455B.481  Waste management policy.
  1.  The purpose of this part is to promote the proper and safe storage, treatment, and disposal of solid, hazardous, and low-level radioactive wastes in Iowa. The management of these wastes generated within Iowa is the responsibility of Iowans. It is the intent of the general assembly that Iowans assume this responsibility to the extent consistent with the protection of public health, safety, and the environment, and that Iowans insure that waste management practices, as alternatives to land disposal, including source reduction, recycling, compaction, incineration, and other forms of waste reduction, are employed.
  2.  It is also the intent of the general assembly that a comprehensive waste management plan be established by the department which includes:  the determination of need and adequate regulatory controls prior to the initiation of site selection; the process for selecting a superior site determined to be necessary; the establishment of a process for a site community to submit or present data, views, or arguments regarding the selection of the operator and the technology that best ensures proper facility operation; the prohibition of shallow land burial of hazardous and low-level radioactive wastes; the establishment of a regulatory framework for a facility; and the establishment of provisions for the safe and orderly development, operation, closure, postclosure, and long-term monitoring and maintenance of the facility.
  3.  In order to meet capacity assurance requirements of section 104k of the federal Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-499, and further the objectives of waste minimization, the department, in cooperation with the small business assistance center at the university of northern Iowa, shall work with generators of hazardous wastes in the state to develop and implement aggressive waste minimization programs. The goal of these programs is to reduce the volume of hazardous waste generated in the state as a whole by twenty-five percent of the amount generated as of January 1, 1987, as reported in the biennial reports collected by the United States environmental protection agency. The twenty-five percent reduction goal shall be reached as expeditiously as possible and no later than July 1, 1994. In meeting the reduction goal, elements “a” through “d” of the hazardous waste management hierarchy shall be utilized. The department, in cooperation with the small business assistance center, shall reassess the twenty-five percent reduction goal in 1994. The department shall promote research and development, provide and promote educational and informational programs, promote and encourage voluntary technical assistance to hazardous waste generators, promote assistance by the small business assistance center, and promote other activities by the public and private sectors that support this goal. In the promotion of the goal, the following hazardous waste management hierarchy, in descending order of preference, is established by the department:
  a.  Source reduction for waste elimination.
  b.  On-site recycling.
  c.  Off-site recycling.
  d.  Waste treatment.
  e.  Incineration.
  f.  Land disposal.
  4.  Additionally, the department shall establish and distribute to generators a listing of hazardous waste materials which are currently being recycled. The department shall require that each hazardous waste generator in the state submit, with the biennial report submitted to the United States environmental protection agency, a report of hazardous waste materials currently designated as recyclable by the department which are not being recycled by the generator. The report shall include the reason why the generator is not recycling such products. A small generator which does not submit a biennial report to the United States environmental protection agency, shall provide the information required to be submitted under this paragraph on a form provided by the department, with the submittal of the small generator’s hazardous waste permit fee.
  5.  The department shall consult with representatives of industries which generate hazardous waste and shall make recommendations to the general assembly by January 1, 1991, concerning the possible application of a front-end fee for substances which will result in the generation of hazardous waste, the role of state government in assisting the private sector in establishing permanent, on-site, internal audit functions, and other measures which state government may initiate to encourage and assist generators of hazardous waste in reducing the hazardous waste generated.
87 Acts, ch 180, §3; 89 Acts, ch 242, §2; 92 Acts, ch 1239, §21; 2001 Acts, ch 7, §5; 2002 Acts, ch 1162, §47