Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-1 Short title.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Mississippi Multimedia Pollution Prevention Act.”
MCA Chapter 31
MCA Chapter 31
in effectMiss. Code Ann. § 49-31-3 Legislative findings.
The Legislature finds that:
Inefficient and improper methods of managing waste create hazards to public health, cause pollution of the air and water resources and constitute a waste of natural resources;
Problems in preventing pollution are statewide in scope and necessitate state action in improving methods and processes to promote more efficient methods of managing and reducing the waste generated in the state;
The economic and population growth of our state and improvements in the standard of living enjoyed by our population have required increased industrial production which, coupled with expanding commercial and agricultural operations, have resulted in a rise in the amounts of waste generated;
State government should take a proactive role to assist business, industry, academic institutions, governmental entities and the citizens of the state in the development of a coordinated pollution prevention program that addresses the need for both environmental protection and economic growth;
There are significant opportunities for business, industry, academic institutions and governmental entities to eliminate or reduce the generation of waste at the source through cost-effective pollution prevention technologies and procedures. Use of these technologies and procedures offers business, industry, academic institutions and governmental entities savings in materials, waste management and liability costs;
The opportunities for pollution prevention are often not realized because existing regulations focus more upon treatment and disposal than pollution prevention and do not emphasize multimedia management of waste; and
Pollution prevention is the ultimate goal in waste management. The use of pollution prevention policies and technologies as an integral part of the waste management system, thereby reducing the need for the creation of additional management capacity, is strongly endorsed.
Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-5 Legislative intent.
It is the intent of the Legislature to promote pollution prevention, require state agency recycling programs, encourage the recycling industry and promote public education on waste management issues. The Legislature declares it to be the policy of the State of Mississippi that the generation of waste should be reduced or eliminated at the source, whenever feasible; waste that is generated should be recycled or reused whenever feasible; waste that cannot be reduced or recycled should be treated in an environmentally safe manner; and disposal or other permitted release into the environment should be employed only as a last resort and should be conducted in an environmentally safe manner. The state’s goal is to reduce the quantity of waste generated within Mississippi by a minimum of twenty-five percent (25%) by January 1, 1996. For purposes of measuring the reduction of hazardous waste, the department shall use as a baseline the quantity of hazardous waste generated, as reported for the 1989 calendar year. For purposes of measuring the reduction of nonhazardous solid waste, the department shall use as a baseline information submitted to the State Tax Commission pursuant to Section 17-17-219 for the 1992 calendar year. For other wastes, the department shall establish a baseline.
Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-7 Purposes of chapter.
The purposes of this chapter are:
To establish state policy with regard to the role of pollution prevention and recycling in waste management;
To promote pollution prevention, reuse and recycling of waste in lieu of treatment or disposal of waste;
To require all state agencies to aid and promote the development of recycling through the establishment of recycling programs;
To require all state agencies to aid and promote the development of recycling through the establishment of policies for the procurement of goods containing recycled materials;
To establish statewide pollution prevention and waste reduction goals;
To provide for the creation and administration of the Mississippi Multimedia Pollution Prevention Program;
To promote pollution prevention through the requirement of educational curricula for primary and secondary schools;
To foster the education of the general public and the training of waste management professionals to reduce the production of waste, to prevent pollution and to encourage recycling;
To establish and maintain a cooperative state program of planning and technical and financial assistance for the use of pollution prevention and recycling in waste management;
To mandate waste minimization planning by certain generators and facility operators for the reduction of waste;
To encourage the development of pollution prevention and recycling programs as a means of managing waste and conserving resources through planning, grants, technical assistance and other incentives;
To encourage local governments to develop and implement recycling programs within their jurisdictions to return valuable materials to productive use and to protect capacity at waste management facilities;
To further the development of the state’s recycling industry by promoting the successful development of markets for recycled items; and
To provide for the funding of the Mississippi Multimedia Pollution Prevention Program through the establishment of a pollution prevention fee.
Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-9 Definitions.
For purposes of this chapter the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section or in Section 17-17-3 unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
“Department” means the Department of Environmental Quality.
“EPCRA” means the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act, Public Law 99-499, as amended.
“Facility operator” means an operator of a facility required to file a report of toxic chemical releases under Section 313 of EPCRA.
“Generator” means any person whose act or process produces waste.
“Multimedia” means all environmental media including, but not limited to air, water and land.
“Pollution prevention” means any action taken by business, industry, government or individual consumers to conserve natural resources while providing and using needed products in a manner that prevents or reduces the generation, disposal or release of pollutants to the environment. Pollution prevention does not include dewatering, dilution or evaporation before handling, release, storage, treatment or disposal of hazardous waste.
“Recovered materials” means those materials having known recycling potential, which can be feasibly recycled and have been diverted or removed from the waste stream for sale, use or reuse, by separation, collection or processing.
“Recyclable materials” means those materials which are reasonably capable of being recycled and which would otherwise be processed or disposed of as waste.
“Recycling” means the use, reuse or reclamation of a waste. Recycling does not include the burning of waste as a fuel for the recovery of energy or the use of waste treatment technologies.
“Waste” means sewage, industrial wastes, oil field wastes, and all other liquid, gaseous, solid or other substances which may pollute the lands, waters or air of the state.
“Waste minimization” means the reduction, to the extent feasible, of waste that is generated or subsequently treated, stored or disposed of. It includes any source reduction or recycling activity undertaken by a generator or facility operator that results in either (i) the reduction of total volume or quantity of waste, or (ii) the reduction of toxicity or other characteristics of hazardous waste, or both, so long as the reduction does not result in the displacement of pollutants from one medium to another and is consistent with the goal of minimizing present and future threats to human health and the environment.
Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-11 Mississippi Multimedia Pollution Prevention Program; purposes; rules and regulations; coordination and promotion of alternatives to waste disposal.
There is hereby created in the Department of Environmental Quality, the Mississippi Multimedia Pollution Prevention Program, herein referred to as “program,” for the following purposes: To compile, organize and make available for distribution information on pollution prevention and recycling technologies and procedures; To sponsor and conduct conferences and workshops on pollution prevention and recycling; To facilitate and promote the transfer of pollution prevention and recycling technologies and procedures among business, industry, academic institutions and governmental entities; To provide funds, as may be appropriated or otherwise made available therefor, to business, industry, academic institutions, private organizations and governmental entities: To conduct demonstrations or pilot programs utilizing innovative pollution prevention and recycling technologies and procedures; To defray costs of basic and applied research on pollution prevention and recycling; and To subsidize costs of conducting pollution prevention potential analyses and studies, and developing, purchasing and implementing pollution prevention and recycling technologies and procedures or for other related purposes; To develop the necessary programs, information and materials: To collect data to assist in establishing program priorities and evaluation of the progress of pollution prevention and recycling; To train business, industry, academic institutions and governmental entities to promote and provide information about pollution prevention and recycling practices and their applicability; To establish and implement waste exchange programs; To prioritize current state grant funding assistance for local government recycling; To provide technical assistance programs specific to the development of businesses that recycle; To produce a report that shall be available to the public with information on the amount of unrecycled products within the state; To increase public education and public awareness of waste management issues; To provide pollution prevention and recycling technical assistance to industries, businesses and local governments; To participate in state, federal and industrial networks of individuals and groups actively involved in pollution prevention and recycling activities and promotion; and To provide assistance to counties and municipalities for the establishment of regional recycling centers at regional correctional facilities. The Commission on Environmental Quality may adopt, modify, repeal and promulgate, after due notice and hearing, and where not otherwise prohibited by federal or state law, to make exceptions to and grant exemptions and variances from, and to enforce rules and regulations implementing or effectuating the powers and duties of the commission under this chapter. The Commission on Environmental Quality shall coordinate recycling activities among municipalities and local governing authorities and promote pollution prevention, recycling, reuse of wastes, in lieu of treatment and disposal of such wastes.
Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-13 Comprehensive study of status of pollution prevention and recycling activities.
The department shall complete a comprehensive study of the status of pollution prevention and recycling activities in Mississippi. The study shall address, but not be limited to, the following: The types and quantities of wastes generated in the state, the existing system for management of wastes, and pollution prevention and recycling efforts to date in the state; The advisability, feasibility and potential impacts of waste stream reduction through statutory restraints; The identification of key business, industry, academic institutions and governmental entities which should receive priorities in technical assistance; The establishment of the program priorities, objectives, missions and goals for pollution prevention and recycling in the state, including a methodology for assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of the program in attaining program goals and objectives; The development of a methodology to assess progress in minimizing waste, preventing pollution and recycling in the state; and Any other information deemed necessary by the department to carry out the purposes of this chapter. The study shall be presented to the Chairman of the Conservation and Water Resources Committee of the Mississippi House of Representatives and the Environmental Protection, Conservation and Water Resources Committee of the Mississippi Senate by the second day of each legislative session.
Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-15 State agencies, branches and institutions to establish recycling programs and source reduction programs.
It shall be the duty of each state agency, the judicial branch of state government, the state institutions of higher learning and community colleges to:
Establish a program, in cooperation with the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Finance and Administration, for the collection of recyclable materials as determined by the Department of Environmental Quality, generated in state offices throughout the state.
Provide procedures for collecting and storing recyclable materials, containers for storing recyclable materials and contractual arrangements with buyers of recyclable materials.
Evaluate the amount of recyclable materials recycled and make all necessary modifications to the recycling program to ensure that recyclable materials, as determined by the Department of Environmental Quality, are effectively and practically recycled.
Establish and implement, in cooperation with the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Finance and Administration, a source reduction program for materials, as determined by the Department of Environmental Quality, used in the course of agency operations. The program shall be designed and implemented to achieve the maximum feasible source reduction of waste as a result of agency operations.
Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-17 Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Mississippi Development Authority to assist and promote recycling industry.
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Mississippi Development Authority shall assist and actively promote the recycling industry in the state. Assistance and promotion of the recycling industry shall include, but is not limited to:
Identification and analysis, in cooperation with the Department of Environmental Quality, of components of the state’s recycling industry and present and potential markets for recyclable materials in the state or other states;
Provision of information on the availability and benefits of using recycled materials to business, industry, academic institutions and governmental entities within the state;
Distribution of any material prepared in implementing this section to business, industry, academic institutions, governmental entities and the general public upon request; and
Active promotion of the present markets and development of the potential markets of recyclable materials through the resources of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Mississippi Development Authority.
Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-19 Department of Education to develop waste minimization awareness program; advisory role of Department of Environmental Quality; program of student instruction in minimization of waste.
On or before July 1, 2007, the Department of Education with advice of the Department of Environmental Quality is directed to develop or select curriculum, including materials and resource guides, for a waste minimization awareness program at the elementary and secondary levels of education. In order to orient students and their families to the minimization of waste and to encourage the participation of schools, communities and families in waste minimization programs, the school board of each school district in the state shall provide a program of student instruction in the minimization of waste materials. The instruction shall be provided at both the elementary and secondary levels of education.
Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-21 Generators of hazardous waste to provide waste minimization plans; contents of plan; annual update; review of plan; report of wastes generated and minimized.
The department shall require waste minimization plans to be provided by each generator of hazardous waste who is regulated as a large quantity generator or a small quantity generator under Mississippi hazardous waste management regulations and each facility operator required to file a report under Section 313 of EPCRA. The generators and facility operators shall provide a plan for each site where waste is generated or chemicals are released. Waste minimization plans for large quantity generators and for facility operators required to file a report under Section 313 of EPCRA, shall include, at a minimum: A written policy describing ownership and management support for pollution prevention and waste minimization and implementation of the plan; The scope and objectives of the plan, including the evaluation of technologies, procedures and personnel training programs to ensure waste minimization; An explanation and documentation of waste minimization efforts completed or in progress before the first reporting date; An analysis of waste streams, and identification of opportunities to eliminate waste generation. The analysis shall include review of individual processes and facilities and other activities where wastes may be generated, evaluation of data on the types, amounts and hazardous and toxic constituents of waste generated, and potential waste minimization techniques applicable to those wastes; An identification of waste management costs; An identification of employee awareness and training programs to involve employees in waste minimization planning and implementation to the maximum extent feasible; The establishment of performance goals for the minimization of wastes which shall be expressed in numeric terms, to the extent practicable. The department shall develop appropriate, but less stringent, requirements for waste minimization plans to be prepared by small quantity generators. All generators and facility operators required to prepare a waste minimization plan shall update annually their waste minimization plan. The annual update shall include at a minimum: An analysis and quantification of progress made, if any, in waste minimization, relative to each performance goal established under subsection (2) (g) of this section; and Any amendments to the waste minimization plan and an explanation of the need for the amendments. For purposes of this section, a generator or facility operator shall permit the department or its designee to review the waste minimization plan. From the waste minimization plan and each annual update, the generator or facility operator shall submit to the department a certified report of the types and quantities of wastes generated, and the types and quantities of wastes minimized. To the extent practicable, the department shall coordinate the submission of this certified report with other reporting requirements placed on large quantity and small quantity hazardous waste generators and facility operators. The certified report shall include a narrative summary explaining the waste generation and minimization data, a description of goals and progress made in minimizing the generation of wastes, and a description of any impediments to the minimization of wastes.
Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-23 Repealed.
Repealed by Laws of 2002, ch. 483, § 5, eff from and after July 1, 2002.
[Laws, 1990, ch. 507, § 13; Laws, 1994, ch. 637 § 9, eff from and after July 1, 1994.]
Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-25 Pollution prevention fee; penalty for failure to pay.
There is imposed upon each large quantity generator and each small quantity generator that is regulated under the Mississippi hazardous waste management regulations and each facility operator, a pollution prevention fee. The fee upon each large quantity generator and each small quantity generator shall be measured by the quantity of hazardous waste which that generator generates annually. The fee upon each facility operator shall be measured by the quantity of chemicals which each facility releases annually and reports pursuant to Section 313 of EPCRA. For a fee payer that is both a large quantity hazardous waste generator and a facility operator, the fee shall be measured by adding the quantity of fugitive and stack air emissions reported under Section 313 of EPCRA plus the quantity of hazardous waste generated annually. For a fee payer that is both a small quantity hazardous waste generator and a facility operator, the fee shall be measured by the quantity of chemicals released as reported pursuant to Section 313 of EPCRA. The fee shall be assessed in an amount according to the following schedule: Click to view The fee shall be due and payable to the department not later than September 1 of each year, or not later than a date specified by the department in the invoice which shall be no less than thirty (30) days following receipt of an invoice from the department, whichever is later. The fee shall be based on the quantity of hazardous waste generated and/or chemicals released during the preceding calendar year. The department shall annually prepare an invoice for the amount of the pollution prevention fee due from each generator or facility operator and furnish it to each generator or facility operator. The proceeds of the fee shall be deposited into the Environmental Protection Trust Fund created in Section 17-17-217. From and after July 1, 1995, the department shall exclude from the calculation of the pollution prevention fee any hazardous waste recycled on-site or shipped off-site for recycling as reported on the Mississippi Annual Hazardous Waste Report or its equivalent and any chemicals recycled on-site or shipped off-site for recycling as reported under Section 313 of EPCRA. The hazardous waste generator or the facility operator shall submit any information the department deems necessary to substantiate that the hazardous waste or chemicals were recycled. At the discretion of the commission, a generator or facility operator shall be liable for a penalty not to exceed three (3) times the amount of the fee due and payable for failure to pay the fee on or before the due date, plus the amount necessary to reimburse the cost of collection. From and after July 1, 1995, the department shall exclude from any calculation of pollution prevention fee any hazardous waste or chemical for which a Title V permit fee is assessed to the same generator or facility operator.
TONS GENERATED/RELEASED ANNUAL FEE 0.01 to 9.99 $250.00 10.00 to 99.99 $ 500.00 100.00 to 999.99 $ 1,500.00 1,000.00 to 9,999.99 $2,500.00 10,000.00 to 49,999.99 $10,000.00 50,000.00 and above $50,000.00
Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-27 Repealed.
Repealed by Laws of 1994, ch. 637, § 11, eff from and after July 1, 1994.
[Laws, 1990, ch. 507, § 16]
Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-41 Repealed.
Repealed by Laws of 2017, ch. 402, § 10, effective July 1, 2017.
§ 49-31-41 . [Laws, 2004, ch. 536, § 3, eff from and after July 1, 2004.] Editor's Notes — Former 49-31-41 established the task force on recycling.
Miss. Code Ann. § 49-31-43 Repealed.
Repealed by Laws of 2017, ch. 404, § 6, effective July 1, 2017.
§ 49-31-43 . [Laws, 2004, ch. 536, § 4, eff from and after July 1, 2004.] Former 49-31-43 related to Task Force on Recycling duties, election of the chairman, meetings, administration and compensation.