SECTION 332.2. Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

(1) Agricultural materials--Litter, manure, bedding, feed material, vegetative material, and dead animal carcasses from agricultural operations.

(2) Agricultural operations--Operations involved in the production of agricultural materials.

(3) Air contaminant--Particulate matter, radioactive material, dust, fumes, gas, mist, smoke, vapor, or odor or any combination thereof produced by processes other than natural. Water vapor shall not be considered an air contaminant.

(4) All-weather roads--A roadway that has been designed to withstand the maximum load imposed by vehicles entering and exiting the facility during all types of weather conditions.

(5) Anaerobic composting--The controlled biological decomposition of organic materials through microbial activity which occurs in the absence of free oxygen. Anaerobic composting does not include the stockpiling of organic materials.

(6) Backyard operations--The composting, land application, and mulching of non-industrial organic material, such as grass clippings, leaves, brush, clean wood material, or vegetative food material, generated by a homeowner, tenant of a single or multi-family residential or apartment complex, or a commercial or institutional complex where the composting, land application or mulching occurs on the dwelling property and the final product is utilized on the same property. Backyard operations include neighborhood composting demonstration sites that generate less than 50 cubic yards of final product per year.

(7) Batch (or Sampling batch)--The lot of produced compost represented by one analytical sample (3,000 cubic yards or 5,000 cubic yards depending on facility type).

(8) Beneficial reuse--Any agricultural, horticultural, reclamation, or similar use of compost as a soil amendment, mulch, or component of a medium for plant growth, when used in accordance with generally accepted practice and where applicable is in compliance with the final product standards established by this chapter. Simply offering a product for use does not constitute beneficial reuse. Beneficial reuse does not include placement in a disposal facility, use as daily cover in a disposal facility, or utilization for energy recovery.

(9) Bulking Agent--An ingredient in a mixture of composting materials included to improve structure and porosity (which improve convective air flow and reduce settling and compaction) and/or to lower moisture content. Bulking agents may include but are not limited to: compost, straw, wood chips, saw dust, or shredded brush.

(10) Clean wood material--Wood or wood materials, including stumps, roots, or vegetation with intact rootball, sawdust, pallets, and manufacturing rejects. Clean wood material does not include wood that has been treated, coated or painted by materials such as, but not limited to, paints, varnishes, wood preservatives, or other chemical products. Clean wood material also does not include demolition material, where the material is contaminated by materials such as, but not limited to, paint or other chemicals, glass, electrical wiring, metal, and sheetrock.

(11) Commission--The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

(12) Compost--The stabilized product of the decomposition process that is used or distributed for use as a soil amendment, artificial topsoil, growing medium amendment, or other similar uses.

(13) Composting or functionally aerobic composting--The controlled, biological decomposition of organic materials through microbial activity that occurs in the presence of free oxygen. Composting or functionally aerobic composting does not include the stockpiling of organic materials.

(14) Cured compost (CC)--A highly stabilized product that results from exposing mature compost to a prolonged period of humification and mineralization.

(15) Dairy material--Products that have a Standard of Identity defined in 21 Code of Federal Regulations Part 131.

(16) Distribute--To sell, offer for sale, expose for sale, consign for sale, barter, exchange, transfer possession or title, or otherwise supply.

(17) Executive director--The Executive Director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality or their duly authorized representative.

(18) Facility-- All contiguous land, structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on land used for receiving and storing organic materials and processing them into useable final products.

(19) Feedstock--Any material used for land application or as a basis for the manufacture of compost, mulch, or other useable final product.

(20) Final Product--Composted material meeting testing requirements of §332.71 of this title (relating to Sampling and Analysis Requirements for Final Product) and awaiting distribution or disposal.

(21) Fish feedstocks--Fish, shellfish, or seafood and by-products of these materials whether raw, processed, or cooked. Fish feedstocks does not include oils and/or greases that are derived from these same materials.

(22) Foreign matter--Inorganic and organic constituents that are not readily decomposed, including metals, glass, plastics, and rubber, but not including sand, dirt, and other similar materials.

(23) Grab sample--A single sample collected from one identifiable location.

(24) Grease--See the definition of Oil in this section.

(25) Hours of operation--Those hours when the facility is open to receive feedstock, incorporate feedstock into the process, retrieve product from the process, and/or ship product.

(26) Land application--The spreading of yard trimmings, manure, clean wood material, and/or vegetative food materials onto the surface of the land or the incorporation of these materials within three feet of the surface.

(27) Leachate--Liquid that has come in contact with or percolated through materials being stockpiled, processed, or awaiting removal and that has extracted, dissolved, or suspended materials. Leachate also includes condensate from gases resulting from the composting process.

(28) Manure--Animal excreta and residual materials that have been used for bedding, sanitary, or feeding purposes for such animals.

(29) Mature compost--Mature compost is the stabilized product of composting that has achieved the appropriate level of pathogen reduction (see definitions of "PFRP" and "PSRP" in this section) and is beneficial to plant growth, and meets the requirements of Table 2 of §332.72 of this title (relating to Final Product Grades).

(30) Maturity--A measure of the lack of biological activity in freshly aerated materials, resulting from the decomposition of the incoming feedstock during the active composting period.

(31) Meat feedstocks--Meat and meat by-products whether raw, processed, or cooked including whole animal carcasses, poultry, and eggs. Meat feedstocks does not include oils and/or greases that are derived from these same materials.

(32) Mixed municipal solid waste--Garbage, refuse, and other solid waste from residential, commercial, industrial non-hazardous, and community activities that is generated and collected in aggregate.

(33) Mulch--Ground, coarse, woody yard trimmings, and clean wood material. Mulch is normally used around plants and trees to retain moisture and suppress weed growth, and is intended for use on top of soil or other growing media rather than being incorporated into the soil or growing media. Mulch does not include wood from trees or other plants that have been systemically killed using herbicides.

(34) Municipal sewage sludge--Solid, semi-solid, or liquid residue generated during the treatment of domestic sewage in 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 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 screening generated during preliminary treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment works.

(35) Nuisance--Nuisances as set forth in the Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 341, the Texas Water Code, Chapter 26, and §101.4 of this title (relating to Nuisance).

(36) Oil--Any material rendered from vegetative material, dairy material, meat or fish feedstocks that is soluble in trichlorotrifluoroethane. It includes other material extracted by the solvent from an acidified sample and not volatilized during the test. Oil and greases do not include grease trap waste.

(37) One hundred-year floodplain--Any land area that is subject to a 1.0% or greater chance of flooding in any given year from any source.

(38) Operator--The person(s) responsible for operating the facility or part of a facility.

(39) Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QAQC) plan--A written plan to describe standard operating procedures used to sample, prepare, store, and test final product, and report test results. The plan outlines quality assurance criteria, as well as quality control procedures, needed to meet the operational specifications of this chapter.

(40) Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP)--A QAQC plan prepared by the agency that may be substituted for the QAQC plan.

(41) Paper--A material made from plant fibers (such as, but not limited to wood pulp, rice hulls, and kenaf). The sludge byproduct resulting from the production of paper may be approved as a feedstock pursuant to §332.33(b) of this title (relating to Required Forms, Applications, Reports, and Request To Use the Sludge Byproduct of Paper Production).

(42) Permit--A written document issued by the commission that, by its conditions, may authorize the owner or operator to construct, install, modify, or operate a facility or operation in accordance with specific limitations.

(43) Person--Any individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental subdivision, or public or private organization of any character.

(44) PFRP--The process to further reduce pathogens as described in 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 503, Appendix B.

(45) Positively-sorted organic material--Positively-sorted organic material includes materials such as, but not limited to, yard trimmings, clean wood materials, manure, vegetative material, paper, and meat and fish feedstocks that are sorted or pulled out as targeted compostable organic materials from mixed municipal solid waste prior to the initiation of processing.

(46) Processing--Actions that are taken to land apply feedstocks or convert feedstock materials into finished compost, mulch, or a useable final product. Processing does not include the stockpiling of materials.

(47) PSRP--The process to significantly reduce pathogens as described in 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 503, Appendix B.

(48) Recyclable material--For purposes of this chapter, a recyclable material is a material that has been recovered or diverted from the solid waste stream for purposes of reuse, recycling, or reclamation, a substantial portion of which is consistently used in the manufacture of products that may otherwise be produced from raw or virgin materials. Recyclable material is not solid waste unless the material is deemed to be hazardous solid waste by the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, whereupon it shall be regulated accordingly unless it is otherwise exempted in whole or in part from regulation under the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. If, however, recyclable materials may become solid waste at such time, if any, as it is abandoned or disposed of rather than recycled, whereupon it will be solid waste with respect only to the party actually abandoning or disposing of the material.

(49) Recycling--A process by which materials that have served their intended use or are scrapped, discarded, used, surplus, or obsolete are collected, separated, or processed and returned to use in the form of raw materials in the production of new products. Recycling includes the composting process if the compost material is put to beneficial reuse as defined in this section.

(50) Residence--A single-family or multi-family dwelling.

(51) Run-off--Any rainwater, leachate, or other liquid that drains over land from any part of a facility.

(52) Run-on--Any rainwater, leachate, or other liquid that drains over land onto any part of a facility.

(53) Semi-mature compost (SMC)--Organic matter that has been through the thermophilic stage and achieved the appropriate level of pathogen reduction (see definitions of "PFRP" and "PSRP" in this section). It has undergone partial decomposition but it is not yet stabilized into mature compost. Semi-mature compost shall not be packaged, as uncontrolled microbial transformations will occur.

(54) Solid waste--Garbage; rubbish; refuse; sludge from a wastewater 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, municipal, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations from community and institutional activities.

(55) Source-separated--Set apart from waste after use or consumption by the user or consumer.

(56) Source-separated organic material--Organic materials from residential, commercial, industrial, and other community activities, that at the point of generation have been separated, collected, and transported separately from non-organic materials, or transported in the same vehicle as non-organic materials but in separate compartments. Source-separated organic material may include materials such as, but not limited to, yard trimmings, clean wood materials, manure, vegetative material, and paper. Yard trimmings and clean wood material collected with whitegoods, as in brush and bulky item collections, will be considered source-separated organic materials for the purposes of these rules.

(57) Stockpile--A collection of materials that is either awaiting processing or removal.

(58) Unauthorized material--Material that is not authorized to be processed in a particular type of composting, mulching, or land application facility.

(59) Vector--An agent, such as an insect, snake, rodent, bird, or animal capable of mechanically or biologically transferring a pathogen from one organism to another.

(60) Vegetative material--Fruit, vegetable, or grain material whether raw, processed, liquid, solid, or cooked. Vegetative material does not include oils and/or greases that are derived from these same materials.

(61) Voucher--Provides the same information as required on a label to persons receiving compost distributed in bulk.

(62) Wet weight--The weight of the material as used, not a weight that has been adjusted by subtracting the weight of water within the feedstock.

(63) Wetlands--Those areas defined as wetlands in the Texas Water Code, Chapter 26.

(64) White goods--Discarded large household appliances such as refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, or dishwashers.

(65) Yard trimmings--Leaves, grass clippings, yard and garden debris, and brush, including clean woody vegetative material not greater than six inches in diameter, that results from landscaping maintenance and land-clearing operations. Yard trimmings does not include stumps, roots, or shrubs with intact root balls.

Source Note: The provisions of this §332.2 adopted to be effective November 29, 1995, 20 TexReg 9717; amended to be effective February 3, 2022, 47 TexReg 303