Chapter 8.08
GARBAGE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL
Sections:
8.08.020 Unauthorized disposal prohibited.
8.08.030 Solid waste containers.
8.08.050 Rights of landowners.
8.08.010 Definitions.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
“Composting” means the controlled and intentional biological decomposition of organic solid waste under aerobic conditions. This shall not include any environmentally harmful organic materials.
“Contaminant” means any solid, semisolid, liquid, or gaseous matter, or any odor, radioactive material, pollutant as defined in the Federal Waste Pollution Control Act, hazardous waste as defined by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.), as amended, or any combination thereof, from whatever source, that:
1. Is injurious to human health, plant or animal life, or property; or
2. Interferes unreasonably with the enjoyment of life or property.
“Disposal” means the discharge, deposit, injection, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste or hazardous waste into or on any land or water so that the solid waste or any constituent of the solid waste may enter the environment or be emitted into the air, or discharged into any waters, including groundwaters. (P.L. 143-1985, Section 77) (Dispose means to do the above actions.)
“Garbage” means all putrescible animal solid; vegetable solid, and semisolid wastes resulting from the processing, handling, preparation, cooking, serving, or consumption of food or food materials.
“Hazardous waste” means a solid waste or combination of solid wastes that, because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics, may:
1. Cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible illness;
2. Pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health to the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed; or
3. Any substances that the disposal or handling of which is regulated by the state or federal government.
“Open dump” means the consolidation of solid waste from one or more sources or the disposal of solid waste at a single disposal site that does not fulfill the requirements of a sanitary landfill or other land disposal method as prescribed by law or regulations, and that is established and maintained without cover and without regard to the possibilities of contamination of surface or subsurface water resources. (Open dumping - the act of.)
“Person” means an individual, partnership, copartnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, estate, municipal corporation, city, town, school district, school corporation, county, any consolidated unit of government, political subdivision, state agency, or any other legal entity.
“Processing” means the method, system, or other handling of solid waste so as to change its chemical, biological, or physical form or to render it more amenable for disposal or recovery of materials or energy, or the transfer of solid waste materials but excluding the transportation of solid waste.
“Recovery” means obtaining materials or energy for commercial or industrial use from solid waste or hazardous waste. (Includes recycling.)
“Recyclables” means materials which still have useful, physical or chemical properties after serving their original purpose and that can therefore be reused or remanufactured into additional products.
“Sanitary landfill” means a solid waste land disposal facility designed to accommodate general types of solid waste, excluding waste regulated by 329 IAC 3, and operated by spreading the waste in thin layers, compacting it to the smallest practical volume, and covering it with cover material at the end of every working day.
“Solid waste” means any garbage, refuse, waste tires, white goods, yard waste, sludge from a waste treatment plant, sludge from a water supply treatment plant, sludge from an air pollution control facility, or other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, or agricultural operations or from community activities. However, the term “solid waste” does not include:
1. 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 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments (33 U.S.C. 1342);
2. Source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.);
3. Manures or crop residues returned to the soil at the point of generation as fertilizers or soil conditioners;
4. Uncontaminated rocks, bricks, concrete, road demolition waste materials, or dirt, otherwise known as clean fill, which must be free of natural growth, building materials, or refuse;
5. Land application materials regulated by 327 IAC 6 and 327 IAC 7;
6. Confined feeding control by-products regulated by IC 13-1-5-7;
7. Wastewater discharge by-products regulated by 327 IAC 5;
8. Recovery materials, except for incineration, in which the waste, other than tires, has been segregated from the general waste stream prior to arrival at a processing site;
9. Sawdust which is derived from processing untreated natural wood;
10. Coal ash, transported by water, into an ash pond which has received a water pollution control facility construction permit under 327 IAC 3;
11. Coal ash at a site receiving a total of less than one hundred (100) cubic yards per year from generators who each produce less than one hundred (100) cubic yards per year;
12. Coal waste as exempted from regulation in P.L. 103-1988;
13. Iron and steel-making slags including the use as a base for road building, but not including use for land reclamation;
14. Foundry sand which has been demonstrated as suitable for restricted waste site III under the provisions of 329 IAC 2-9, including the use as a base for road building, but not including use for land reclamation;
15. Hazardous wastes, including used oil, which are regulated by and shall be treated, stored, and disposed of in accordance with 329 IAC 3, if generated in quantities more than one hundred (100) kilograms per month;
16. Wastes which meet restricted waste site type IV criteria under 329 IAC 2-9-3, and shall be disposed of as specified by 329 IAC 2-14-17;
17. Infectious waste which is defined, regulated, and shall be disposed of in accordance with IC 16-1-9.7;
18. Used lead acid batteries, six volts or more, which are regulated by and shall be disposed of in accordance with IC 13-1-15;
19. Waste tires stored in a waste tire storage site which holds a valid permit issued by an agency of state government under IC 13-723;
20. Materials, including yard waste, being used in a composting operation;
21. Materials which, by the existence of a verifiable market for sale or a demonstrable legitimate reuse, can be classified as recyclables.
“Solid waste facility” means all contiguous land and structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on the land, used for processing, storing in conjunction with processing or disposal, or disposing of solid waste, and may consist of several processing, storage, or disposal operational units, that is, one or more landfills, surface impoundments, or combinations thereof.
“Standard container” means a leak-proof container of at least twenty (20) gallon capacity with a lid and side handles of sufficient strength to allow lifting of the container when filled to a total weight of sixty (60) pounds, or a plastic bag with a thickness of at least six millimeters and security tie to contain the waste.
“Waste tire” means a tire that is not suitable for the tire’s original purpose.
“Waste tire storage site” means a site at which five hundred (500) or more waste tires:
1. Are accumulated in the outdoors at a single location; and
2. Are not completely enclosed within a structure or vehicle.
“White goods” means large household appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, stoves, air conditioners, microwave ovens, and any other large household appliance.
“Yard waste” means grass clippings, leaves, prunings, stumps, brush and other natural organic plant growth materials.
(Prior code § 50.01)
8.08.020 Unauthorized disposal prohibited.
No person shall cause, allow, or be legally responsible for the storage, processing, open burning, disposal, deposition, dumping, leakage, or spillage of solid waste or any objectionable or regulated materials onto public or private property, street, thoroughfare, stream or lake unless such property is a solid waste facility operating under and within permits or approvals granted by the appropriate state and local agencies including, but not limited to, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the Department of Natural Resources, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Vanderburgh County solid waste management district, and the area plan commission of Vanderburgh County.
(Prior code § 50.02)
8.08.030 Solid waste containers.
A. The occupying owner or occupying tenant of any dwelling unit, apartment house, building, structure, or business, public or private, may place at a convenient location on the same property which the owner or tenant occupies, standard containers, dumpsters, or weather resistant bags for the temporary containment of solid waste or garbage awaiting disposal. Such containers shall be constructed, handled, and placed in a way that will not promote health or animal public nuisances. Such solid waste or garbage shall not be in place for more than seven days awaiting disposal.
B. An owner of any apartment house having more than two dwelling units shall be responsible for, and provide to that apartment house an adequate number of standard containers, dumpsters, or weather resistant bags for the temporary containment of solid waste or garbage awaiting disposal.
(Prior code § 50.03)
8.08.040 Enforcement.
The board of commissioners of the county shall designate the Vanderburgh County department of health (the “enforcement agency”) as the enforcement agency for this chapter.
A. The enforcement agency may give notice of a violation by issuing a citation stating the nature of the violation.
B. The enforcement agency may commence a civil action to enjoin any person from violating any condition of this chapter through an action by the county in the circuit court of Vanderburgh County, the purpose of which is to impose a penalty and seek remediation.
C. If a condition violating this chapter exists on real property, officials of the county may enter onto that property and take appropriate action to bring the property into compliance. However, before an action to bring compliance may be taken, all persons holding a substantial interest in the property must be given a reasonable opportunity to bring the property into compliance. If an action to bring the property into compliance is taken by the county, the expense involved may be made a lien against the property.
(Prior code § 50.04)
8.08.050 Rights of landowners.
A landowner, public or private, on whose land garbage or other solid waste has been dumped without the landowner’s consent may, in addition to any other legal or equitable remedy available to the landowner, recover from the person responsible for the illegal dumping:
A. Reasonable expenses incurred by the landowner in disposing of the garbage or other solid waste; and
B. Court costs and legal fees incurred due to the illegal dumping.
(Prior code § 50.05)
8.08.060 Violation--Penalty.
A. Any person who violates any provision of this chapter:
1. May be charged with a Class B misdemeanor and/or subject to a fine of not less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) and not more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00) for each violation;
2. Each day a violation exists shall be considered a separate violation, and a court may assess a monetary penalty for each day the violation exists; and
3. May be subject to all court costs and legal fees incurred by this county in connection with the violation.
B. The board of commissioners of the county shall designate the Vanderburgh County department of health as the county officials who may accept the payment of a monetary penalty provided by this chapter from the person responsible for the violation prior to initiation of litigation if the county official deems it to be in the best interest of the county that a higher penalty not be sought through litigation.
(Prior code § 50.99)