COMCOR 48.00.05 Collection, Transportation, and Disposition of Solid Waste

“Acceptable for Disposal” means solid waste excluding recyclables which is otherwise appropriate for handling at a solid waste acceptance facility.

“Recyclables” means materials of the type required to be recycled pursuant to any regulation issued under Chapter 48.

“Disposal Facility” means the Montgomery County Transfer Station or any location operated by the County which accepts solid waste for disposal.

“Recycling Facility” means a facility which is able to accept and process recyclable materials in accordance with customary standards and applicable law.

“Registration” means, for the purposes of this regulation, a permit issued for a vehicle authorized to transport or collect solid waste.

Collectors must separately collect waste set out for disposal from materials set out in separate containers for recycling collection. If the same vehicle is used to collect both types of waste (e.g. split body) then the separation must be maintained during collection, transportation and off-loading at respective Disposal and Recycling Facilities.

Any Collector who observes, or reasonably should have observed, recyclables in solid waste that have been set out for disposal must, notify the customer responsible by mailing notice of the problem to the customer on the same or following business day and on the same day mail a copy of the customer notice to the Department. In lieu of mailing copies to the Department, collectors having credit accounts with the Department may file electronic reports using their billing account on the Department’s web site in a format specified by the Department for that purpose, but only if the collector transmits the electronic notice no later than the next business day following the date of the incident and provided that the collector retains paper copies of electronic notices for inspection by the County for at least three years at the collector’s place of business. Each such notice under this paragraph, whether written or electronically transmitted, must be in a format designated by the Department, indicate the service location, name of the responsible agent notified, date of the offending observation, specific type of recyclables observed, suggested remedy, and a collector contact name and phone number for additional information.

Collectors must not collect recyclables observed, or which should reasonably have been observed, to be mixed in with trash set out for disposal without posting the notices as described above.

Haulers, collectors and other persons must deliver solid waste acceptable for disposal only to disposal facilities.

Haulers, collectors and other persons must not deliver solid waste acceptable for disposal to any recycling facility.

Haulers, collectors and other persons must deliver recyclables acceptable for recycling only to recycling facilities.

No hauler, collector or other person, may deliver for disposal to any solid waste acceptance facility any solid waste that is acceptable for recycling.

All loads brought to a County acceptance facility may be subject to inspection.

Collectors who deliver for disposal recyclables mixed in with a load of material otherwise acceptable for disposal, must, immediately upon request, identify to the transfer station attendant the name(s) and corresponding service location(s) it will be sending notices to under 48.00.05.02(b), above related to the subject load.

At any time during its collection or off-loading activities, upon the request of the Director, collectors must immediately provide an accurate and legible list of all customer locations from which waste was collected for the loan carried at the time of the request.

In addition to any other requirements herein, haulers and collectors delivering solid waste for disposal to the County Transfer Station in open-top roll off boxes, must accurately declare to the scale house attendant if the load originated from a construction, demolition, renovation or land clearing project site. The method of declaration shall be as specified by the Department.

Except as may be necessary to investigate and bring enforcement actions against the collector and its customers, the Department shall make reasonable efforts to preserve the confidentiality of customer lists and other information of a proprietary nature received from a collector provided herein if requested by the collector in order to prevent the disclosure of proprietary information to disinterested third parties.

Nothing herein shall prohibit the Department from using any information obtained from the operation of this regulation in preparing a summary analysis or for the purposes of assisting the County in identifying potential sources of recyclables delivered in loads of solid waste otherwise acceptable for disposal.

These regulations shall take effect immediately upon adoption except that no fines may be assessed for violations of 48.00.05.02(b), 48.00.05.02(c), 48.00.05.03(c), 48.00.05.03(d), 48.00.05.04(b), and 48.00.05.04(c) for a period of one year from the date this regulation takes effect. Fines may be assessed for all other provisions of this regulation immediately upon adoption.

In addition to any other relief under the Code or these regulations that may be available, compliance with these regulations is a condition of registration issued under Section 48-20 of the County Code. Violations of these regulations may, in the Director’s discretion, provide a basis for revocation, suspension or non-renewal of registration.

These regulations may be enforced in accordance with Montgomery County Code 1994, as amended, Section 48-49.