The legislature finds:
(1) Solid wastes generated in the state are to be managed in the following order of descending priority: (a) Waste reduction; (b) recycling; (c) treatment; (d) energy recovery or incineration; (e) solidification/stabilization; and (f) landfill.
(2) Special incinerator ash residues from the incineration of municipal solid waste that would otherwise be regulated as hazardous wastes need a separate regulatory scheme in order to (a) ease the permitting and reporting requirements of chapter 70A.300 RCW, the state hazardous waste management act, and (b) supplement the environmental protection provisions of chapter 70A.205 RCW, the state solid waste management act.
(3) Raw garbage poses significant environmental and public health risks. Municipal solid waste incineration constitutes a higher waste management priority than the land disposal of untreated municipal solid waste due to its reduction of waste volumes and environmental health risks.
It is therefore the purpose of this chapter to establish management requirements for special incinerator ash that otherwise would be regulated as hazardous waste under chapter 70A.300 RCW, the hazardous waste management act.
[ 2020 c 20 § 1374; 1987 c 528 § 1. Formerly RCW 70.138.010.]