Fla. Stat. 403.703
Definitions
(1)
“Ash residue” has the same meaning as in the department rule governing solid waste combustors which defines the term.(2)
“Biological waste” means solid waste that causes or has the capability of causing disease or infection and includes, but is not limited to, biomedical waste, diseased or dead animals, and other wastes capable of transmitting pathogens to humans or animals. The term does not include human remains that are disposed of by persons licensed under chapter 497.(3)
“Biomedical waste” means any solid waste or liquid waste that may present a threat of infection to humans. The term includes, but is not limited to, nonliquid human tissue and body parts; laboratory and veterinary waste that contains human-disease-causing agents; discarded disposable sharps; human blood and human blood products and body fluids; and other materials that in the opinion of the Department of Health represent a significant risk of infection to persons outside the generating facility. The term does not include human remains that are disposed of by persons licensed under chapter 497.(4)
“Clean debris” means any solid waste that is virtually inert, that is not a pollution threat to groundwater or surface waters, that is not a fire hazard, and that is likely to retain its physical and chemical structure under expected conditions of disposal or use. The term includes uncontaminated concrete, including embedded pipe or steel, brick, glass, ceramics, and other wastes designated by the department.(5)
“Closure” means the cessation of operation of a solid waste management facility and the act of securing such facility so that it will pose no significant threat to human health or the environment and includes long-term monitoring and maintenance of a facility if required by department rule.(6)
“Construction and demolition debris” means discarded materials generally considered to be not water-soluble and nonhazardous in nature, including, but not limited to, steel, glass, brick, concrete, asphalt roofing material, pipe, gypsum wallboard, and lumber, from the construction or destruction of a structure as part of a construction or demolition project or from the renovation of a structure, and includes rocks, soils, tree remains, trees, and other vegetative matter that normally results from land clearing or land development operations for a construction project, including such debris from construction of structures at a site remote from the construction or demolition project site. Mixing of construction and demolition debris with other types of solid waste will cause the resulting mixture to be classified as other than construction and demolition debris. The term also includes:Clean cardboard, paper, plastic, wood, and metal scraps from a construction project;Except as provided in s. 403.707(9)(j), yard trash and unpainted, nontreated wood scraps and wood pallets from sources other than construction or demolition projects;Scrap from manufacturing facilities which is the type of material generally used in construction projects and which would meet the definition of construction and demolition debris if it were generated as part of a construction or demolition project. This includes debris from the construction of manufactured homes and scrap shingles, wallboard, siding concrete, and similar materials from industrial or commercial facilities; andDe minimis amounts of other nonhazardous wastes that are generated at construction or destruction projects, provided such amounts are consistent with best management practices of the industry.(a)
Clean cardboard, paper, plastic, wood, and metal scraps from a construction project;(b)
Except as provided in s. 403.707(9)(j), yard trash and unpainted, nontreated wood scraps and wood pallets from sources other than construction or demolition projects;(c)
Scrap from manufacturing facilities which is the type of material generally used in construction projects and which would meet the definition of construction and demolition debris if it were generated as part of a construction or demolition project. This includes debris from the construction of manufactured homes and scrap shingles, wallboard, siding concrete, and similar materials from industrial or commercial facilities; and(d)
De minimis amounts of other nonhazardous wastes that are generated at construction or destruction projects, provided such amounts are consistent with best management practices of the industry.(7)
“County,” or any like term, means a political subdivision of the state established pursuant to s. 1, Art. VIII of the State Constitution and, when s. 403.706(19) applies, means a special district or other entity.(8)
“Department” means the Department of Environmental Protection or any successor agency performing a like function.(9)
“Disposal” means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste or hazardous waste into or upon any land or water so that such solid waste or hazardous waste or any constituent thereof may enter other lands or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including groundwaters, or otherwise enter the environment.(10)
“Gasification” means a process through which post-use polymers are heated and converted to synthesis gas in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere, and then converted to crude oil, fuels, or chemical feedstocks.(11)
“Generation” means the act or process of producing solid or hazardous waste.(12)
“Guarantor” means any person, other than the owner or operator, who provides evidence of financial responsibility for an owner or operator under this part.(13)
“Hazardous substance” means any substance that is defined as a hazardous substance in the United States Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, 94 Stat. 2767.(14)
“Hazardous waste” means solid waste, or a combination of solid wastes, which, because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics, may cause, or significantly contribute to, an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness or may pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly transported, disposed of, stored, treated, or otherwise managed. The term does not include human remains that are disposed of by persons licensed under chapter 497.(15)
“Hazardous waste facility” means any building, site, structure, or equipment at or by which hazardous waste is disposed of, stored, or treated.(16)
“Hazardous waste management” means the systematic control of the collection, source separation, storage, transportation, processing, treatment, recovery, recycling, and disposal of hazardous waste.(17)
“Land disposal” means any placement of hazardous waste in or on the land and includes, but is not limited to, placement in a landfill, surface impoundment, waste pile, injection well, land treatment facility, salt bed formation, salt dome formation, or underground mine or cave, or placement in a concrete vault or bunker intended for disposal purposes.(18)
“Landfill” means any solid waste land disposal area for which a permit, other than a general permit, is required by s. 403.707 and which receives solid waste for disposal in or upon land. The term does not include a land-spreading site, an injection well, a surface impoundment, or a facility for the disposal of construction and demolition debris.(19)
“Manifest” means the recordkeeping system used for identifying the concentration, quantity, composition, origin, routing, and destination of hazardous waste during its transportation from the point of generation to the point of disposal, storage, or treatment.(20)
“Materials recovery facility” means a solid waste management facility that provides for the extraction from solid waste of recyclable materials, materials suitable for use as a fuel or soil amendment, or any combination of such materials.(21)
“Municipality,” or any like term, means a municipality created pursuant to general or special law authorized or recognized pursuant to s. 2 or s. 6, Art. VIII of the State Constitution and, when s. 403.706(19) applies, means a special district or other entity.(22)
“Operation,” with respect to any solid waste management facility, means the disposal, storage, or processing of solid waste at and by the facility.(23)
“Person” means any and all persons, natural or artificial, including any individual, firm, or association; any municipal or private corporation organized or existing under the laws of this state or any other state; any county of this state; and any governmental agency of this state or the Federal Government.(24)
“Post-use polymer” means a plastic polymer that is derived from any domestic, commercial, or municipal activity and which might otherwise become waste if not converted to manufacture crude oil, fuels, or other raw materials or intermediate or final products using gasification or pyrolysis. As used in this part, post-use polymer may contain incidental contaminants or impurities, such as paper labels or metal rings. Post-use polymers intended to be converted as described in this subsection are not solid waste.(25)
“Processing” means any technique designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any solid waste so as to render it safe for transport; amenable to recovery, storage, or recycling; safe for disposal; or reduced in volume or concentration.(26)
“Pyrolysis” means a process through which post-use polymers are heated in the absence of oxygen until melted and thermally decomposed, and then cooled, condensed, and converted to any of the following:Crude oil, diesel, gasoline, home heating oil, or another fuel.Feedstocks.Diesel and gasoline blendstocks.Chemicals, waxes, or lubricants.Other raw materials or intermediate or final products.(a)
Crude oil, diesel, gasoline, home heating oil, or another fuel.(b)
Feedstocks.(c)
Diesel and gasoline blendstocks.(d)
Chemicals, waxes, or lubricants.(e)
Other raw materials or intermediate or final products.(27)
“Pyrolysis facility” means a facility that receives, separates, stores, and converts post-use polymers, using gasification or pyrolysis. A pyrolysis facility meeting the conditions of s. 403.7045(1)(e) is not a solid waste management facility.(28)
“Recovered materials” means metal, paper, glass, plastic, textile, or rubber materials that have known recycling potential, can be feasibly recycled, and have been diverted and source separated or have been removed from the solid waste stream for sale, use, or reuse as raw materials, whether or not the materials require subsequent processing or separation from each other, but the term does not include materials destined for any use that constitutes disposal. Recovered materials as described in this subsection are not solid waste.(29)
“Recovered materials processing facility” means a facility engaged solely in the storage, processing, resale, or reuse of recovered materials. Such a facility is not a solid waste management facility if it meets the conditions of s. 403.7045(1)(e).(30)
“Recyclable material” means those materials that are capable of being recycled and that would otherwise be processed or disposed of as solid waste.(31)
“Recycling” means any process by which solid waste, or materials that would otherwise become solid waste, are collected, separated, or processed and reused or returned to use in the form of raw materials or intermediate or final products. Such raw materials or intermediate or final products include, but are not limited to, crude oil, fuels, and fuel substitutes.(32)
“Resource recovery” means the process of recovering materials or energy from solid waste, excluding those materials or solid waste under the control of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.(33)
“Resource recovery equipment” means equipment or machinery exclusively and integrally used in the actual process of recovering material or energy resources from solid waste.(34)
“Sludge” includes the accumulated solids, residues, and precipitates generated as a result of waste treatment or processing, including wastewater treatment, water supply treatment, or operation of an air pollution control facility, and mixed liquids and solids pumped from septic tanks, grease traps, privies, or similar waste disposal appurtenances.(35)
“Solid waste” means sludge unregulated under the federal Clean Water Act or Clean Air Act, sludge from a waste treatment works, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, or garbage, rubbish, refuse, special waste, or other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from domestic, industrial, commercial, mining, agricultural, or governmental operations. Recovered materials as defined in subsection (28) and post-use polymers as defined in subsection (24) are not solid waste.(36)
“Solid waste disposal facility” means any solid waste management facility that is the final resting place for solid waste, including landfills and incineration facilities that produce ash from the process of incinerating municipal solid waste.(37)
“Solid waste management” means the process by which solid waste is collected, transported, stored, separated, processed, or disposed of in any other way according to an orderly, purposeful, and planned program, which includes closure.(38)
“Solid waste management facility” means any solid waste disposal area, volume reduction plant, transfer station, materials recovery facility, or other facility, the purpose of which is resource recovery or the disposal, recycling, processing, or storage of solid waste. The term does not include recovered materials processing facilities or pyrolysis facilities that meet the requirements of s. 403.7046, except the portion of such facilities, if any, which is used for the management of solid waste.(39)
“Source separated” means that the recovered materials are separated from solid waste at the location where the recovered materials and solid waste are generated. The term does not require that various types of recovered materials be separated from each other, and recognizes de minimis solid waste, in accordance with industry standards and practices, may be included in the recovered materials. Materials are not considered source separated when two or more types of recovered materials are deposited in combination with each other in a commercial collection container located where the materials are generated and when such materials contain more than 10-percent solid waste by volume or weight. For purposes of this subsection, the term “various types of recovered materials” means metals, paper, glass, plastic, textiles, and rubber.(40)
“Special wastes” means solid wastes that can require special handling and management, including, but not limited to, white goods, waste tires, used oil, lead-acid batteries, construction and demolition debris, ash residue, yard trash, and biological wastes.(41)
“Storage” means the containment or holding of a hazardous waste, either on a temporary basis or for a period of years, in such a manner as not to constitute disposal of such hazardous waste.(42)(a)
“Storm-generated yard trash” means vegetative matter that:Results from a tropical storm, a hurricane, a tornado, or any other significant weather event and is located or placed within a federally designated disaster area on public property or a public right-of-way;
Is eligible for federal reimbursement under 42 U.S.C. ss. 5121 et seq.; and
Is placed curbside or on public property or a public right-of-way within the 15-day period after the tropical storm, hurricane, tornado, or other significant weather event that is the subject of the federally declared disaster.
The term includes storm-generated debris under s. 403.7071.(42)(a)
“Storm-generated yard trash” means vegetative matter that:Results from a tropical storm, a hurricane, a tornado, or any other significant weather event and is located or placed within a federally designated disaster area on public property or a public right-of-way;Is eligible for federal reimbursement under 42 U.S.C. ss. 5121 et seq.; andIs placed curbside or on public property or a public right-of-way within the 15-day period after the tropical storm, hurricane, tornado, or other significant weather event that is the subject of the federally declared disaster.(b)
The term includes storm-generated debris under s. 403.7071.(43)
“Transfer station” means a site the primary purpose of which is to store or hold solid waste for transport to a processing or disposal facility.(44)
“Transport” means the movement of hazardous waste from the point of generation or point of entry into the state to any offsite intermediate points and to the point of offsite ultimate disposal, storage, treatment, or exit from the state.(45)
“Treatment,” when used in connection with hazardous waste, means any method, technique, or process, including neutralization, which is designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any hazardous waste so as to neutralize it or render it nonhazardous, safe for transport, amenable to recovery, amenable to storage or disposal, or reduced in volume or concentration. The term includes any activity or processing that is designed to change the physical form or chemical composition of hazardous waste so as to render it nonhazardous.(46)
“Volume reduction plant” includes incinerators, pulverizers, compactors, shredding and baling plants, composting plants, and other plants that accept and process solid waste for recycling or disposal.(47)
“White goods” includes discarded air conditioners, heaters, refrigerators, ranges, water heaters, freezers, and other similar domestic and commercial large appliances.(48)
“Yard trash” means vegetative matter resulting from landscaping maintenance and land clearing operations and includes associated rocks and soils.
Source:
Section 403.703 — Definitions, https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2024/0403.703 (accessed Aug. 7, 2025).