§ 12-8-91 — Declaration of policy and legislative intent

(a) It is declared to be the public policy of the State of Georgia, in furtherance of its responsibility to protect the public health, safety, and well-being of its citizens and to protect and enhance the quality of its environment, to require corrective action for releases of hazardous wastes, hazardous constituents, and hazardous substances, without regard to when such releases may have occurred, into the environment that may pose a threat to human health or the environment and to provide incentives for the reduction of the amount of hazardous wastes generated or managed in the state. Additionally, the purpose of this part is to reduce the generation of hazardous wastes in this state and to encourage hazardous waste generators, prior to considering landfill disposal, to consider the following measures in descending order of preference: (1) Reduce the amount of wastes generated through improvement in industrial processes; (2) Isolate hazardous materials from mixtures in which they occur; (3) Reuse and recycle wastes in accordance with state and federal requirements; (4) Transfer wastes through clearing-houses so that they may be recycled in industrial processes; (5) Detoxify or neutralize wastes into less harmful substances or destroy such wastes; and (6) Store hazardous waste residues in aboveground facilities using encapsulation and monitoring. (b) The General Assembly declares its intent to fund the execution of the public policy set forth in subsection (a) of this Code section by and through the Hazardous Waste Trust Fund established by Code Section 12-8-95 .

Legislative History

Amended by 2021 Ga. Laws 290,§ 6, eff. 7/1/2022. Amended by 2002 Ga. Laws 853, § 2, eff. 7/1/2002.