13:1E-34.1. Development of landfill mining demonstration project

1. a. The department shall authorize the development of a landfill mining demonstration project to provide information and experience concerning landfill mining. As used in this act, "landfill mining" means the excavation and removal of materials from a closed sanitary landfill facility for the purposes of recycling, use, reuse, sale, or composting.

b. Any local government unit that owns or operates a sanitary landfill facility proposing to undertake a landfill mining demonstration project shall submit to the department an application package that shall contain a mining plan and any other information as may be prescribed by the department.

c. The department shall allocate $250,000 from the Sanitary Landfill Contingency Fund, established pursuant to section 6 of P.L.1981, c.306 (C.13:1E-105), to the Solid Waste Management Research and Development Fund, established pursuant to section 25 of P.L.1975, c.326 (C.13:1E-34), for grants to local government units that own or operate sanitary landfill facilities to undertake landfill mining demonstration projects.

d. An owner or operator of a sanitary landfill facility who undertakes a landfill mining demonstration project shall prepare a written report concerning the project every six months during the implementation of the project and a final report within six months of its completion, which shall be submitted to the department, to the Legislature, and to the Chairmen of the Senate Environment Committee, the Assembly Solid and Hazardous Waste Committee and the Assembly Environment and Energy Committee or their successor committees. The final report shall include but shall not be limited to an explanation of the procedures used in the project, the number of tons of recyclable materials recovered, the types of materials recovered, the number of tons of materials sold, the buyers of any materials recovered, the materials composted, the number of tons of materials composted, additional disposal capacity created, cost effectiveness, the environmental problems revealed, the measures taken for closure, the materials remaining in the landfill, if any, the equipment purchased, an accounting of the costs of the projects, and any other information the department deems appropriate.

e. The department may charge reasonable fees, not to exceed 10% of the amount of the grant, for any of the services to be performed or rendered in connection with this section, and for the costs of compliance monitoring and administration. The fee schedule shall reasonably reflect the duration or complexity of the specific service performed or rendered, information reviewed, or inspection conducted.

f. As used in this section, "local government unit" means any county or municipality, or any agency, instrumentality, authority or corporation of any county or municipality, including, but not limited to, sewerage, utility and improvement authorities, or any public body having local or regional jurisdiction over solid waste disposal, including, but not limited to, solid waste management districts, or any political subdivision of the State, authority or agency authorized pursuant to law to own or operate sanitary landfill facilities or to provide for the environmentally sound disposal of solid waste.

L.1994,c.99,s.1.