(a) On or before January 1, 1987, a municipality may submit to the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection a plan for the next twenty-year period for the management of all solid waste generated within its boundaries.

(b) Any plan submitted pursuant to this section shall provide a reasonable, practical and effective short and long term strategy to meet the solid waste management needs of the municipality and may include provisions for (1) the handling and disposal of all solid waste generated within the municipality, including, but not limited to, transportation after collection from the generator, separation, processing, recycling, storing, recovering energy or materials from solid waste and disposal of nonrecoverable waste residues; (2) alternate disposal methods in the case of a failure of usual methods; (3) intermunicipal cooperative use of solid waste facilities; and (4) the minimization of the land disposal of solid waste. Any such plan shall be developed in accordance with guidelines established by the commissioner after public notice and an opportunity for comment. Such guidelines shall not be subject to the provisions of chapter 54.

(c) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall approve or disapprove any plan submitted pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. In making his decision, the commissioner shall consider any applicable federal or state health, environmental or planning standard. If the commissioner disapproves a plan, he shall send a notice to the municipality stating the reasons for such disapproval. A municipality may amend its initial plan in response to such disapproval within thirty days of the receipt of such notice. A municipality may submit a written request for a hearing to the commissioner within ten days of the receipt of a notice that its initial or amended plan is disapproved and the commissioner shall hold a hearing on such plan as soon thereafter as is practical. An appeal from the final decision of the commissioner may be taken in accordance with section 4-183, except that the petition shall be filed in the superior court for the judicial district of New Britain within ten days of the receipt of a notice of a final decision. Such appeal shall have the same precedence in the order of trial as provided in section 52-191 for civil actions brought by or on behalf of the state. Any municipality which does not submit a plan or does not have an approved solid waste management plan after appeal or, if no appeal is taken, after the time for taking an appeal has expired, shall manage its solid waste in accordance with the provisions of a state-wide solid waste management plan adopted pursuant to section 22a-228 after such state-wide plan is adopted.

(P.A. 85-436, S. 1, 6; P.A. 88-230, S. 1, 12; P.A. 90-98, S. 1, 2; P.A. 93-142, S. 4, 7, 8; P.A. 95-220, S. 4–6; P.A. 99-215, S. 24, 29; P.A. 11-80, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 88-230 replaced “judicial district of Hartford-New Britain” with “judicial district of Hartford”, effective September 1, 1991; P.A. 90-98 changed the effective date of P.A. 88-230 from September 1, 1991, to September 1, 1993; P.A. 93-142 changed the effective date of P.A. 88-230 from September 1, 1993, to September 1, 1996, effective June 14, 1993; P.A. 95-220 changed the effective date of P.A. 88-230 from September 1, 1996, to September 1, 1998, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 99-215 replaced “judicial district of Hartford” with “judicial district of New Britain” in Subsec. (c), effective June 29, 1999; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection” in Subsecs. (a) and (c), effective July 1, 2011.