As used in this article, the following words shall have the following meanings respectively ascribed to them unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(1) BURNING. No garbage or rubbish containing garbage or other putrescible materials or hazardous wastes shall be burned except in approved incinerators meeting the regulations of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management requirements and air pollution controls as now established or as may later be established. The open burning of rubbish shall be permitted only under sharply controlled circumstances where sanitary landfill or landfill is not feasible and not in proximity to sanitary landfill or landfill operations where spread of fire to these operations may be a hazard in the opinion of the department.

(2) DEPARTMENT. Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

(3) EXCEPTION. A person, household, business, industry, or any property owner may store, haul, and dispose of his or her own solid wastes on his or her land or otherwise, provided such storage, haulage, or disposal is accomplished pursuant to a certificate of exception as provided by the state. In order to obtain a certificate of exception, an application, an application fee, and plan must be filed with the county health officer or his or her designee in the case of household solid waste or with the department in the case of solid waste from business or industry, setting out the proposed method of storing, hauling, and disposing of solid waste so as to comply with rules and regulations adopted by the state or county boards of health or the department as appropriate and not create a public nuisance or hazard to the public health. A permit relating to the storage, haulage, or disposal of solid waste issued by the department shall serve as a certificate of exception. The certificate of exception application fee shall be established by the State Board of Health or the department, as the case may be, except that with regard to an individual household such fee shall be twenty-five dollars ($25). The proceeds from such application fees are hereby appropriated to the State Board of Health or the department, as the case may be, to be used for the administration of this article. The county health officer or his or her designee or the department as appropriate shall investigate such application and plan and issue a certificate of exception within the time set by the State Board of Health or the department, as the case may be, not to exceed 60 days in the case of an individual household, if such proposal, in such officer’s or designee’s or the department’s judgment, shall comply with such rules and regulations and adequately prevent a public nuisance or hazard to public health. A certificate of exception granted under authority of this subdivision shall be valid for the period established by the department, except that in the case of an individual household such period shall not exceed one year. The county health officer or his or her designee or the department shall notify the county commission or municipal governing body in writing of the intention to grant a certificate of exception and no such certificate of exception shall be granted without prior written approval of the county commission or municipal governing body as the case may be, except where a department permit serves as a certificate of exception.

(4) GARBAGE DISPOSAL. Garbage and rubbish containing garbage shall be disposed of by sanitary landfill, approved incineration, composting, or by other means now available or which may later become available as approved by the governing body. The method chosen and used shall also meet the requirements of the county health department for sanitation and the protection of public health.

(5) HAULAGE. Trucks or other vehicles engaged in the business of hauling garbage and rubbish which use public roads shall be so covered, secured, or sealed that there will be no loss during haulage to cause littering of county or municipal roads, streets, and highways, or cause a nuisance or hazard to the public health.

(6) SOLID WASTE OFFICER. Any county official or county employee designated by the county commission to exercise the authority and perform the duties delegated by this article to such official.