01-03-1985 Council Packet Special Meeting

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Consistent with the Development Framework, the Council has developed this guide for solid waste management to protect the public health, safety and welfare of the people of the Metropolitan Area, to change existing reliance on land dis- posal methods and to ensure that environmentally safe and efficient methods are used to manage solid waste. The guide proposes a regional system of coordinated waste management services and makes recommendations about specific facilities and service areas. The guide also provides objectives, policies, review criteria and strategies for evaluating and implementing solid waste proposals. Part 2 of the guide briefly discusses the existing solid waste management sys- tem. It describes potential consequences if current practices continue. Part 3 is the regional waste management strategy. It expresses the Council's over- all approach to proper solid waste management and describes how the Council will proceed with implementation of a new waste management system. Part 3 includes policies for waste reduction, source separation, waste processing and land disposal. Part 4 is the regional system plan. The system plan consists of three parts: 1) a development program for waste reduction and resource recovery; 2) a development program for land disposal that identifies landfill capacity needs to handle waste remaining after reduction and recovery; and 3) the costs and financing methods to implement the development programs. Plan implementation is discussed in Part 5. Plan implementation responsibilities are described for the Council, metropolitan counties, local jurisdictions and the private sector. The appendix contains criteria for reviewing solid waste permit applications, solid waste supply and processing contracts, county waste district proposals and county waste designation proposals. AUTHORITY Federal Leqislation The 1976, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (Public Law 94-580) imposes federal requirements and provides authority for dealing with the problems of managing solid and hazardous waste. Congress Wentified a number of problems, relating to the increasing quantities of solid and hazardous waste, the protec- tion of public health and environment, and the conservation of material and energy resources. Any waste material that goes on the land, regardless of its physical form, must be managed in a manner consistent with the 1976 law. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act provides for technical and financial assistance to states for developing environmentally acceptable methods of man- aging solid and hazardous wastes. It prohibits future open dumping. It requires that existing open dumps be closed or upgraded to sanitary landfills. It regulates the treatment, storage, transportation and disposal of hazardous wastes. It establishes guidelines for the collection, transportation, separa- tion, recovery and disposal of solid wastes. Subtitle D of the act is particularly important to the Council's solid waste program. It provides guidelines for developing and implementing state and regional solid waste management is. Because the Council's directive under state law conforms closely with '-tent and requirements of the federal law, in 1977 the governor designated the agency responsible for solid waste management planning in the i Area, pursuant to the provisions of the federal act.