(A) The department shall establish qualifications for and encourage the development of certification programs for operators of landfills, coordinators of local recycling programs, and operators of other solid waste management facilities.

(B) The department shall work with accredited community colleges, vocational technical centers, state universities, and private institutions in developing educational materials, courses of study, and other such information to be made available for persons seeking to be certified as operators of solid waste management facilities.

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 44-96-460

  • Department: means the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 44-96-40
  • Facility: means all contiguous land, structures, other appurtenances and improvements on the land used for treating, storing, or disposing of solid waste. See South Carolina Code 44-96-40
  • Person: means an individual, corporation, company, association, partnership, unit of local government, state agency, federal agency, or other legal entity. See South Carolina Code 44-96-40
  • Recycling: means any process by which materials which would otherwise become solid waste are collected, separated, or processed and reused or returned to use in the form of raw materials or products (including composting). See South Carolina Code 44-96-40
  • Solid waste: means any garbage, refuse, or sludge from a waste treatment facility, water supply plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations and from community activities. See South Carolina Code 44-96-40
  • Solid waste management: means the systematic control of the generation, collection, source separation, storage, transportation, treatment, recovery, and disposal of solid waste. See South Carolina Code 44-96-40
  • Solid waste management facility: means any solid waste disposal area, volume reduction plant, transfer station, or other facility, the purpose of which is the storage, collection, transportation, treatment, utilization, processing, recycling, or disposal, or any combination thereof, of solid waste. See South Carolina Code 44-96-40

(C) Two years after this article is effective, no person may perform the duties of an operator of a solid waste management facility unless he has completed an operator certification course approved by the department. An owner of a solid waste management facility may not employ any person to perform the duties of an operator unless such person has completed an approved solid waste management facility operator certification course.

(D) The department shall adopt regulations to carry out the provisions of this section. The department may establish by rule classifications for operators to cover the need for differing levels of certification required to operate various types of solid waste management facilities due to different operating requirements at such facilities.

(E) For purposes of this section, the term "operator" means any person, including the owner, who is principally engaged in, or is in charge of, the actual operation, supervision, and maintenance of a solid waste management facility and includes the person in charge of a shift or period during any part of the day.