In order to protect the public health, safety and welfare, to prevent degradation of the environment, conserve natural resources and provide a coordinated statewide hazardous waste management program, it is declared to be the public policy of the state of Tennessee to regulate hazardous waste management to:

(1) Provide for safe storage, transportation, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes;

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 68-212-102

  • Disposal: means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any hazardous waste into or on any land, water or air so that such hazardous waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including ground waters. See Tennessee Code 68-212-104
  • Hazardous waste: means waste, or combination of wastes, which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may:
    (A) Cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible illness or incapacitating reversible illness. See Tennessee Code 68-212-104
  • State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 68-212-104
  • Storage: means the containment of hazardous waste in such a manner as not to constitute disposal of such hazardous waste. See Tennessee Code 68-212-104
  • Treatment: includes any activity or processing designed to change the physical form or chemical composition of hazardous waste so as to render it nonhazardous. See Tennessee Code 68-212-104
  • Waste: means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste 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, commercial, mining and agricultural operations, and from community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under §. See Tennessee Code 68-212-104
  • Waste management: means the orderly control of storage, transportation, treatment, and disposal of hazardous waste. See Tennessee Code 68-212-104
(2) Provide a coordinated statewide program of control of hazardous wastes in cooperation with federal, state and local agencies responsible for the prevention, control or abatement of air, water and land pollution, such that adequate control is achieved without unnecessary duplication of regulatory programs;
(3) Develop long-range plans for adequate hazardous waste management systems to meet future demands; and
(4) Promote efficient and economical hazardous waste management systems, the reuse or recycling of hazardous waste, and efforts to minimize the amounts of hazardous waste generated.
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