§2153. Definitions

            As used in this Chapter, the following terms shall have the meaning ascribed to them in this Section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

            (1) "Advanced recycling" means a manufacturing process for the conversion of post-use polymers and recovered feedstocks into basic raw materials, feedstocks, chemicals, and other products through processes that include pyrolysis, gasification, depolymerization, catalytic cracking, reforming, hydrogenation, solvolysis, chemolysis, and other similar technologies. The recycled products produced at advanced recycling facilities include but are not limited to monomers, oligomers, plastics, plastic and chemical feedstocks, basic and unfinished chemicals, waxes, lubricants, coatings, and adhesives. Advanced recycling does not include incineration of plastics or waste-to-energy processes. Products sold as fuel are not recycled products. Advanced recycling shall be considered "recycling" as defined in R.S. 30:2412. Advanced recycling shall not be considered solid waste management, solid waste processing, solid waste recovery, incineration, treatment, or waste-to-energy.

            (2) "Advanced recycling facility" means a manufacturing facility that receives, stores, and converts post-use polymers and recovered feedstocks it receives using advanced recycling. An advanced recycling facility is a manufacturing facility subject to applicable department manufacturing regulations for air, water, waste, and land use. Advanced recycling facilities shall not be considered solid waste disposal facilities, final disposal facilities, solid waste management facilities, solid waste processing facilities, solid waste recovery facilities, incinerators, or waste-to-energy facilities.

            (3) "Depolymerization" means a manufacturing process through which post-use polymers are broken down into smaller molecules such as monomers and oligomers or raw, intermediate, or final products, plastics, plastic and chemical feedstocks, basic and unfinished chemicals, waxes, lubricants, and coatings.

            (4) "Gasification" means a manufacturing process through which post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks are heated in an oxygen-controlled atmosphere and converted into syngas, which is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, followed by conversion into valuable raw, intermediate, and final products, including but not limited to plastic monomers, chemicals, waxes, lubricants, and chemical feedstocks, that are returned to economic utility in the form of raw materials or products.

            (5) "Mass balance attribution" means a chain of custody accounting methodology with rules defined by a third-party certification system that enables the attribution of the mass of advanced recycling feedstocks to one or more advanced recycling products.

            (6) "Post-use polymer" means a plastic to which all of the following apply:

            (a) The plastic is derived from any industrial, commercial, agricultural, or domestic activities and includes pre-consumer recovered materials or post-consumer materials.

            (b) The plastic is not mixed with solid waste or hazardous waste onsite or during processing at the advanced recycling facility.

            (c) The plastics' use or intended use is as a feedstock for the manufacturing of feedstocks, raw materials, or other intermediate products or final products using advanced recycling.

            (d) The plastic has been sorted from solid waste and other regulated waste but may contain residual amounts of waste such as organic material and incidental contaminants or impurities such as paper labels or metal rings.

            (e) The plastic is processed at an advanced recycling facility or held at the facility prior to processing.

            (7) "Pyrolysis" means a manufacturing process through which post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks are heated in the absence of oxygen until melted and thermally decomposed, non-catalytically or catalytically, and are then cooled, condensed, and converted into valuable raw materials and intermediate and final products, including but not limited to plastic monomers, chemicals, naphtha, waxes, and plastic and chemical feedstocks that are returned to economic utility in the form of raw materials or products.

            (8)(a) "Recovered feedstock" means one or more of the following materials that have been processed so that it may be used as feedstock in an advanced recycling facility:

            (i) Post-use polymers.

            (ii) Materials for which the United States Environmental Protection Agency or the department has made a non-waste determination or has otherwise determined are feedstocks and not solid waste.

            (b) The term "recovered feedstock" shall not include the following:

            (i) Unprocessed municipal solid waste.

            (ii) Commonly recycled paper that is segregated from solid waste.

            (iii) Commonly recycled paper that is collected as part of a collection system that commingles the paper with other solid waste at any point from the time of collection through the materials recovery.

            (iv) Material that is mixed with solid waste or hazardous waste onsite or during processing at an advanced recycling facility.

            (9) "Recycled plastics" or "recycled plastic" means products that are produced from the following:

            (a) Mechanical recycling of pre-consumer recovered feedstocks or plastics and post-consumer plastics.

            (b) Advanced recycling of pre-consumer recovered feedstocks or plastics and post-consumer plastics via mass balance attribution under a third-party certification system.

            (10) "Resource 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. The term "resource management" shall not include the storage of post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks or the conversion of post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks through advanced recycling.

            (11) "Resource recovery" means the process by which materials, excluding those under control of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which still have useful physical or chemical properties after serving a specific purpose are reused or recycled for the same or other purposes, including uses as an energy source. The term "resource recovery" shall not include the conversion of post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks through advanced recycling.

            (12) "Resource recovery and management facility" means any solid waste disposal area or other facility, the purpose of which is resource recovery or the disposal, recycling, processing, or storage of solid waste, excluding any "processing, treatment, or disposal facility" as defined in R.S. 30:2173. The term "resource recovery and management facility" shall not include a facility that stores post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks or converts post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks through advanced recycling.

            (13) "Sanitary landfill" means a controlled area of land upon which nonhazardous solid waste is deposited in such a manner that protects the environment with no on-site burning of wastes, and so located, contoured, and drained that it will not constitute a source of water pollution.

            (14) "Sanitary landfilling" means an engineered method of disposing of nonhazardous solid waste on land in a manner that protects the environment.

            (15)(a) "Solid 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, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities, but does not include or mean 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 R.S. 30:2074, or source, special nuclear, or byproduct material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq., or hazardous waste subject to permits under R.S. 30:2171 et seq.

            (b) The definition of solid waste shall not include any of the following:

            (i) Uncontaminated scrap metal materials which are purchased for resale to be recycled or reused and are not destined for disposal.

            (ii) Wastewaters in tanks, sumps, and existing ditches as defined by rule, upstream or downstream of designated internal or final state or federal wastewater discharge points which require no further treatment to meet applicable state or federal permit limits.

            (iii) Wastewaters in tanks, sumps, and existing ditches as defined by rule, which only require pH adjustment to meet applicable pH permit limits or solids settling to meet total suspended solids permit limits.

            (iv) Automotive fluff which results from the shredding of automobiles by a scrap metal recycling facility authorized under the laws of the state of Louisiana and from which metals have been recovered to the maximum extent practicable by the scrap metal recycling facility.

            (v) Post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks that are converted through advanced recycling or are held at, or for the purpose of conversion at, an advanced recycling facility prior to conversion.

            (16) "Solid waste disposal facility" means any land area or structure or combination of land areas and structures, used for storing, salvaging, processing, reducing, incinerating, or disposing of solid wastes, excluding any "processing, treatment, or disposal facility" as defined in R.S. 30:2173 and any facility where solid waste management activities are limited to transferring solid waste from collection vehicles to other vehicles for transport without processing. The term "solid waste disposal facility" shall not include a facility that stores post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks or converts post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks through advanced recycling.

            (17) "Solvolysis" means a manufacturing process through which post-use polymers are purified with the aid of solvents while heated at low temperatures or heated at low temperatures and pressurized to make useful products, while allowing additives and contaminants to be removed. The products of solvolysis include monomers, intermediates, valuable chemicals, plastic and chemical feedstocks, and raw materials. The process includes but is not limited to hydrolysis, aminolysis, ammonolysis, methanolysis, and glycolysis.

            (18) "Third-party certification system" means an international and multinational third-party certification system which consists of a set of rules for the implementation of mass balance attribution approaches for advanced recycling of materials. Third-party certification systems include but are not limited to International Sustainability and Carbon Certification, Underwriters Laboratories, SCS Recycled Content Certification, Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, Ecoloop, and REDcert².

            Acts 1979, No. 449, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1980; Acts 1991, No. 379, §1; Acts 1993, No. 555, §1, eff. June 10, 1993; Acts 1997, No. 96, §1; Acts 2010, No. 152, §1; Acts 2021, No. 460, §1; Acts 2023, No. 43, §1, eff. June 1, 2023.