Solid Waste Management Facilities

During 2004, New York State residents, institutions, commercial businesses and industries generated approximately 37.2 million tons of solid waste excluding biosolids. In addition, approximately 1.2 million tons of solid waste was imported from other states. The solid waste was managed using an integrated waste management approach of waste reduction, reuse, recycling, waste-to-energy, landfilling and waste exportation.

Waste that wasn't reduced was managed by various solid waste facilities. These facilities are described as follows:

Materials Exchanges - Materials exchanges facilitate the exchange of materials or wastes from one party, which has no use for that material, to another party that views the materials as a valuable commodity. These facilities foster waste reduction efforts through the reuse of materials, thus eliminating the need to process the materials for recovery or disposal. These facilities are not regulated by the DEC.

Recyclables Handling and Recovery Facilities (RHRF) - RHRF receive recyclables that have been separated from the waste stream for further separation or processing. RHRFs serve as a processing link for many municipalities and businesses to allow them to get their materials into the recycling system. These facilities are required to be registered with (rather than permitted by) DEC.

Waste Tire Storage Facilities - Waste tire storage facilities (WTSF) store 1,000 or more waste tires. Most of these facilities are required to be permitted by or under certain conditions, registered with DEC. The following types of WTSFs may be eligible for registration: waste tire retreaders; those storing waste tires for on-site energy recovery; tire dealers selling waste tires; and those using waste tires in the manufacture of new products, as approved by DEC in writing.
List of registered and permitted waste tire storage facilities in New York State.

Organic Waste Recycling Facilities (OWRF) - OWRF receive and process organic wastes through methods such as composting, land application, chemical stabilization, pelletization and digestion to put organic material to beneficial use. Most types of OWRF are required to be permitted by the DEC, although there are many exemptions within the regulations for specific materials and/or quantity of material processed, depending on the environmental impact of the material processed.

Construction & Demolition (C&D) Debris Processing Facilities - These processing facilities remove reusable building or construction materials from the waste stream, and process the material into usable components or products.

Household Hazardous Waste Collection and Storage Facilities (HHWCSF) - Household hazardous waste (HHW) is collected and/or stored at these facilities which are open on a regular basis. HHWCSF are required to be permitted by the DEC. Collection of HHW in New York State is also accomplished through single collection day events, where residents can bring HHW to a central location to be packaged and transported. In order to hold a HHW collection day, a plan for the event must be approved in advance by the DEC.

Automobile dismantlers, scrap metal processors, automobile junkyards - and facilities that recover metal from sludges that are not hazardous waste which are required to be managed at a facility subject to regulation under Part 373 or 374 of NYCRR Title 6, and metal salvage facilities are exempt from regulation under Part 360, except as follows: the owner or operator of each of these facilities must provide the department with an annual report (Annual Report for Waste Fluid Disposal - PDF, 140KB) that details how the waste fluids (including, but not limited to, refrigerants, oil and transmission fluids) are disposed.

Transfer Stations - Transfer Stations receive solid waste for subsequent transfer to another solid waste management facility for further processing, treating, transfer or disposal.

Waste Combustion Facilities - Waste-to-Energy (WTE) facilities combust wastes to generate steam or electricity resulting in a reduced volume of municipal solid waste (MSW) that would otherwise need to be disposed of.

Landfills - Landfills are used for the disposal of solid waste that is not reused, recycled or combusted for energy recovery. New York State regulates Ash Monofill Landfills, Construction & Demolition (C&D) Debris Landfills, Industrial Landfills, Long Island Landfills and Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfills.

More about Solid Waste Management Facilities :

Transfer Stations - General information on registered and permitted Transfer Stations in New York State, including a listing of active regulated Transfer Stations.
Landfill Gas Recovery Facilities - General information on Landfill Gas Recovery Facilities in New York State, including a listing of the active Landfill Gas Recovery Facilities.
Recycling Facilities - Information on the types of recycling facilities that are used in New York State, including Recyclables Handling and Recovery Facilities, Waste Tire Storage Facilities, Organic Waste Recycling Facilities, Household Hazardous Waste Collection and Storage Facilities, Automobile Dismantlers, Scrap Metal Processors, Automobile Junkyards and Materials Exchanges.
Solid Waste Landfills - General information on solid waste landfills including a description of the different types of landfills used to manage solid waste in New York State.
Municipal Solid Waste Landfills - General information on municipal solid waste landfills in New York State, including definitions and a map of the active municipal solid waste landfills.
Waste to Energy Facilities - General information on Waste-to-Energy facilities in New York State, including definitions and a map of the active Waste-to-Energy facilities.