(A) The solid waste management plan of any county or joint solid waste management district shall be prepared in a format prescribed by the director of environmental protection and shall provide for compliance with the objectives of the state solid waste management plan and rules adopted under section3734.50of the Revised Code. The plan shall provide for, demonstrate, and certify the availability of and access to sufficient solid waste management facility capacity to meet the solid waste management needs of the district for the ten-year period covered by the plan. The solid waste management policy committee of a county or joint district created in section3734.54of the Revised Code may prepare and submit a solid waste management plan that covers and makes the required demonstration for a longer period of time.
The solid waste management plan shall contain all of the following:
(1) An inventory of the sources, composition, and quantities of solid wastes generated in the district during the current year;
(2) An inventory of all existing facilities where solid wastes are being disposed of, all resource recovery facilities, and all recycling activities within the district. The inventory shall identify each such facility or activity and, for each disposal facility, shall estimate the remaining disposal capacity available at the facility. The inventory shall be accompanied by a map that shows the location of each such existing facility or activity.
(3) An inventory of existing solid waste collection systems and routes, transportation systems and routes, and transfer facilities within the district. The inventory shall identify the entities engaging in solid waste collection within the district.
(4) An inventory of open dumping sites for solid wastes, including solid wastes consisting of scrap tires, and facilities for the disposal of fly ash and bottom ash, foundry sand, and slag within the district. The inventory shall identify each such site or facility and shall be accompanied by a map that shows the location of each of them.
(5) A projection of population changes within the district during the next ten years;
(6) For each year of the forecast period, projections of the amounts and composition of solid wastes that will be generated within the district, the amounts of solid wastes originating outside the district that will be brought into the district for disposal or resource recovery, the nature of industrial activities within the district, and the effect of newly regulated waste streams, solid waste minimization activities, and solid waste recycling and reuse activities on solid waste generation rates. For each year of the forecast period, projections of waste quantities shall be compiled as an aggregate quantity of wastes.
(7) An identification of the additional solid waste management facilities and the amount of additional capacity needed to dispose of the quantities of wastes projected in division (A)(6) of this section;
(8) A strategy for identification of sites for the additional solid waste management facilities and capacity identified under division (A)(7) of this section;
(9) An analysis and comparison of the capital and operating costs of the solid waste disposal facilities, solid waste resource recovery facilities, and solid waste recycling and reuse activities necessary to meet the solid waste management needs of the district, projected in five- and ten-year increments;
(10) An analysis of expenses for which the district is liable under section3734.35of the Revised Code;
(11) A projection of solid waste transfer facilities that will be needed in conjunction with existing solid waste facilities and those projected under division (A)(7) of this section;
(12) Such other projections as the district considers necessary or appropriate to ascertain and meet the solid waste management needs of the district during the period covered by the plan;
(13) A schedule for implementation of the plan that, when applicable, contains all of the following:
(a) An identification of the solid waste disposal, transfer, and resource recovery facilities and recycling activities contained in the plan where solid wastes generated within or transported into the district will be taken for disposal, transfer, resource recovery, or recycling. An initial or amended plan prepared and ordered to be implemented by the director under section3734.521,3734.55, or3734.56of the Revised Code may designate solid waste disposal, transfer, or resource recovery facilities or recycling activities that are owned by a municipal corporation, county, county or joint solid waste management district, township, or township waste disposal district created under section505.28of the Revised Code for which debt issued under Chapter 133., 343., or 6123. of the Revised Code is outstanding where solid wastes generated within or transported into the district shall be taken for disposal, transfer, resource recovery, or recycling.
(b) A schedule for closure of existing solid waste facilities, expansion of existing facilities, and establishment of new facilities. The schedule for expansion of existing facilities or establishment of new facilities shall include, without limitation, the approximate dates for filing applications for appropriate permits to install or modify those facilities under section3734.05of the Revised Code.
(c) A schedule for implementation of solid waste recycling, reuse, and reduction programs needed to meet the waste reduction, recycling, reuse, and minimization objectives of the state solid waste management plan and rules adopted by the director under section3734.50of the Revised Code;
(d) The methods of financing implementation of the plan and a demonstration of the availability of financial resources for that purpose.
(14) A program for providing informational or technical assistance regarding source reduction to solid waste generators, or particular categories of solid waste generators, within the district. The plan shall set forth the types of assistance to be provided by the district and the specific categories of generators that are to be served. The district has the sole discretion to determine the types of assistance that are to be provided under the program and the categories of generators to be served by it.
(B) In addition to the information, projections, demonstrations, and certification required by division (A) of this section, a plan shall do all of the following:
(1) Establish the schedule of fees, if any, to be levied under divisions (B)(1) to (3) of section3734.57of the Revised Code;
(2) Establish the fee, if any, to be levied under division (A) of section3734.573of the Revised Code;
(3) Contain provisions governing the allocation among the purposes enumerated in division (G) of section3734.57of the Revised Code of the moneys credited to the special fund of the district under that division that are available for expenditure by the district. The plan shall do all of the following:
(a) Ensure that sufficient of the moneys so credited to and available from the special fund are available for use by the solid waste management policy committee of the district at the time the moneys are needed to monitor implementation of the plan and conduct its periodic review and amendment as required under section3734.56of the Revised Code;
(b) Contain provisions governing the allocation and distribution of moneys credited to and available from the special fund of the district to health districts within the county or joint district that have approved programs under section3734.08of the Revised Code for the purposes of division (G)(3) of section3734.57of the Revised Code;
(c) Contain provisions governing the allocation and distribution of moneys credited to and available from the special fund of the district to the county in which solid waste facilities are or are to be located and operated under the plan for the purposes of division (G)(4) of section3734.57of the Revised Code;
(d) Contain provisions governing the allocation and distribution, pursuant to contracts entered into for that purpose, of moneys credited to and available from the special fund of the district to boards of health within the district in which solid waste facilities contained in the district's plan are located for the purposes of division (G)(5) of section3734.57of the Revised Code.
(4) Incorporate all solid waste recycling activities that were in operation within the district on the effective date of the plan.
(C) The solid waste management plan of a county or joint district may provide for the adoption of rules under division (G) of section343.01of the Revised Code after approval of the plan under section3734.521or3734.55of the Revised Code doing any or all of the following:
(1) Prohibiting or limiting the receipt at facilities located within the solid waste management district of solid wastes generated outside the district or outside a prescribed service area consistent with the projections under divisions (A)(6) and (7) of this section. However, rules adopted by a board under division (C)(1) of this section may be adopted and enforced with respect to solid waste disposal facilities in the solid waste management district that are not owned by a county or the solid waste management district only if the board submits an application to the director of environmental protection that demonstrates that there is insufficient capacity to dispose of all solid wastes that are generated within the district at the solid waste disposal facilities located within the district and the director approves the application. The demonstration in the application shall be based on projections contained in the plan or amended plan of the district. The director shall establish the form of the application. The approval or disapproval of such an application by the director is an action that is appealable under section3745.04of the Revised Code.
In addition, the director of environmental protection may issue an order modifying a rule authorized to be adopted under division (C)(1) of this section to allow the disposal in the district of wastes from another county or joint solid waste management district if all of the following apply:
(a) The district in which the wastes were generated does not have sufficient capacity to dispose of solid wastes generated within it for six months following the date of the director's order;
(b) No new solid waste facilities will begin operation during those six months in the district in which the wastes were generated and, despite good faith efforts to do so, it is impossible to site new solid waste facilities within the district because of its high population density;
(c) The district in which the wastes were generated has made good faith efforts to negotiate with other districts to incorporate its disposal needs within those districts' solid waste management plans, including efforts to develop joint facilities authorized under section343.02of the Revised Code, and the efforts have been unsuccessful;
(d) The district in which the wastes were generated has located a facility willing to accept the district's solid wastes for disposal within the receiving district;
(e) The district in which the wastes were generated has demonstrated to the director that the conditions specified in divisions (C)(1)(a) to (d) of this section have been met;
(f) The director finds that the issuance of the order will be consistent with the state solid waste management plan and that receipt of the out-of-district wastes will not limit the capacity of the receiving district to dispose of its in-district wastes to less than eight years. Any order issued under division (C)(1) of this section shall not become final until thirty days after it has been served by certified mail upon the county or joint solid waste management district that will receive the out-of-district wastes.
(2) Governing the maintenance, protection, and use of solid waste collection, storage, disposal, transfer, recycling, processing, and resource recovery facilities within the district and requiring the submission of general plans and specifications for the construction, enlargement, or modification of any such facility to the board of county commissioners or board of directors of the district for review and approval as complying with the plan or amended plan of the district;
(3) Governing development and implementation of a program for the inspection of solid wastes generated outside the boundaries of the state that are being disposed of at solid waste facilities included in the district's plan;
(4) Exempting the owner or operator of any existing or proposed solid waste facility provided for in the plan from compliance with any amendment to a township zoning resolution adopted under section519.12of the Revised Code or to a county rural zoning resolution adopted under section303.12of the Revised Code that rezoned or redistricted the parcel or parcels upon which the facility is to be constructed or modified and that became effective within two years prior to the filing of an application for a permit required under division (A)(2)(a) of section3734.05of the Revised Code to open a new or modify an existing solid waste facility.
(D) Except for the inventories required by divisions (A)(1), (2), and (4) of this section and the projections required by division (A)(6) of this section, neither this section nor the solid waste management plan of a county or joint district applies to the construction, operation, use, repair, or maintenance of either of the following:
(1) A solid waste facility owned by a generator of solid wastes when the solid waste facility exclusively disposes of solid wastes generated at one or more premises owned by the generator regardless of whether the facility is located on a premises where the wastes are generated;
(2) A facility that exclusively disposes of wastes that are generated from the combustion of coal, or from the combustion of primarily coal in combination with scrap tires, that is not combined in any way with garbage at one or more premises owned by the generator.
(E)(1) The initial solid waste management plans prepared by county or joint districts under section3734.521of the Revised Code and the amended plans prepared under section3734.521or3734.56of the Revised Code shall contain a clear statement as to whether the board of county commissioners or directors is authorized to or precluded from establishing facility designations under section343.014of the Revised Code.
(2) A policy committee that is preparing a draft or revised draft plan under section3734.55of the Revised Code on October 29, 1993, may include in the draft or revised draft plan only one of the following pertaining to the solid waste facilities or recycling activities where solid wastes generated within or transported into the district are to be taken for disposal, transfer, resource recovery, or recycling:
(a) The designations required under former division (A)(12)(a) of this section as it existed prior to October 29, 1993;
(b) The identifications required in division (A)(12)(a) of this section and the statement required under division (E)(1) of this section;
(c) Both of the following:
(i) The designations required under former division (A)(12)(a) of this section as it existed prior to October 29, 1993, except that those designations only shall pertain to solid waste disposal, transfer, or resource recovery facilities or recycling activities that are owned by a municipal corporation, county, county or joint solid waste management district, township, or township waste disposal district created under section505.28of the Revised Code for which debt issued under Chapter 133., 343., or 6123. of the Revised Code is outstanding;
(ii) The identifications required under division (A)(12)(a) of this section, and the statement required under division (E)(1) of this section, pertaining to the solid waste facilities and recycling activities described in division (A) of section343.014of the Revised Code.
(F) Notwithstanding section3734.01of the Revised Code, "solid wastes" does not include scrap tires and "facility" does not include any scrap tire collection, storage, monocell, monofill, or recovery facility in either of the following circumstances:
(1) For the purposes of an initial plan prepared and ordered to be implemented by the director under section3734.55of the Revised Code;
(2) For the purposes of an initial or amended plan prepared and ordered to be implemented by the director under division (D) of section3734.521of the Revised Code in connection with a change in district composition as defined in that section that involves an existing district that is operating under either an initial plan approved or prepared and ordered to be implemented under section3734.55of the Revised Code or an initial or amended plan approved or prepared and ordered to be implemented under section3734.521of the Revised Code that does not provide for the management of scrap tires and scrap tire facilities.
(G) Notwithstanding section3734.01of the Revised Code, and except as provided in division (A)(4) of this section, "solid wastes" need not include scrap tires and "facility" need not include any scrap tire collection, storage, monocell, monofill, or recovery facility for the purposes of an initial plan prepared under sections3734.54and3734.55of the Revised Code unless the solid waste management policy committee preparing the initial plan chooses to include the management of scrap tires and scrap tire facilities in the plan.
If a policy committee chooses to include the management of scrap tires and scrap tire facilities in an initial plan pursuant to division (G) of this section, the initial plan shall incorporate all of the elements required under this section, and may incorporate any of the elements authorized under this section, for the purpose of managing solid wastes that consist of scrap tires and solid waste facilities that are scrap tire collection, storage, monocell, monofill, or recovery facilities.
(H) Neither this section nor the solid waste management plan of a county or joint district applies to the construction, operation, use, repair, or maintenance of any compost facility that exclusively composts raw rendering material.
Last updated July 30, 2025 at 1:11 PM