"Inert waste" means any solid waste that will not decompose biologically, burn, serve as food for vectors, form a gas, cause an odor, or form a contaminated leachate, as determined in accordance with 35 Ill. Adm. Code 811.202(b).  Such inert wastes will include only non-biodegradable and non-putrescible solid wastes.  Inert wastes may include, but are not limited to, bricks, masonry, and concrete (cured for 60 days or more).

 

"Iron slag" means slag.

 

"Land application unit" means an area where wastes are agronomically spread over or disked into land or otherwise applied so as to become incorporated into the soil surface.  For the purposes of this Part and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 811 through 815, a land application unit is not a landfill; however, other Parts of 35 Ill. Adm. Code:  Chapter I may apply, and may include the permitting requirements of 35 Ill. Adm. Code 309.

 

"Landfill" means a unit or part of a facility in or on which waste is placed and accumulated over time for disposal, and that is not a land application unit, a surface impoundment or an underground injection well. For the purposes of this Part and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 811 through 815, landfills include waste piles, as defined in this Section.

 

"Lateral expansion" means a horizontal expansion of the actual waste boundaries of an existing MSWLF unit occurring on or after October 9, 1993. A horizontal expansion is any area where solid waste is placed for the first time directly upon the bottom liner of the unit, excluding side slopes on or after October 9, 1993.  [415 ILCS 5/3.275]

 

"Leachate" means liquid that has been or is in direct contact with a solid waste.

 

"Lift" means an accumulation of waste that is compacted into a unit and over which cover is placed.

 

"Low risk waste" means any solid waste from the steel and foundry industries that will not decompose biologically, burn, serve as food for vectors, form a gas, cause an odor, or form a leachate that contains constituents that exceed the limits for this type of waste as specified at 35 Ill. Adm. Code 817.106.

 

"Malodor" means an odor caused by one or more contaminant emissions into the atmosphere from a facility that is in sufficient quantities and of such characteristics and duration as to be described as malodorous and that may be injurious to human, plant, or animal life, to health, or to property, or may unreasonably interfere with the enjoyment of life or property.  [415 ILCS 5/3.115] (defining "air pollution")

 

"Municipal solid waste landfill unit" or "MSWLF unit" means a discrete area of land or an excavation that receives household waste, and that is not a land application unit, surface impoundment, injection well, or waste pile.  An MSWLF unit also may receive other types of RCRA Subtitle D wastes, such as commercial solid waste, nonhazardous sludge, very small quantity generator waste, and industrial solid waste.  Such a landfill may be publicly or privately owned.  An MSWLF unit may be a new MSWLF unit, an existing MSWLF unit, or a lateral expansion.  A construction and demolition landfill that receives residential lead-based paint waste and that does not receive any other household waste is not an MSWLF unit.  The term injection well is defined in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 730.103.  The terms land application unit, surface impoundment, and waste pile are defined in 40 CFR 257.2, incorporated by reference in Section 810.104.  The terms construction and demolition landfill and industrial solid waste are defined in 40 CFR 258.2, incorporated by reference in Section 810.104.

BOARD NOTE:  A "construction and demolition (C&D) landfill" is a regulatory category of landfill that does not exist in Illinois.  It is distinct from a clean construction and demolition debris (CCDD) fill operation under 35 Ill. Adm. Code 1100.  A landfill in Illinois that receives residential lead-based paint waste and no other type of household waste would be permitted as a chemical waste landfill or a putrescible waste landfill under Subpart C of 35 Ill. Adm. Code 811, as appropriate.

 

"National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System" or "NPDES" means the program for issuing, modifying, revoking and reissuing, terminating, monitoring, and enforcing permits and imposing and enforcing pretreatment requirements under the Clean Water Act (33 USC 1251 et seq.), Section 12(f) of the Act, Subpart A of 35 Ill. Adm. Code 309, and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 310.

 

"NPDES permit" means a permit issued under the NPDES program.

 

"New facility" or "New unit" means a solid waste landfill facility or a unit at a facility, if one or more of the following conditions apply:

 

It is a landfill or unit exempt from permit requirements under Section 21(d) of the Act that had not yet accepted any waste as of September 18, 1990;

 

It is a landfill or unit not exempt from permit requirements under Section 21(d) of the Act that had no development or operating permit issued by the Agency under 35 Ill. Adm. Code 807 as of September 18, 1990; or

 

It is a landfill with a unit whose maximum design capacity or lateral extent was increased after September 18, 1990.

BOARD NOTE:  A new unit located in an existing facility will be considered a unit subject to 35 Ill. Adm. Code 814, which references applicable requirements of 35 Ill. Adm. Code 811.

 

"New MSWLF unit" means any municipal solid waste landfill unit that has received household waste on or after October 9, 1993 for the first time. [415 ILCS 5/3.285]

 

"One hundred-year flood plain" means any land area that is subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in a given year from any source.

 

"One hundred-year, 24-hour precipitation event" means a precipitation event of 24-hour duration with a probable recurrence interval of once in 100 years.

 

"Operator" means the person responsible for the operation and maintenance of a solid waste disposal facility.

 

"Owner" means a person who has an interest, directly or indirectly, in land, including a leasehold interest, on which a person operates and maintains a solid waste disposal facility.  The "owner" is the "operator" if there is no other person who is operating and maintaining a solid waste disposal facility.

 

"Perched watertable" means an elevated watertable above a discontinuous saturated lens, resting on a low permeability (such as clay) layer within a high permeability (such as sand) formation.

 

"Permit area" means the entire horizontal and vertical region occupied by a permitted solid waste disposal facility.

 

"Person" is any individual, partnership, co-partnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, estate, political subdivision, State agency, or any other legal entity, or their legal representative, agent or assigns.  [415 ILCS 5/3.315]

 

"Potentially usable waste" means any solid waste from the steel and foundry industries that will not decompose biologically, burn, serve as food for vectors, form a gas, cause an odor, or form a leachate that contains constituents that exceed the limits for this type of waste as specified at 35 Ill. Adm. Code 817.106.

 

"Poz-O-Tec materials" means materials produced by a stabilization process patented by Conversion Systems, Inc. utilizing flue gas desulfurization (FGD) sludges and ash produced by coal combustion power generation facilities as raw materials.

 

"Poz-O-Tec monofill" means a landfill in which solely Poz-O-Tec materials are placed for disposal.

 

"Professional engineer" means a person who has registered and obtained a seal under the Professional Engineering Practice Act of 1989 [225 ILCS 325].

 

"Professional land surveyor" means a person who has received a certificate of registration and a seal under the Illinois Professional Land Surveyor Act of 1989 [225 ILCS 330].

 

"Putrescible waste" means a solid waste that contains organic matter capable of being decomposed by microorganisms so as to cause a malodor, gases, or other offensive conditions, or that is capable of providing food for birds and vectors.  Putrescible wastes may form a contaminated leachate from microbiological degradation, chemical processes, and physical processes.  Putrescible waste includes, but is not limited to, garbage, offal, dead animals, general household waste, and commercial waste.  All solid wastes that do not meet the definition of inert or chemical wastes will be considered putrescible wastes.

 

"Publicly owned treatment works" or "POTW" means a treatment works that is owned by the State of Illinois or a unit of local government.  This definition includes any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastewater.  It also includes sewers, pipes, and other conveyances only if they convey wastewater to a POTW treatment plant.  The term also means the unit of local government that has jurisdiction over the indirect discharges to and the discharges from such a treatment works.

 

"Recharge zone" means an area through which water can enter an aquifer.

 

"Research, development, and demonstration permit" or "RD&D permit" means a permit issued under 35 Ill. Adm. Code 813.112.

 

"Residential lead-based paint waste" means waste containing lead-based paint that is generated as a result of activities such as abatement, rehabilitation, renovation, and remodeling in homes and other residences.  The term residential lead-based paint waste includes, but is not limited to, lead-based paint debris, chips, dust, and sludges.

 

"Resource Conservation and Recovery Act" or "RCRA" means the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (P.L. 94-580 codified as 42 USC 6901 et seq.)  as amended. [415 ILCS 5/3.425]

 

"Responsible charge", when used to refer to a person, means that the person is normally present at a waste disposal site; directs the day-to-day overall operation at the site; and either is the owner or operator or is employed by or under contract with the owner or operator to assure that the day-to-day operations at the site are carried out in compliance with any Part of 35 Ill. Adm. Code:  Chapter I governing operations at waste disposal sites.

 

"Runoff" means water resulting from precipitation that flows overland before it enters a defined stream channel, any portion of such overland flow that infiltrates into the ground before it reaches the stream channel, and any precipitation that falls directly into a stream channel.

 

"Salvaging" means the return of waste materials to use, under the supervision of the landfill operator, so long as the activity is confined to an area remote from the operating face of the landfill, it does not interfere with or otherwise delay the operations of the landfill, and it results in the removal of all materials for salvaging from the landfill site daily or separates them by type and stores them in a manner that does not create a nuisance, harbor vectors, or cause an unsightly appearance.

 

"Scavenging" means the removal of materials from a solid waste management facility or unit that is not salvaging.

 

"Seismic slope safety factor" means the ratio between the resisting forces or moments in a slope and the driving forces or moments that may cause a massive slope failure during an earthquake or other seismic event such as an explosion.

 

"Settlement" means subsidence caused by waste loading, changes in groundwater level, chemical changes within the soil, and adjacent operations involving excavation.

 

"Shredding" means the mechanical reduction in particle sizes of solid waste.  Putrescible waste is considered shredded if 90 percent of the waste by dry weight passes a three-inch sieve.

 

"Significant modification" means a modification to an approved permit issued by the Agency in accordance with Section 39 of the Act and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 813 that is required when one or more of the following changes (considered significant when that change is measured by one or more parameters whose values lie outside the expected operating range of values as specified in the permit) are planned, occur, or will occur:

 

An increase in the capacity of the waste disposal unit over the permitted capacity;

 

Any change in the placement of daily, intermediate, or final cover;

 

A decrease in performance, efficiency, or longevity of the liner system;

 

A decrease in efficiency or performance of the leachate collection system;

 

A change in configuration, performance, or efficiency of the leachate management system;

 

A change in the final disposition of treated effluent or in the quality of the discharge from the leachate treatment or pretreatment system;

 

Installation of a gas management system or a decrease in the efficiency or performance of an existing gas management system;

 

A change in the performance or operation of the surface water control system;

 

A decrease in the quality or quantity of data from any environmental monitoring system;

 

A change in the applicable background concentrations or the maximum allowable predicted concentrations;

 

A change in the design or configuration of the regraded area after development or after final closure;

 

A change in the amount or type of post-closure financial assurance;

 

Any change in the permit boundary;

 

A change in the post-closure land use of the property;

 

A remedial action necessary to protect groundwater;

 

Transfer of the permit to a new operator;

 

Operating authorization is being sought to place into service a structure constructed under a construction quality assurance program; or

 

A change in any requirement set forth as a special condition in the permit.

 

"Slag" means the fused agglomerate that separates in the iron and steel production and floats on the surface of the molten metal.

 

"Sole source aquifer" means those aquifers designated under section 1424(e) of the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 (42 USC 300h-3).

 

"Solid waste" means a waste that is defined in this Section as an inert waste, as a putrescible waste, as a chemical waste or as a special waste, and that is not also defined as a hazardous waste under 35 Ill. Adm. Code 721.

 

"Special waste" means any industrial process waste, pollution control waste, or hazardous waste, except as determined pursuant to Section 22.9 of the Act and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 808.  [415 ILCS 5/3.475]

 

"Static safety factor" means the ratio between resisting forces or moments in a slope and the driving forces or moments that may cause a massive slope failure.

 

"Steel slag" means slag.

 

"Surface impoundment" means a natural topographic depression, a man-made excavation, or a diked area into which flowing wastes, such as liquid wastes or wastes containing free liquids, are placed.  For the purposes of this Part and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 811 through 815, a surface impoundment is not a landfill.  Other Parts of 35 Ill. Adm. Code:  Chapter I may apply, including the permitting requirements of 35 Ill. Adm. Code 309.

 

"Twenty-five-year, 24-hour precipitation event" means a precipitation event of 24-hour duration with a probable recurrence interval of once in 25 years.

 

"Uppermost aquifer" means the first geologic formation above or below the bottom elevation of a constructed liner or wastes, if no liner is present, that is an aquifer, and includes any lower aquifer that is hydraulically connected with this aquifer within the facility's permit area.

 

"Unit" means a contiguous area used for solid waste disposal.

 

"Unit of local government" means a unit of local government, as defined by Article 7, Section 1 of the Illinois Constitution.  A unit of local government may include, but is not limited to, a municipality, a county, or a sanitary district.

 

"Waste pile" means an area on which non-containerized masses of solid, non-flowing wastes are placed for disposal.  For the purposes of this Part and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 811 through 815, a waste pile is a landfill, unless the operator can demonstrate that the wastes are not accumulated over time for disposal.  At a minimum, this demonstration must include photographs, records, or other observable or discernable information, maintained on a yearly basis, that show that within the preceding year the waste has been removed for utilization or disposal elsewhere.

 

"Waste stabilization" means any chemical, physical, or thermal treatment of waste, either alone or in combination with biological processes, that results in a reduction of microorganisms, including viruses, and the potential for putrefaction.

 

"Working face" means any part of a landfill where waste is being disposed of.

 

"Zone of attenuation" means the three dimensional region formed by excluding the volume occupied by the waste placement from the smaller of the volumes resulting from vertical planes drawn to the bottom of the uppermost aquifer at the property boundary or 100 feet from the edge of one or more adjacent units.

 

(Source:  Amended at 44 Ill. Reg. 15557, effective September 3, 2020)