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2018 Georgia Code 12-8-31.1 | Car Wreck Lawyer

TITLE 12 CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Section 8. Waste Management, 12-8-1 through 12-8-210.

ARTICLE 2 SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

12-8-31.1. Local, multijurisdictional, or regional solid waste plans; reporting by cities and counties; annual reporting requirements for landfill owners and operators.

    1. Each city and county in Georgia shall develop or be included in a comprehensive solid waste management plan. Said plan may be developed independently as a local plan or jointly with other jurisdictions as a multijurisdictional or regional solid waste plan.
      1. The Department of Community Affairs under the provisions of Chapter 13 of Title 50 shall promulgate solid waste planning guidance that a city or county may use to update or amend such city's or county's solid waste plan.
      2. Any city or county that proposes to update or amend its solid waste management plan shall publish notice of such proposed action in the county legal organ or the city's or county's Internet website, as applicable, at least two weeks prior to adopting such update or amendment to its plan in accordance with subsection (c) of this Code section.
  1. The local, multijurisdictional, or regional solid waste plan and plan updates shall, at a minimum, provide for the assurance of adequate solid waste handling capability and capacity within the planning area for at least ten years from the date of completion of the plan which shall specifically include an adequate collection and disposal capability; shall enumerate the solid waste handling facilities as to size and type; and shall identify those sites which are not suitable for solid waste handling facilities based on environmental and land use factors.
  2. To be included as part of a local, multijurisdictional, or regional solid waste plan, each city and county included as part of the plan shall adopt the plan and any plan updates by local ordinance or resolution.
  3. Each city and county may report annually to the Department of Community Affairs on the status of solid waste management in the jurisdiction. Such reports may be individual or collective in nature or, in lieu of local reports, a regional report may be filed by any of the several regional commissions for political jurisdictions within their region. The annual report may include but not be limited to:
    1. The amount of solid waste collected, processed, and disposed of in the area;
    2. The progress on the reduction in solid waste, as evidenced by the solid waste received at disposal facilities in the planning area since the previous reporting period and total cumulative progress made toward meeting the waste reduction goals of the state;
    3. The remaining permitted capacity of disposal facilities;
    4. Recycling and composting activities in existence;
    5. Public information and education activities during the reporting period; and
    6. Any other pertinent information as may be required.
  4. After July 1, 1992, no permit, grant, or loan shall be issued for any municipal solid waste disposal facility or any solid waste handling equipment or recycling equipment used in conjunction therewith in a county or region which is not consistent with a local, multijurisdictional, or regional solid waste management plan. Each application for a permit, grant, or loan issued after July 1, 1992, shall include the following:
    1. Certification that the facility for which a permit is sought complies with local land use and zoning requirements, if any;
    2. Verification that the facility for which a permit is sought meets the ten-year capacity needs identified in the local, multijurisdictional, or regional solid waste management plan; and
    3. Demonstration that the host jurisdiction and all jurisdictions generating solid waste destined for the applicant's facility are part of an approved solid waste management plan or updated plan developed consistent with standards promulgated pursuant to this part, and are actively involved in, and have a strategy for, meeting the state-wide goal for reduction of solid waste disposal.
  5. This Code section shall not apply to:
    1. Any solid waste disposal facility which is operated exclusively by a private solid waste generator on property owned by the private solid waste generator for the purpose of accepting solid waste exclusively from the private solid waste generator so long as the operation of the solid waste disposal facility does not adversely affect the public health or the environment. After commencement of operation by a private solid waste generator of a solid waste disposal facility which is permitted but not included in a local or regional solid waste management plan, an amendment into a local or regional solid waste management plan shall be required for any solid waste which is to be no longer disposed of by the private solid waste generator in its own solid waste disposal facility prior to any substantial reduction in the amount of solid waste accepted by the solid waste disposal facility or its closure; or
    2. Any privately owned solid waste handling facility seeking a permit or major modification of an existing permit where the host local governing authority has failed to make a good faith effort, as determined by the Department of Community Affairs, to develop and adopt a local solid waste management plan or to be included in a multijurisdictional or regional solid waste management plan; provided, however, that the permit applicant continues to be obligated to demonstrate that all generating jurisdictions from which waste will be received are part of an approved solid waste management plan developed in accordance with planning guidance promulgated pursuant to this part and have a strategy to meet and are actively engaged in meeting the state-wide goal of reducing waste.
  6. Effective July 1, 1991, it shall be the responsibility of the owner or operator of each municipal solid waste disposal facility to keep an accurate written record of all amounts of solid waste measured in tons received at the facility. Measurement in tons of solid waste received shall be accomplished by one or more of the following methods:
    1. The provision of stationary or portable scales at the disposal facility for weighing incoming waste;
    2. Implementation of contractual or other arrangements for the use of scales at a location other than the disposal facility for weighing all waste destined for disposal at the facility; or
    3. Implementation of contractual or other arrangements for the use of scales at a location other than the disposal facility to weigh representative samples of the solid waste received at the disposal facility on a basis which is sufficiently frequent to estimate accurately the amount of solid waste received at the disposal facility.
  7. The provisions of subsection (d) of this Code section notwithstanding, each public or private owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill shall report annually to the Department of Community Affairs on the status of solid waste management for each municipal solid waste landfill it owns or operates in this state. The annual report for each such landfill shall include but not be limited to:
    1. The amount of solid waste collected, processed, and disposed of at such landfill;
    2. The remaining permitted capacity of the landfill;
    3. Recycling and composting activities in existence at such landfill; and
    4. Any other pertinent information as may be required by the Department of Community Affairs.

(Code 1981, §12-8-31.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1990, p. 412, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 3276, § 12; Ga. L. 1993, p. 399, § 8; Ga. L. 2008, p. 181, §§ 13, 19/HB 1216; Ga. L. 2011, p. 312, § 1/SB 157.)

The 2011 amendment, effective July 1, 2011, designated subsection (a) as paragraph (a)(1) and subparagraph (a)(2)(A); in paragraph (a)(1), in the first sentence, deleted "not later than July 1, 1993" following "management plan", and in the second sentence substituted a period for "and shall conform to the plan development procedures developed and promulgated by the"; in subparagraph (a)(2)(A), added "shall promulgate solid waste planning guidance that a city or county may use to update or amend such city's or county's solid waste plan" at the end; added subparagraph (a)(2)(B); in subsection (b), inserted "and plan updates" near the beginning; rewrote subsection (c); in subsection (d), in the introductory language, substituted "Each city and county may" for "Effective January 1, 1992, each city and county shall" in the first sentence, and in the last sentence, substituted "may include" for "shall include"; in paragraph (d)(2), deleted ", which are not exempt from subsection (c) of Code Section 12-8-21," following "at disposal facilities" and substituted "the waste reduction goals of the state" for "the 25 percent reduction goal"; in paragraph (e)(3), substituted "plan or updated plan developed consistent" for "plan developed in accordance" and deleted "by July 1, 1996" from the end; in paragraph (f)(2), substituted "Any" for "Effective September 1, 1994, any" at the beginning, substituted "to make" for "either to submit or make" and "develop and adopt" for "submit" near the middle, substituted "planning guidance" for "standards" and deleted "by 25 percent by July 1, 1996" at the end; and added subsection (h).

Law reviews.

- For note on 1992 amendment of this Code section, see 9 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 199 (1992).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Constitutionality.

- "Planning requirements" set forth in paragraph (e)(3) of O.C.G.A. §§ 12-8-31.1,12-8-24, and regulations thereunder, insofar as they require an applicant for a permit for a biomedical waste thermal treatment facility to provide certain verifications regarding out-of-state jurisdictions generating solid waste destined for the applicant's facility, are unconstitutional as violative of the commerce clause. Environmental Waste Reductions, Inc. v. Reheis, 887 F. Supp. 1534 (N.D. Ga. 1994).

Factors to be considered in verification process.

- O.C.G.A. § 12-8-24(g) did not prohibit local governments from considering factors other than environmental and land use factors in developing a Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP), and a local government was authorized to consider any relevant factor in determining whether a proposed facility was consistent with the facility's SWMP that the facility properly considered in the SWMP itself; the Supreme Court of Georgia overruled Butts County v. Pine Ridge Recycling, Inc., 213 Ga. App. 510, 445 S.E.2d 294 (Ga. Ct. App. 1994) and held that a trial court erred in ruling that a county improperly considered factors other than environmental and land use factors in refusing to issue a verification to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division regarding an applicant's proposed landfill. Murray County v. R&J Murray, LLC, 280 Ga. 314, 627 S.E.2d 574 (2006).

Applicant for a solid waste handling facility was entitled to mandamus relief seeking to compel a city to issue written verification that a proposed solid waste handling facility did not violate any zoning or land use ordinances and that it was consistent with all solid waste management plans because: (1) the city did not comply with O.C.G.A. § 12-8-31.1(a) and (b); and (2) the city could not rely on the city's solid waste management plan to deny the written verification under O.C.G.A. § 12-8-24(g) which was consistent with the city's plan approved in 1993. McKee v. City of Geneva, 280 Ga. 411, 627 S.E.2d 555 (2006).

Ordinance restricting waste disposal services upheld.

- Georgia trial court erred by denying injunctive relief to a county and the county's chosen waste disposal company wherein it sought to prohibit an unauthorized waste company from providing services in the county against an ordinance because the ordinance served a legitimate public purpose by establishing means reasonably necessary to achieve the purpose of the county providing a comprehensive solid waste management plan as the county was required to do under O.C.G.A. § 12-8-31.1. Advanced Disposal Servs. Middle Ga., LLC v. Deep S. Sanitation, LLC, 296 Ga. 103, 765 S.E.2d 364 (2014).

Cases Citing O.C.G.A. § 12-8-31.1

Total Results: 6  |  Sort by: Relevance  |  Newest First

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Lamar Cnty. v. E.T. Carlyle Co., 594 S.E.2d 335 (Ga. 2004).

Cited 16 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Mar 22, 2004 | 277 Ga. 690, 2004 Fulton County D. Rep. 1009

...t Lamar County did not have a landfill designated as a C&D landfill, that the county's Solid Waste Management Plan ("SWMP") prohibited the disposal of C&D waste in the county's current landfill, and that the SWMP was, therefore, in violation of OCGA § 12-8-31.1....
...Carlyle Company challenged the validity of Lamar County's comprehensive solid waste management plan, based upon a variety of State statutes. The trial court found that Lamar County had no valid comprehensive solid waste management plan as required by OCGA § 12-8-31.1, therefore the County's attempted regulation of solid waste landfills was invalid, and mandamus relief was mandated....
...extraordinary remedy. Rather, mandamus relief simply flowed from the trial court's determination, pursuant to Carlyle's request for a declaratory judgment, that Lamar County had no valid comprehensive solid waste management plan as required by OCGA § 12-8-31.1, and that its attempted regulation of solid waste landfills was therefore legally ineffective....
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Murray Cnty. v. R & J MURRAY, LLC, 627 S.E.2d 574 (Ga. 2006).

Cited 7 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Mar 13, 2006 | 280 Ga. 314, 2006 Fulton County D. Rep. 719

...tion to the EPD. The trial court found that in making its decision, the County had considered factors that it was prohibited from considering under Butts County v. Pine Ridge Recycling [4] In that decision, the Court of Appeals ruled that under OCGA § 12-8-31.1(b), a local government can only consider environmental and land use factors in making its determination regarding a proposed landfill's consistency with its SWMP....
...[9] After receiving written verification from the local government, the applicant may then request a permit from the director of the EPD. [10] The Butts County decision, as well as the decision by the trial court in this case, is based on the language of OCGA § 12-8-31.1(b)....
...vernments are to determine whether a proposed facility is consistent with its SWMP. [12] In fact, the plain language of the statute indicates that factors other than the "minimum" land use and environmental factors might be considered. Although OCGA § 12-8-31.1(b) provides the "minimum" factors that must be considered in a SWMP, OCGA § 12-8-31.1(a) also requires a valid SWMP to "conform to the plan development procedures developed and promulgated by the Department of Community Affairs." [13] The regulations issued by the DCA, which "shall be used to guide the preparation, develo...
...cused on precisely these factors, among others, when it determined that the proposed landfill would render the County unable to continue to operate the existing landfill, as envisioned by its SWMP. If the Butts County decision were correct, and OCGA § 12-8-31.1(b) limited the factors that could be considered in a consistency determination, then these regulatory requirements are meaningless....
...solid waste facility is consistent with the plan. Accordingly, those issues are not before us in this appeal. Second, I agree with the majority opinion that the Butts County decision must be overruled. In that case, the Court of Appeals applied OCGA § 12-8-31.1(b), a statute requiring that a plan "identify those sites which are not suitable for solid waste handling facilities based on environmental and land use factors," and concluded that Butts County was restricted to consideration of environmental and land use factors in determining whether a proposed facility was consistent with the county's solid waste management plan. Butts County v. Pine Ridge Recycling, 213 Ga.App. 510, 512, 445 S.E.2d 294 (1994). Although the factors in OCGA § 12-8-31.1(b) are applicable with regard to the issue of site suitability, the issue before the Court of Appeals in Butts County was whether the proposed facility was consistent with Butts County's SWMP....
...egulations promulgated by the DCA. See OCGA § 12-8-24(g) (requiring verification that proposed facility complies with local zoning and land use ordinance and is consistent with applicable solid waste management plan before issuance of permit); OCGA § 12-8-31.1(b) (plan shall identify those sites that are not suitable for solid waste handling facilities); Minimum Planning Standards and Procedures, Ga....
...[6] "Mandamus is an extraordinary remedy and is available against a public official only when the petitioner shows a clear legal right to the relief sought or a gross abuse of discretion." Mid-Georgia Environmental Mgmt. Group v. Meriwether County, 277 Ga. 670, 672-673, 594 S.E.2d 344 (2004). [7] OCGA § 12-8-21(a). [8] OCGA § 12-8-31.1. [9] OCGA § 12-8-24(g). [10] OCGA § 12-8-24(a). [11] OCGA § 12-8-31.1(b)....
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McKee v. City of Geneva, 627 S.E.2d 555 (Ga. 2006).

Cited 7 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Mar 13, 2006 | 280 Ga. 411

...OCGA § 12-8-24(g) provides, in relevant part, that the verification must attest to the proposed facility's compliance "with the local, multijurisdictional, or regional [SWMP] developed in accordance with standards promulgated pursuant to this part subject to the provisions of Code Section 12-8-31.1....
...By its terms, OCGA § 12-8-24(g) does not require compliance with both a SWMP and a CP. Instead, as previously noted, it provides that the proposed facility must comply only with a "[SWMP] developed in accordance with standards promulgated pursuant to this part subject to the provisions of Code Section 12-8-31.1....
...n to the contrary. . . ." Friedman v. Goodman, supra at 159(3)(b), 132 S.E.2d 60. OCGA § 12-8-24(g) unequivocally states that a SWMP must be "developed in accordance with standards promulgated pursuant to this part subject to the provisions of Code Section 12-8-31.1. . . ." OCGA § 12-8-31.1(a), in turn, requires that a city develop or be included in a "comprehensive [SWMP] not later than July 1, 1993." Under OCGA § 12-8-31.1(b), the SWMP "shall, at a minimum,....
...eloped, was required to identify unsuitable sites, not express vague "GOALS" as to the identification of such sites in the future. Therefore, even assuming that incorporation by reference can ever apply prospectively, subsections (a) and (b) of OCGA § 12-8-31.1 are statutory provisions which mandate a comprehensive SWMP by 1993, and thereby preclude the City's reliance on that principle to incorporate the 1995 CP into its SWMP....
...nance. Here, the controlling statutory provisions require that the City be included in a "comprehensive" SWMP by a date certain and that the SWMP must, "at a minimum," identify the sites which are unsuitable for solid waste handling facilities. OCGA § 12-8-31.1 (a), (b)....
...he principle of incorporation by reference must be employed and "it appears to be inconsistent" to apply the principle here; and, even if incorporation by reference were a possibility, the *560 majority opines it would not be applicable because OCGA § 12-8-31.1(a) and (b) prohibit the use of incorporation by reference....
..."[i]n the absence of statutory or charter provision to the contrary. . . ."). I first take issue with the majority's implication that the regional solid waste management plan is deficient because it did not meet the minimum standards listed in OCGA § 12-8-31.1(b)....
...n of DNR supervises the administration of solid waste management. OCGA § 12-8-23.1. DCA is the government agency statutorily charged with establishing a review process for local, multi-jurisdictional, and regional solid waste management plans. OCGA § 12-8-31.1(a), (c)....
...A plan which sets forth goals might be deemed deficient when measured against the requirements for enactment of laws or ordinances but, as I have pointed out, it is inappropriate to use the ordinance measuring stick to determine whether a plan is up to snuff. The majority's actual holding in the case at bar is that OCGA § 12-8-31.1(a) and (b) preclude the use of incorporation by reference because the statute required the regional solid waste management plan to be complete by July 1, 1993....
...s in municipal ordinances by incorporation by reference is valid where the document adopted is sufficiently identified and is made a part of public record." (Emphasis supplied.) Friedman v. Goodman, supra, 219 Ga. at 159, 132 S.E.2d 60. Neither OCGA § 12-8-31.1(a) nor (b) mentions incorporation by reference, much less prohibits the use of incorporation by reference; instead, they merely set out minimum requirements for a local government's solid waste management plan....
...[2] Carried to its logical conclusion, the majority's holding means that incorporation by reference cannot be used in a solid waste management plan developed after the July 1, 1993 statutory deadline, or in a solid waste management plan that has not clearly set forth the three criteria listed in OCGA § 12-8-31.1(b). Somehow, the statutory deadline set forth in OCGA § 12-8-31.1(a) has become a statutory provision that prohibits the use of incorporation *562 by reference of adoption of documents in municipal ordinances....
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Advanced Disposal Servs. Middle Georgia, LLC v. Deep South Sanitation, LLC, 296 Ga. 103 (Ga. 2014).

Cited 4 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Nov 3, 2014 | 765 S.E.2d 364

...See OCGA § 12-8-21 (a) (purpose of the Georgia Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Act is “to protect the public health, safety, and well-being of [Georgia] citizens and to protect and enhance the quality of [Georgia’s] environment”); OCGA § 12-8-31.1 (a) and (b) (requiring counties to develop or be included in a comprehensive solid waste management plan which provides, at a minimum, “for the assurance of adequate solid waste handling capability and capacity within the planning area...
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R & J MURRAY, LLC v. Murray Cnty., 653 S.E.2d 720 (Ga. 2007).

Cited 4 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Nov 21, 2007 | 282 Ga. 740, 2007 Fulton County D. Rep. 3595

...In other words, the purpose of the comprehensive state-wide program is to assure the goals of the Act— protection of public health and the environment. In order to further these same goals at the local level, the Legislature required the creation of individual solid waste management plans throughout Georgia localities. OCGA § 12-8-31.1(a)....

Advanced Disposal Servs. Middle Georgia, LLC v. Deep South Sanitation, LLC (Ga. 2014).

Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Sep 22, 2014 | 282 Ga. 740, 2007 Fulton County D. Rep. 3595

...See OCGA § 12-8-21 (a) (purpose of the Georgia Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Act is “to protect the public health, 6 safety, and well-being of [Georgia] citizens and to protect and enhance the quality of [Georgia’s] environment”); OCGA § 12-8-31.1 (a ) and (b) (requiring counties to develop or be included in a comprehensive solid waste management plan which provides, at a minimum, “for the assurance of adequate solid waste handling capability and capacity within the planning...