The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is proposing to amend the state鈥檚 solid waste rules, as well as several recycling and air pollution control rules as they pertain to sanitary landfills in order to codify and implement the provisions of the Legacy Landfill Law, N.J.S.A. 13:1E-125.1 et seq., which became effective on June 26, 2013. A 鈥渓egacy landfill鈥� is a landfill that ceased operations before January 1, 1982, and received for disposal either solid waste or waste material that would now meet the definition of hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) but was received for disposal before the enactment of RCRA in 1976.
The Legacy Law (the Law), establishes requirements and controls for legacy landfills and closed sanitary landfill facilities that accept new materials after closure in order to, for example, close a landfill that has not been previously closed, regrade a landfill for proper drainage, or prepare the landfill surface for redevelopment. In passing the Law, the Legislature intended to allow for the redevelopment of closed sanitary landfill facilities, encourage proper closure of legacy landfills in order that they may be redeveloped in the future, require municipal involvement in the redevelopment of legacy landfills and closed sanitary landfill facilities within the municipality, and provide various safeguards to protect against future problems at legacy landfills and closed sanitary landfill facilities that accept materials for closure or redevelopment.
The proposed regulations will allow the DEP to implement the Law, and to assist the regulated community in complying with it. The Department is integrating the Law鈥檚 requirements into existing rules to provide the regulated community and the public with comprehensive rules that address closure and post-closure care and disruption of all sanitary landfills. The DEP also proposes to extend some requirements of the Law to all sanitary landfills, whether or not they are operating, and to clarify existing rules.
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