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Publication #FE467

Florida Solid and Hazardous Waste Regulation Handbook: Glossary1

Michael T. Olexa, Aaron Leviten, and Kelly Samek2

  • Administrative Rules: Laws issued by state or federal administrative agencies. These laws are authorized by, and have the same effect as, those passed by Congress and state legislatures.

  • Adulterated Food: Food containing any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to health.

  • Agency: A unit of government that is authorized by state or federal legislature to enforce laws concerning a particular matter through regulation (usually part of the executive branch of government).

  • Attainment Area: An area where air quality regarding a certain pollutant (e.g., ozone) is in compliance with National Ambient Air Quality Standards established under the Clean Air Act.

  • Blackwater: Residential wastewater from toilets; some, including the Florida Statutes, also consider kitchen sink wastewater to be blackwater.

  • Carcinogen: An agent that has been scientifically proven to cause cancer.

  • Citizen Suit: A private lawsuit, specifically authorized by a statute, against someone who violates the statute or against the agency charged with enforcing the statute.

  • Civil Penalties: A category of penalties, typically including warnings, fines, and permit limitations or suspensions.

  • Class I Water Body: In Florida, surface waters that are potable water supplies, requiring the highest degree of protection.

  • Class II Water Body: In Florida, surface waters (generally coastal) where shellfish propagation or harvesting occurs.

  • Class III Water Body: In Florida, surface waters for recreation and propagation and maintenance of a healthy, well-balanced population of fish and wildlife. The surface waters of the state are Class III unless described in Rule 62-302.400, Florida Administrative Code (FAC).

  • Class IV Water Body: In Florida, surface waters that are agricultural water supplies (generally located in agriculture areas around Lake Okeechobee).

  • Class V Water Body: In Florida, surface waters for navigation, utility and industrial use that are provided the lowest degree of protection. Currently, there are not any designated Class V bodies of water.

  • Code of Federal Regulations: The official listing of regulations issued by federal administrative agencies.

  • Commercial Applicators: Those who are licensed to be paid for applying pesticides on the property of others.

  • Common Law: The body of law that is based on custom and general principles and becomes embodied in case law and that serves as precedent, in contrast to statutorily-based law; a body of law imported from England that is the basis of U.S. federal law and of state law in all the states, except Louisiana.

  • Contaminant: A physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter that has an adverse effect on air, water, or soil.

  • Defendant: In the criminal justice system, the person accused of violating a law. Civilly, the person accused of causing harm for which a plaintiff is suing.

  • Disposal: Final placement or destruction of toxic, radioactive, or other wastes; surplus or banned pesticides or other chemicals, polluted soils, or drums containing hazardous materials from removal actions or accidental releases; may be accomplished through use of approved secure landfills, surface impoundments, land farming, deep-well injection, ocean dumping, or incineration.

  • Domestic Wastewater Residuals: Sludge or treated waste from a municipal wastewater treatment plant.

  • Effluent: Generally, wastes discharged into surface waters.

  • Encapsulate: To seal a pesticide or its container within a container that will not be degraded by the pesticide and then, again, within a container which will resist physical damage.

  • Felony: Crimes greater than a misdemeanor. Federal felonies are crimes punishable by more than a year in prison and may trigger higher fines than misdemeanors do.

  • Florida Administrative Code: A set of rules that have the force of law adopted by state administrative agencies to carry out the goals of the Florida Legislature.

  • Graywater: Residential wastewater from non-toilet (and sometimes, non-kitchen) sources (e.g., showers and washing machines). Compare to blackwater.

  • Group I Container: Under the Florida State Implementation Plan required by EPA for air pollution control, a combustible container which formerly contained organic pesticides other than organic mercury, lead, cadmium, or arsenic compounds.

  • Hazardous Waste: Wastes considered by EPA to be a threat to human health or the environment; possesses at least 1 of 4 characteristics (ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity), or appears on special EPA lists.

  • Industrial Waste: Solid, semi-solid, or liquid waste from manufacturing or processing plants (may include hazardous waste).

  • Injunction, Injunctive Relief: A court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing a specified act (e.g., a restraining order).

  • Joint and Several Liability: Generally, when an offending party of a group of parties has liability both individually and for the entire group. In the context of CERCLA, this relates to the liability for Superfund site cleanup and other costs on the part of more than 1 potentially responsible party (i.e., if there were several owners or users of a site that became contaminated over the years, they could all be considered potentially liable for cleaning up the site.)

  • Knowingly: Deliberately. Under certain statutes, the characterization of a person who knows about the law and its consequences, but violates it anyway.

  • Label: Under FIFRA, the written, printed, or graphic matter on, or attached to, the pesticide or device or any of its containers or wrappers.

  • Landfill: An area specifically designated for the burial of waste.

  • Liability: Legal accountability or responsibility to another.

  • Misdemeanor: An offense lesser than a felony, punishable by less than 1 year imprisonment and usually lower fines.

  • Negligence: Failure to use such care as a reasonably prudent and careful person would use under similar circumstances.

  • Negligence per se: A form of negligence that results from violation of a public safety statute. Running a red light is an example of negligence per se.

  • Nonpoint Source: A nondiscernable source of pollution (e.g., agricultural or urban runoff and stormwater).

  • Owner/operator: Person who owns or manages facilities for the treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous wastes.

  • PCB: Polychlorinated biphenyls, a common human-manufactured carcinogen.

  • Permit: Official permission granted by an agency to engage in activities regulated by law.

  • Pesticide: Any substance intended to regulate, prevent, repel, or destroy any pest animal or plant.

  • Plaintiff: The person initiating a lawsuit against a defendant to seek compensation or other relief for a harm done by the defendant.

  • Point Source: Distinct location from which wastes are discharged (e.g., pipes and sewers).

  • Pollutant: Any substance introduced into the environment that adversely affects the usefulness of a resource or the health of humans, animals, or ecosystems.

  • Reportable Quantity: Under CERCLA, amount of a hazardous substance that, when spilled, must be reported to the National Response Center, state authorities, and emergency coordinators for areas likely to be affected.

  • Residuals: Amount of a pollutant remaining in the environment after a natural or technological process has taken place (e.g., sludge).

  • Sewage: Waste and wastewater produced by commercial and residential sources (including both graywater and blackwater) and discharged into sewers.

  • Sludge: A semi-solid residue from air or water treatment processes; can be a hazardous waste.

  • Solid Waste: Garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility; other discarded material, including liquid and gaseous materials in containers, resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural activities.

  • Statutes: Laws issued by the state or federal legislature.

  • Strict Liability: Liability imposed without finding of fault.

  • Threshold Planning Quantity: Under EPCRA, any quantity of a hazardous substance greater than that which must be reported by the facility.

  • Transporters: Under RCRA, all those involved in the transportation of hazardous waste.

  • Triple Rinse: A procedure for rinsing pesticide containers before disposal by flushing the container 3 times with water equal to 10 percent of the volume of the container's capacity described in 40 CFR 165.

  • Toxic Substances: A chemical or mixture that present a risk of injury to health or the environment.

  • Underground Storage Tanks: Tanks that have more than 10 percent of the volume below the surface of the ground; this 10 percent may include pipes.

Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to the personnel of both state and federal agencies who gave their time and advice in the preparation of this handbook. The authors are also indebted to the following University of Florida personnel for a review and critique of the first draft of this publication: Dr. Thomas Dean, Pesticide Education Specialist, and Dr. Norman Nesheim, Pesticide Information Coordinator. Special recognition is also due to Mr. Richard Budell of the Office of Agricultural Water Policy of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for providing funds for the development of this handbook.

This handbook is designed to provide an accurate, current, and authoritative summary of the principal Florida laws that directly or indirectly relate to agriculture. It should provide a basic overview of the many rights and responsibilities farmers and farmland owners have under Florida laws. The reader is provided information about these rights and responsibilities and the appropriate contacts for more detailed information. However, the reader should be aware that because the laws, administrative rulings, and court decisions on which this publication is based are subject to constant revision, portions of this publication could become outdated at any time. Many details of cited laws are also left out due to space limitations.

This handbook is distributed with the understanding that the authors are not engaged in rendering legal or other professional advice and the information contained herein should not be regarded or relied upon as a substitute for professional advice. It is not all-inclusive in providing information to achieve compliance with laws and regulations governing the practice of agriculture. For these reasons, the use of these materials by any person constitutes an agreement to hold harmless the authors, UF/IFAS, the Agricultural Law Center, and the University of Florida for any liability claims, damages, or expenses that may be incurred by any person as a result of reference to or reliance upon the information contained in this publication.

Footnotes

1. This is EDIS document FE467, a publication of the Department of Food and Resource Economics, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, UF/IFAS, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Published December 2003. Please visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2. Michael T. Olexa, Professor in the Department of Food and Resource Economics and Director of the Agricultural Law Center, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, UF/IFAS, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, and Member of the Florida Bar and Chair of the Agricultural Law Committee of the Florida Bar; Aaron Leviten, Attorney in Orlando and guest lecturer on pesticide litigation at the University of Florida; and Kelly Samek, 2003 graduate of the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Larry Arrington, Dean.