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AUTHORITY: 42 U.S.C. 6907(a)(3), 6912(a)(1), 6944(a) and 6949(c), 33 U.S.C. 1345 (d) and (e).

SOURCE: 44 FR 53460, Sept. 13, 1979, unless otherwise noted.

Subpart A-Classification of Solid Waste Disposal Facilities and Practices

§ 257.1 Scope and purpose.

(a) Unless otherwise provided, the criteria in §§257.1 through 257.4 are adopted for determining which solid waste disposal facilities and practices pose a reasonable probability of adverse effects on health or the environment under sections 1008(a)(3) and 4004(a) of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (The Act). Unless otherwise provided, the criteria in §§257.5 through 257.30 are adopted for purposes of ensuring that non-municipal non-hazardous waste disposal units that receive conditionally exempt small quantity geterator (CESQG) waste do not present risks to human health and the environment taking into account the practicable capability of such units in accordance with section 4010(c) of the Act.

(1) Facilities failing to satisfy either the criteria in §§257.1 through 257.4 or §§257.5 through 257.30 are considered open dumps, which are prohibited under section 4005 of the Act.

(2) Practices failing to satisfy either the criteria in §§257.1 through 257.4 or §§257.5 through 257.30 constitute open dumping, which is prohibited under sction 4005 of the Act.

(b) These criteria also provide guidelines for the disposal of sewage sludge on the land when the sewage sludge is not used or disposed through a practice regulated in 40 CFR part 503.

(c) These criteria apply to all solid waste disposal facilities and practices with the following exceptions:

(1) The criteria do not apply to agricultural wastes, including manures and crop residues, returned to the soil as fertilizers or soil conditioners.

(2) The criteria do not apply to overburden resulting from mining operations intended for return to the mine site.

(3) The criteria do not apply to the land application of domestic sewage or treated domestic sewage.

(4) The criteria do not apply to the location and operation of septic tanks. The criteria do, however, apply to the disposal of septic tank pumpings.

(5) The criteria do not apply to solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows.

(6) The criteria do not apply to industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under section 402 of the Clean Water Act, as amended.

(7) The criteria do not apply to source, special nuclear or byproduct material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act, as amended (68 Stat. 923).

(8) The criteria do not apply to hazardous waste disposal facilities which are subject to regulation under subtitle C of the Act.

(9) The criteria do not apply to disposal of solid waste by underground well injection subject to the regulations (40 CFR part 146) for the Underground Injection Control Program (UICP) under the Safe Drinking Water Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 3007 et seq.

(10) The criteria of this part do not apply to municipal solid waste landfill units, which are subject to the revised criteria contained in part 258 of this chapter.

(11) The criteria do not apply to the use or disposal sewage sludge on the land when the sewage sludge is used or disposed in accordance with 40 CFR part 503.

[44 FR 53460, Sept. 13, 1979, as amended at 46 FR 47052, Sept. 23, 1981; 56 FR 51016, Oct. 9, 1991; 58 FR 9385, Feb. 19, 1993; 61 FR 34269, July 1, 1996]

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The definitions set forth in section 1004 of the Act apply to this part. Special definitions of general concern to this part are provided below, and definitions especially pertinent to particular sections of this part are provided in those sections.

Disposal means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste or hazardous waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or hazardous waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged

into any waters, including ground waters.

Domestic septage is either liquid or solid material removed from a septic tank, cesspool, portable toilet, Type III marine sanitation device, or similar treatment works that receives only domestic sewage. Domestic septage does not include liquid or solid material removed from a septic tank, cesspool, or similar treatment works that receives either commercial wastewater or industrial wastewater and does not include grease removed from a grease trap at a restaurant.

Facility means all contiguous land and structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on the land used for the disposal of solid waste.

Land application unit means an area where wastes are applied onto or incorporated into the soil surface (excluding manure spreading operations) for agricultural purposes or for treatment and disposal.

Landfill means an area of land or an excavation in which wastes are placed for permanent disposal, and that is not a land application unit, surface impoundment, injection well, or waste pile.

Leachate means liquid that has passed through or emerged from solid waste and contains soluble, suspended or miscible materials removed from such wastes.

Municipal solid waste landfill (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, as those terms are defined in this section. A MSWLF unit also may receive other types of RCRA Subtitle D wastes, such as commercial solid waste, nonhazardous sludge, 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.

Open dump means a facility for the disposal of solid waste which does not comply with this part.

Practice means the act of disposal of solid waste.

Sanitary landfill means a facility for the disposal of solid waste which complies with this part.

Sewage sludge means solid, semi-solid, or liquid residue generated during the treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment works. Sewage sludge includes, but is not limited to, domestic septage; scum or solids removed in primary, secondary, or advanced wastewater treatment processes; and a material derived from sewage sludge. Sewage sludge does not include ash generated during the firing of sewage sludge in a sewage sludge incinerator or grit and screenings generated during preliminary treatment of domestic

sewage in a treatment works.

Sludge means any solid, semisolid, or liquid waste generated from a municipal, commercial, or industrial wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility or any other such waste having similar characteristics and effect.

Solid waste means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended (86 Stat. 880), or source, special nuclear, or byproduct material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (68 Stat. 923).

State means any of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Surface impoundment or impoundment means a facility or part of a facility that is a natural topographic depression, human-made excavation, or diked area formed primarily of earthen materials (although it may be lined with human-made materials), that is designed to hold an accumulation of liquid wastes or wastes containing free liquids and that is not an injection

well. Examples of surface impoundments are holding storage, settling, and aeration pits, ponds, and lagoons.

Waste pile or pile means any noncontainerized accumulation of solid, nonflowing waste that is used for treatment or storage.

[44 FR 53460. Sept. 13, 1979; 44 FR 58910, Oct. 12, 1979; 56 FR 51016, Oct. 9, 1991; 58 FR 9385, Feb. 19, 1993]

$257.3 Criteria for classification of solid waste disposal facilities and practices.

Solid waste disposal facilities or practices which violate any of the following criteria pose a reasonable probability of adverse effects on health or the environment:

§ 257.3-1 Floodplains.

(a) Facilities or practices in floodplains shall not restrict the flow of the base flood, reduce the temporary water storage capacity of the floodplain, or result in washout of solid waste, so as to pose a hazard to human life, wildlife, or land or water re

sources.

(b) As used in this section:

(1) Based flood means a flood that has a 1 percent or greater chance of recurring in any year or a flood of a magnitude equalled or exceeded once in 100 years on the average over a significantly long period.

(2) Floodplain means the lowland and relatively flat areas adjoining inland and coastal waters, including floodprone areas of offshore islands, which are inundated by the base flood.

(3) Washout means the carrying away of solid waste by waters of the base flood.

[44 FR 53460, Sept. 13, 1979; 44 FR 54708, Sept. 21, 1979]

$257.3-2 Endangered species.

(a) Facilities or practices shall not cause or contribute to the taking of any endangered or threatened species of plants, fish, or wildlife.

(b) The facility or practice shall not result in the destruction or adverse modification of the critical habitat of endangered or threatened species as identified in 50 CFR part 17. (c) As used in this section:

(1) Endangered or threatened species means any species listed as such pursuant to section 4 of the Endangered Species Act.

(2) Destruction or adverse modification means a direct or indirect alteration of critical habitat which appreciably diminishes the likelihood of the survival and recovery of threatened or endangered species using that habitat.

(3) Taking means harassing, harming, pursuing, hunting, wounding, killing, trapping, capturing, or collecting or attempting to engage in such conduct.

§ 257.3-3 Surface water.

(a) For purposes of section 4004(a) of the Act, a facility shall not cause a discharge of pollutants into waters of the United States that is in violation of the requirements of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) under section 402 of the Clean Water Act, as amended.

(b) For purposes of section 4004(a) of the Act, a facility shall not cause a discharge of dredged material or fill mateIrial to waters of the United States that is in violation of the requirements under section 404 of the Clean Water Act, as amended.

(c) A facility or practice shall not cause non-point source pollution of waters of the United States that violates applicable legal requirements implementing an areawide or Statewide water quality management plan that has been approved by the Administrator under section 208 of the Clean Water Act, as amended.

(d) Definitions of the terms Discharge of dredged material, Point source, Pollutant, Waters of the United States, and Wetlands can be found in the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq., and implementing regulations, specifically 33 CFR part 323 (42 FR 37122, July 19, 1977).

[44 FR 53460, Sept. 13, 1979, as amended at 46 FR 47052, Sept. 23, 1981]

§ 257.3-4 Ground water.

(a) A facility or practice shall not contaminate an underground drinking water source beyond the solid waste boundary or beyond an alternative boundary specified in accordance with paragraph (b) of this section.

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(b)(1) For purposes 1008(a)(3) of the Act or section 405(d) of the CWA, a party charged with open dumping or a violation of section 405(e) with respect to sewage sludge that is not used or disposed through a practice regulated in 40 CFR part 503 may demonstrate that compliance should be determined at an alternative boundary in lieu of the solid waste boundary. The court shall establish an alternative boundary only if it finds that such a change would not result in contamination of ground water which may be needed or used for human consumption. This finding shall be based on analysis and consideration of all of the following factors that are relevant:

(i) The hydrogeological characteristics of the facility and surrounding land, including any natural attenuation and dilution characteristics of the aquifer;

(ii) The volume and physical and chemical characteristics of the leachate;

(iii) The quantity, quality, and direction of flow of ground water underlying the facility;

(iv) The proximity and withdrawal rates of ground-water users;

(v) The availability of alternative drinking water supplies;

(vi) The existing quality of the ground water, including other sources of contamination and their cumulative impacts on the ground water;

(vii) Public health, safety, and welfare effects.

(2) For purposes of sections 4004(a) and 1008(a)(3), the State may establish an alternative boundary for a facility to be used in lieu of the solid waste boundary only if it finds that such a change would not result in the contamination of ground water which may be needed or used for human consumption. Such a finding shall be based on an analysis and consideration of all of the factors identified in paragraph (b)(1) of this section that are relevant. (c) As used in this section:

(1) Aquifer means a geologic formation, group of formations, or portion of a formation capable of yielding usable quantities of ground water to wells or springs.

(2) Contaminate means introduce a substance that would cause:

(i) The concentration of that substance in the ground water to exceed the maximum contaminant level specified in appendix I, or

(ii) An increase in the concentration of that substance in the ground water where the existing concentration of that substance exceeds the maximum contaminant level specified in appendix I.

(3) Ground water means water below the land surface in the zone of saturation.

(4) Underground drinking water source

means:

(i) An aquifer supplying drinking water for human consumption, or

(ii) An aquifer in which the ground water contains less than 10,000 mg/1 total dissolved solids.

(5) Solid waste boundary means the outermost perimeter of the solid waste (projected in the horizontal plane) as it would exist at completion of the disposal activity.

[44 FR 53460, Sept. 13, 1979, as amended at 46 FR 47052, Sept. 23, 1981; 58 FR 9386, Feb. 19, 1993]

§ 257.3-5 Application to land used for the production of food-chain crops (interim final).

(a) Cadmium. A facility or practice concerning application of solid waste to within one meter (three feet) of the surface of land used for the production of food-chain crops shall not exist or occur, unless in compliance with all requirements of paragraphs (a)(1) (i) through (iii) of this section or all requirements of paragraphs (a)(2) (i) through (iv) of this section.

(1)(i) The pH of the solid waste and soil mixture is 6.5 or greater at the time of each solid waste application, except for solid waste containing cadmium at concentrations of 2 mg/kg (dry weight) or less.

(ii) The annual application of cadmium from solid waste does not exceed 0.5 kilograms per hectare (kg/ha) on land used for production of tobacco, leafy vegetables or root crops grown for human consumption. For other food-chain crops, the annual cadmium application rate does not exceed:

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(2)(i) The only food-chain crop produced is animal feed.

(ii) The pH of the solid waste and soil mixture is 6.5 or greater at the time of solid waste application or at the time the crop is planted, whichever occurs later, and this pH level is maintained whenever food-chain crops are grown.

(iii) There is a facility operating plan which demonstrates how the animal feed will be distributed to preclude ingestion by humans. The facility operating plan describes the measures to be taken to safeguard against possible health hazards from cadmium entering the food chain, which may result from alternative land uses.

(iv) Future property owners are notified by a stipulation in the land record or property deed which states that the property has received solid waste at high cadmium application rates and

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