| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to solid waste disposal; amending s. |
| 3 | 403.708, F.S.; authorizing the disposal of yard trash at a |
| 4 | Class I landfill if the landfill has a system for |
| 5 | collecting landfill gas and arranging for the reuse of the |
| 6 | gas; requiring the Department of Environmental Protection |
| 7 | to develop and adopt a methodology to award recycling |
| 8 | credit for such use; requiring the landfill to obtain a |
| 9 | minor permit modification to its operating permit before |
| 10 | receiving yard trash; specifying which entities of local |
| 11 | government may accept incidental amounts of yard trash at |
| 12 | a landfill; providing applicability; providing an |
| 13 | effective date. |
| 14 |
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| 15 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 16 |
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| 17 | Section 1. Paragraph (c) of subsection (12) of section |
| 18 | 403.708, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 19 | 403.708 Prohibition; penalty.- |
| 20 | (12) A person who knows or should know of the nature of |
| 21 | the following types of solid waste may not dispose of such solid |
| 22 | waste in landfills: |
| 23 | (c)1. Yard trash in lined landfills classified by |
| 24 | department rule as Class I landfills, unless the Class I |
| 25 | landfill uses an active gas-collection system to collect |
| 26 | landfill gas generated at the disposal facility and provides or |
| 27 | arranges for a beneficial use of the gas. A Class I landfill may |
| 28 | also accept yard trash for the purpose of mulching and using the |
| 29 | yard trash to provide landfill cover for municipal solid waste |
| 30 | disposed at the landfill. The department shall, by rule, develop |
| 31 | and adopt a methodology to award recycling credit for the use or |
| 32 | disposal of yard trash at a Class I landfill having a gas- |
| 33 | collection system that makes beneficial use of the collected |
| 34 | landfill gas. A qualifying permitted Class I landfill must |
| 35 | obtain a minor permit modification to its operating permit which |
| 36 | describes the beneficial use being made of the landfill gas and |
| 37 | modifies the facility's operation plan before receiving yard |
| 38 | trash as authorized under this subparagraph. The permittee must |
| 39 | certify that gas collection and beneficial use will continue |
| 40 | after closure of the disposal facility that is accepting yard |
| 41 | trash. If the landfill is located in a county that owns and |
| 42 | operates a compost facility, waste-to-energy facility, or |
| 43 | biomass facility that sells renewable energy to a public utility |
| 44 | and that is authorized to accept yard trash, the department |
| 45 | shall provide the county with notice of, and opportunity to |
| 46 | comment on, the application for permit modification. |
| 47 | 2. Yard trash that is source separated from solid waste |
| 48 | may be accepted at a solid waste disposal area if where separate |
| 49 | yard trash composting facilities are provided and maintained. |
| 50 | The department recognizes that incidental amounts of yard trash |
| 51 | may be disposed of in Class I landfills. In any enforcement |
| 52 | action taken pursuant to this paragraph, the department shall |
| 53 | consider the difficulty of removing incidental amounts of yard |
| 54 | trash from a mixed solid waste stream. This limited exception |
| 55 | applies in all units of local government, including, but not |
| 56 | limited to, municipalities, counties, and special districts. |
| 57 | However, the exception does not apply to a county that currently |
| 58 | operates under a constitutional home rule charter authorized in |
| 59 | 1956 in a statewide referendum. The limited exception to the ban |
| 60 | on disposing of yard trash in a Class I landfill is not intended |
| 61 | to have a material impact on current operations at existing |
| 62 | waste-to-energy or biomass facilities. |
| 63 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010. |