[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners of the Township
of Rochester as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
[Adopted 10-19-1993 by Ord. No. 342]
The short title of this article shall be the "Rochester Township
Recycling Ordinance," and the same may be cited in that manner.
The following words and phrases used throughout this article
shall have the following meanings:
The Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction
Act of 1988.[1]
Empty all-aluminum beverage or food containers.
Empty food or beverage containers consisting of steel, aluminum
and/or tin.
The entity or entities authorized by the Township to collect
designated recyclable materials from residences or authorized by multifamily
housing properties, commercial, municipal and institutional establishments
and community activities that do not receive collection services from
the Township to collect designated recyclable materials from those
properties.
An establishment whose primary use is commercial and is engaged
in nonmanufacturing or nonprocessing business, including but not limited
to markets, office buildings, restaurants, shopping centers, stores,
and residential buildings containing four or more dwelling units.
Those recyclable materials separated from municipal waste
at the point of origin and set aside in a mixed agglomeration for
the purpose of being recycled.
Events that are sponsored by public or private agencies or
individuals that include but are not limited to fairs, bazaars, socials,
picnics and organized sporting events attended by 200 or more individuals
per day.
Structural paper material with an inner core shaped in rigid
parallel furrows and ridges.
Any steel or tin-coated food or beverage containers.
Bottles and jars made of clear glass. Expressly excluded
are noncontainer glass, plate glass, automotive glass, light bulbs,
blue glass and porcelain and ceramic products.
All white paper, bond paper, copier paper, letterhead, mimeograph
paper, and computer paper, typically sold as "white ledger" paper,
used in commercial, institutional, and municipal establishments and
in home occupation businesses.
Those facilities that house or serve groups of people, including
but not limited to hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages, day-care
centers, airports, schools and universities.
Automotive, truck and industrial batteries that contain lead.
Leaves from trees, bushes and other plants, garden residues,
chipped shrubbery and tree trimmings, but not including grass clippings.
Printed matter containing miscellaneous written pieces published
at fixed or varying intervals. Expressly excluded are all other paper
products of any nature whatsoever.
Any residential property having four or more dwelling units
per structure.
Public facilities operated by the Township and other governmental
and quasi-governmental entities.
The Township of Rochester.
Any garbage, refuse, industrial lunchroom or other material,
including solid, liquid or semisolid materials, including any contained
gaseous materials, resulting from operation of residential, municipal,
commercial, or institutional establishments or community activities,
and any sludge from a municipal, commercial, or institutional water
supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility not meeting
the definition of residual or hazardous waste in the Solid Waste Management
Act.[2] The term does not include source-separated recyclable
materials.
Paper of the type commonly referred to as "newsprint" and
distributed at fixed intervals, having printed thereon news and opinions,
containing advertisements and other matters of public interest. Expressly
excluded are newspapers which have been soiled, color comics, glossy
advertising inserts, and advertising inserts printed in colors other
than black and white often included with newspapers.
Owners, lessees, and occupants of residences and commercial,
municipal, and institutional establishments.
Plastic food and beverage containers. Due to the wide variety
of types of plastics, the Township may stipulate specific types of
plastic which may be recycled.
Material generated by residences, multifamily housing properties,
commercial, municipal and institutional establishments and community
activities which are designated by the Township pursuant to this article
and can be separated from municipal waste and returned to commerce
to be reused as a resource in the development of useful products.
Recyclable materials designated by the Township may include, but are
not necessarily limited to, clear glass containers, colored glass
containers, aluminum containers, steel and bimetal containers, high-grade
office paper, newspapers, corrugated paper, leaf waste, plastic containers,
and any other items selected by the Township or specified in future
revisions to Act 101. The recyclable materials designated by the Township
may be revised from time to time as deemed necessary by the Township.
The collection, separation, recovery and sale or reuse of
metals, glass, paper, leaf waste, plastics and other materials which
would otherwise be disposed or processed as municipal waste or the
mechanized separation and treatment of municipal waste (other than
through combustion) and creation and recovery of reusable materials.
Any occupied single-family or multifamily dwellings having
up to and including three dwelling units per structure.
The Township of Rochester.
A material whose original purpose has been completed and
which is directed to a disposal or processing facility or is otherwise
disposed. The term does not include recyclable materials designated
by the Township or material approved by the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection for beneficial use.
A.
The Township hereby establishes a recycling program for the mandatory
separation and collection of recyclable materials and the separation
and composting or other appropriate processing of leaf waste from
all residences and all commercial, municipal, and institutional establishments
located in the Township for which municipal waste collection is provided
through Township contract or any other collector. The collection of
municipal waste containing recyclable materials in combination with
nonrecyclable materials is forbidden.
B.
Collection of the recyclable materials shall be made at least monthly,
or more frequently as required by the Board of Commissioners, by the
municipal waste collectors operating in the Township and authorized
to collect recyclable materials from residences or from commercial,
municipal, and institutional establishments. The recycling program
shall also contain a sustained public information and education program.
Disposal by persons of lead-acid batteries with other municipal
waste is prohibited and shall be a violation of this article.
All persons in the Township shall separate all recyclable materials
designated by the Township in the recycling regulations from all other
municipal waste, store such materials for collection, and shall place
the same for collection in accordance with the guidelines in this
article and the recycling regulations.
A.
Persons in residences must separate recyclable materials designated
in the recycling regulations from other municipal waste. These designated
recyclable materials shall be placed at curbside in containers provided
or designated by the Township for collection. Any containers provided
to residences for collection of designated recyclable materials shall
be the property of the Township and shall be used only for the collection
of designated recyclable materials. Any resident who moves within
or from the Township shall be responsible for returning the allocated
container(s) to the Township. Use of recycling containers for any
purpose other than the designated recycling program or use of the
recycling containers by a person other than the person allocated such
container(s) shall be a violation of this article.
B.
An owner, landlord, or agent of an owner or landlord of a multifamily
rental housing property with four or more units may comply with its
recycling responsibilities by establishing a collection system at
each property. The collection system must include suitable containers
for collection and sorting the recyclable materials, easily accessible
locations for the containers, and written instructions to the occupants
concerning the use and availability of the collection system. Owners,
landlords, or agents of an owner or landlord who comply with this
article shall not be liable for noncompliance of occupants of their
buildings.
C.
Persons must separate high-grade office paper, aluminum containers
and corrugated paper and such other recyclable materials as may be
designated in the recycling regulations generated at commercial, municipal
and institutional establishments and community activities and store
the designated recyclable materials until collection. A person may
be exempted from this subsection if that person submits documentation
to the Township annually in the form, time and manner specified in
the recycling regulations indicating that the designated recyclable
materials are being recycled in an appropriate manner.
D.
If designated recyclable materials are collected by a collector other
than the Township or its authorized collectors, occupants of commercial,
municipal and institutional establishments and the sponsors of community
activities shall submit an annual report to the Township reporting
the tonnage of materials recycled during the previous year, in a form,
time and manner specified in the recycling regulations.
E.
All persons must separate leaf waste from other municipal waste generated
at residences, multifamily housing properties, commercial, municipal
and institutional establishments and community activities for collection
as required by the leaf waste regulations, unless those persons have
otherwise provided for composting of leaf waste.
All designated recyclable materials placed by persons for collection by the Township or authorized collector pursuant to this article shall, from time of placement at curbside, become the property of the Township or authorized collector, as the case may be, except as otherwise provided by § 131-7 of this article. Nothing in this article shall be deemed to impair the ownership of separated recyclable materials by the generator unless and until such materials are placed at the curbside for collection.
It shall be a violation of this article for any person, other
than the Township or one authorized by the Township or other entity
responsible for providing for collection of designated recyclable
materials, to collect designated recyclable materials placed by residences,
multifamily housing properties, commercial, municipal and institutional
establishments and community activities for collection by the Township
or an authorized collector, unless such person has prior written permission
from the generator to make such collection. Each unauthorized collection
from each property on each day shall constitute a separate and distinct
offense punishable as hereinafter provided.
Any residence, multifamily housing property, commercial, municipal
or institutional establishment or community activity may donate or
sell designated recyclable materials to any person, firm or corporation,
whether operating for profit or not, engaged in the business of recycling
on or before October 19, 1993, provided that the receiving person,
firm or corporation shall not collect such recyclable materials from
the collection point of a residence, multifamily housing property,
commercial, municipal or institutional establishment or community
activity without prior written notification to and written consent
of the Township.
Disposal by persons of designated recyclable materials with
municipal waste is prohibited and shall be a violation of this article.
The collected designated recyclable materials shall be taken to a
recycling facility. Disposal by collectors or operators of recycling
facilities of designated recyclable materials in landfills or by burning
in incinerators is prohibited unless markets do not exist, the collectors
or operators have notified the Township in writing in advance, and
the Township gives its advance written consent to the same.
A.
The Board of Commissioners is hereby authorized and directed to make
reasonable rules and regulations for the operation and enforcement
of this article as deemed necessary, including but not limited to:
(1)
Establishing recyclable materials to be separated for collection
and recycling by residences and additional recyclable materials to
be separated by municipal or institutional establishments.
(2)
Establishing collection procedures for designated recyclable materials.
(3)
Establishing reporting procedures of amounts of material recycled.
(4)
Establishing procedures for the distribution, monitoring and collection
of recyclable containers.
(5)
Establishing procedures and rules for the separation, composting,
or other acceptable processing of leaf waste.
B.
Any person, firm or corporation who or which shall violate the provisions
of this article shall receive an official written warning of noncompliance
for the first and second offense. Thereafter, all such violations
shall be subject to the penalties hereinafter provided.
C.
Any person, firm, or corporation who or which shall violate the provisions
of this article or the recycling regulations or leaf waste regulations
shall, upon being found liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding,
pay a judgment of not more than $1,000, plus all court costs, and,
in default of payment of such fine and costs, be imprisoned for a
term not exceeding 30 days. Each day during which any violation continues
shall constitute a separate offense.[1]
D.
The Township reserves the right not to collect municipal waste containing
designated recyclable materials in combination with nonrecyclable
materials.
The Township may enter into agreements with public or private
agencies or firms to authorize them to collect all or part of the
designated recyclable materials other than leaf waste from curbside.
The Township may enter into agreements with public or private agencies
or firms to authorize them to collect all or part of the leaf waste
generated in the Township.
If the Township will have entered into an agreement with a public
or private agency or firm to authorize it to collect all or part of
the designated recyclable materials other than leaf waste and other
solid waste materials from curbside, and if said agreement will have
become effective prior to the expiration of prepayments by any Township
resident to a private garbage collector, no Township resident will
have to pay twice for garbage and/or recyclable collection.
[Adopted 11-16-1993 by Ord. No. 343]
Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following
items used in this article shall have the following meanings:
The Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction
Act, Act of July 28, 1988, P.L. 528, No. 101, as now or hereafter
amended.[1]
The disposition, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or
placing of solid waste into or on the land or water in a manner that
the solid waste or a constituent of the solid waste enters the environment,
is emitted into the air or is discharged in the waters of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
A facility using land for disposing of municipal waste. The
facility includes land affected during the lifetime of operations,
including, but not limited to, areas where disposal or processing
activities actually occur, support facilities, borrow areas, offices,
equipment sheds, air and water pollution control and treatment systems,
access roads and transportation and storage facilities. The term does
not include construction/demolition waste landfills or a facility
for the land application of sewage sludge.
Any City, Borough, incorporated Town, Township or home rule
municipality located in the County of Beaver.
Any garbage, refuse, industrial lunchroom or office waste
and other material, including solid, liquid, semisolid or contained
gaseous material, resulting from the operation of residential, municipal,
commercial or institutional establishments and from community activities,
and any sludge not meeting the definition of residual or hazardous
waste in the Solid Waste Management Act from a municipal, commercial
or institutional water supply treatment plant, wastewater treatment
plant or air pollution control facility. The term does not include
source-separated recyclable materials.
Any facility that is designed, operated or maintained for
the disposal of municipal waste, whether or not such facility possesses
a permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
under the Solid Waste Management Act. The term shall not include any
facility that is used exclusively for the disposal of construction/demolition
waste or sludge from sewage treatment plants or water supply treatment
plants.
Permit number issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection for the operation of the landfill by the operator.
Any individual, partnership, corporation, association, institution,
cooperative, enterprise, municipality, municipal authority, federal
government or agency, state institution or agency or any other legal
entity whatsoever which is recognized by law of the subject of rights
and duties.
The collection, separation, recovery and sale or reuse of
metals, glass, papers, leaf waste, plastics and other materials which
would otherwise be disposed or processed as municipal waste or the
mechanized separation and treatment of municipal waste (other than
through combustion) and creation and recovery of reusable materials
other than a fuel for the operation of energy.
Act 97 of 1980, 35 P.S. § 6018.101 et seq., and
the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection regulations
promulgated thereunder.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 4000.101 et seq.
Not later than 120 days after the effective date of Beaver County
Ordinance No. 082092-SWM, all persons collecting and/or transporting
waste within the Township of Rochester shall be required to obtain
a Beaver County license pursuant to Beaver County Ordinance No. 082092-SWM.
All municipal waste collectors and transporters shall deliver and dispose of all municipal waste generated within the Township of Rochester, other than recyclable materials as designated in Article I, Recycling, of this chapter, at the sites designated by the Township of Rochester by resolution from time to time.
All collectors and transporters shall comply with all Beaver
County rules and regulations adopted by Beaver County and the Township
of Rochester pursuant to Act 101, Beaver County Ordinance No. 080292-SWM,
or of this article.
A.
Prohibition of municipal waste processing and disposal facilities.
No person other than the County of Beaver, the United States of America,
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or the Township of Rochester shall
use or permit to be used any property owned or occupied by that person
within the Township of Rochester as a new municipal waste processing
or disposal facility, for the processing or disposal of waste generated
within Beaver County, without the express written approval of Beaver
County and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
B.
Existing facilities. The prohibition set forth in Subsection A of this section shall not interfere with the operation of any existing facility, provided that:
(1)
The owner/operator of the facility has an approved permit or has
submitted a permit application to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection prior to April 9, 1990.
(2)
The facility does not accept municipal waste from any sources within
the County of Beaver other than those authorized by the facility's
permit.
A.
Unlawful conduct. It shall be unlawful for any person to:
(1)
Violate or cause or assist in the violation of any provision of this
article, Beaver County Ordinance No. 082092-SWM or any rule, regulation
or order promulgated by Beaver County Ordinance No. 082092-SWM.
(2)
Cause to be processed, treated, or disposed of municipal waste generated
within the Township of Rochester at a facility other than that designated
pursuant to the Rochester Township Waste Disposal Agreement and the
Beaver County Solid Waste Management Plan.
(3)
Collect or transport municipal waste generated within the Township
of Rochester without a valid Beaver County license.
(4)
Hinder, obstruct, prevent or interfere with the Township of Rochester
in the performance of its duties under this article, Act 101 or any
enforcement of this article.
(5)
Act in any matter that is contrary to Act 101, Beaver County's
Municipal Waste Management Plan, Beaver County Ordinance No. 082092-SWM,
this article, or any Beaver County or Rochester Township rule or regulation
promulgated pursuant to this article or Beaver County Ordinance No.
082092-SWM, or the terms of any licenses issued by Beaver County.
Any person who engages in unlawful conduct as defined in this
article shall be subject upon conviction thereof to a fine not to
exceed $1,000 and costs and, in default of payment thereof, shall
be subject to imprisonment for a term not to exceed 30 days. Each
day that a violation of this article continues shall constitute a
separate offense.
A.
Restraining violations. In addition to any other remedy provided in this article, the Township of Rochester may institute a suit in equity if unlawful conduct or a public nuisance exists as defined in this article for an injunction to restrain a violation of this article, or rules, regulations, or orders issued pursuant to this article or Beaver County Ordinance No. 082092-SWM. In addition to an injunction, the court may impose penalties as authorized by § 131-19 hereof.
B.
Concurrent remedies. The penalties and remedies prescribed by this
article shall be deemed concurrent and the existence or exercise or
any remedy shall not prevent the Township of Rochester from exercising
any other remedy provided by this article or otherwise provided at
law or equity.
The terms and provisions of this article are to be liberally
construed so as to best achieve and effectuate the goals and purpose
hereof. This article shall be construed in pari materia with Beaver
County Ordinance No. 082092-SWM and Act 101.
