N.Y. Public Authorities Law § 1285-g: Industrial materials recycling program

§ 1285-g. Industrial materials recycling program. 1. Applicability. It

is the purpose of this section to establish a program within the

corporation to encourage the reduction, recovery and recycling of

industrial materials otherwise requiring disposal.

2. Definitions. When used in this section, unless another meaning

clearly appears from its context:

a. "Hazardous waste" means a waste which appears on the list or

satisfied the criteria promulgated by the commissioner of environmental

conservation pursuant to section 27-0903 of the environmental

conservation law and until, but not after, the promulgation of such list

and criteria means a waste or combination of wastes, which because of

its quality, concentration, or physical, chemical or infectious

characteristics may:

(i) cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or

an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible

illness; or

(ii) pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or

the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed

or otherwise managed.

b. "Industrial solid waste" means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a

waste treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, and other

discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, mining and

agricultural operations as a result of a commercial or industrial

process but does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic

sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or

industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under

article seventeen of the environmental conservation law, or source,

special nuclear or by-product material as defined in the Atomic Energy

Act of 1954, as amended except as may be provided by existing agreements

between the state of New York and the government of the United States.

c. "Industrial material" means hazardous waste and industrial solid

waste.

d. "Recovery and recycling" means any method or technique utilized to

separate, process, modify, convert, treat, or otherwise prepare

industrial materials so that component materials or substances may be

used as raw materials or energy sources.

e. "Person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock company,

corporation (including a government corporation), partnership,

association, state, municipality, commission, political subdivision of a

state, or any interstate body.

f. "Generator" means a person whose industrial activities produce

industrial material.

3. Industrial materials recycling program. a. The corporation shall

undertake and be responsible for a program to encourage industrial

materials reduction, recovery and recycling as hereinafter provided. The

corporation shall give first priority in such program to hazardous

wastes in order to reduce risks to public health and the environment.

b. Such program shall include but not be limited to the following

activities:

i. Planning including compilation of, research and development

information on industrial methods, technologies and practices that will

result in the reduction, recovery or recycling of industrial materials.

ii. Investigation and research into market potential and feasibility

for increased utilization of recovered or recycled industrial materials.

iii. Collection, development and maintenance of data on existing and

projected production of industrial materials.

iv. Review and analysis of existing industrial methods, technologies

and practices relating to the generation, use and disposal of industrial

materials.

v. Development and maintenance of a technical reference capability on

industrial materials reduction, recovery and recycling methods,

technologies and practices including appropriate information available

for public and private use.

vi. Encouragement and assistance, within the resources available, to

generators and users of industrial materials and to municipalities to

reduce, recover or recycle industrial materials, as is feasible and

appropriate.

vii. Establishment and maintenance of an information clearing house

which shall consist of an ongoing record of industrial materials which

may be recycled or recovered. Such record shall include, but is not

limited to, the information that is provided in manifest reports

required pursuant to section 27-0905 of the environmental conservation

law, except that no information including the identities or other

identifying information of the individual generators shall be disclosed

without the express written consent of the applicable generators. The

corporation shall make this information available to persons who desire

to recycle or recover industrial materials. The information shall be

made available in such a manner as to protect the trade secrets of the

generators. Information submitted to the clearing house shall not be

subject to disclosure under the freedom of information law as set forth

in article six of the public officers law.

viii. Preparation and the continuous update when appropriate of a list

of industrial materials which the corporation finds are economically and

technically feasible to recycle or recover. Each material shall be

categorized according to the degree of difficulty and the kind of

difficulty encountered in recycling or recovery of that material.

ix. Preparation, in conjunction with industry, of a handbook on

recovery and recycling to be made available to all industries upon

request.

x. Coordinate with existing regional entities, public or private, to

encourage participation in all elements of the program.

c. The corporation shall coordinate its activities under this section

with the department of environmental conservation with such department's

responsibilities pursuant to title four of article twenty-seven of the

environmental conservation law.

d. The corporation may enter into contracts with private entities for

the purpose of having such entities undertake activities called for

under this section.

4. Trade secrets; confidentiality. a. The corporation shall ensure

that any trade secrets or other proprietary or confidential data or

information of a personal nature, required to be utilized pursuant to

this section, shall be utilized by the corporation in connection with

its respective responsibilities pursuant to this section, and that such

trade secrets and other proprietary or confidential data or information

are not otherwise disseminated without the express consent of the

generator furnishing such information.

b. For the purposes of this section, trade secrets and other

proprietary or confidential data or information may include, but are not

limited to, any formula, plan, pattern, process, tool, mechanism,

compound, procedure, customer lists, production data, or compilation of

information within a commercial concern which is using it to fabricate,

produce or compound an article of trade or service having commercial

value, and which gives its owner or authorized user an opportunity to

obtain a business advantage over competitors who do not know, use or

have access to such data and information.

c. For the purposes of this section, due to the unique nature of the

program, any generator who claims that specified data or information to

be utilized pursuant to any requirement of this section contains trade

secrets or other proprietary or confidential data or information of a

personal nature may set forth such claims in writing to the corporation

for the protection of trade secrets afforded pursuant to this

subdivision. Such information shall not be subject to disclosure under

the freedom of information law as set forth in article six of the public

officers law.

d. The corporation shall have rules of conduct for employees and

contractors of the corporation involved in the design, development,

operation and maintenance of any trade secret record-keeping and

instruct each such employee or contractor with respect to such rules and

the requirements of this subdivision including any other rules and

procedures adopted pursuant to this section and the penalties for

noncompliance.

e. The corporation shall have appropriate administrative, technical,

and physical safeguards to insure the security and confidentiality of

trade secret information and records and to protect against any

anticipated threats to their security or integrity which could result in

their unauthorized disclosure.

5. Improper disclosure of trade secrets or other proprietary or

confidential data or information of a personal nature. No officer,

employee or contractor of the corporation shall intentionally publish,

divulge, disclose or make known in a manner not authorized under the

provisions of this section any trade secret or other proprietary or

confidential data or information of a personal nature available to him

in the course of his employment. Any such official, employee or

contractor who violates the provisions of this subdivision shall be

liable for a civil penalty not to exceed five thousand dollars. In

addition, any official or employee who violates the provisions of this

subdivision may be dismissed from his office or employment.

6. Report to the legislature. The chairman of the corporation shall,

not later than twelve months after the enactment date of this section

and annually thereafter, prepare and submit a report on the status of

the reduction, recycling and recovery of industrial materials as

facilitated by the provisions of this section to the governor and the

legislature. In addition, such report shall include, but not be limited

to the quantities, composition and disposition of hazardous waste

generated by region in the preceding year and the listing of such wastes

feasible to recycle and recover developed pursuant to this section. The

chairman of the corporation shall also report on the scope, status and

efficacy of the program, including the small quantity generator

hazardous waste audit program, and specific recommendations for

continuation of the program; provided, however, such chairman shall

withhold information on the source or nature of particular industrial

materials in such a manner as to protect trade secrets or confidential

information of the generators.

7. Small quantity generator hazardous waste audit program. a. The

corporation shall establish and be responsible for a small quantity

generator hazardous waste audit program. To carry out such program, the

corporation is authorized to obtain the services, as necessary, of waste

management specialists to conduct waste audits at the facilities of

hazardous waste generators that have produced less then one thousand

kilograms of hazardous waste in each of the past twelve calendar months.

The purpose of such audits shall be to provide on-site technical

assistance to aid such generators in complying with New York state's

hazardous waste regulations and to identify and evaluate the potential

for reducing the amount and/or toxicity of hazardous waste generated at

such facilities.

b. Waste audits conducted pursuant to this subdivision may include,

but need not be limited to:

(i) identification of all hazardous wastes generated at the facility;

(ii) identification of the regulatory requirements associated with the

storage, treatment, or disposal of all hazardous wastes generated at the

facility;

(iii) identification of any methodologies, processes, equipment, or

production changes which could be utilized by the facility to reduce the

amount or toxicity of hazardous wastes generated at the facility;

(iv) identification of any on-site recycling or waste treatment

technologies which could be utilized to reduce the amount or toxicity of

hazardous wastes disposed of by the facility; and

(v) identification of any potential markets for hazardous waste

generated by the facility, including the use of waste exchange markets.

c. The corporation shall establish by rule and regulation, upon

consultation with the director of the budget, a sliding fee schedule to

offset the costs of conducting on-site audits. The fee schedule

established pursuant to this section shall be intended to provide

revenues sufficient to meet solely the costs incurred by the corporation

in performing such audits, provided that the corporation may use

technical assistance grants it receives from the federal government,

private foundations, or other institutions to reduce or eliminate fees

charged generators for performing such audits, and further provided that

monies appropriated to the corporation to carry out the purposes of this

subdivision shall not be used to provide financial assistance to waste

generators for the purchase of manufacturing plants or equipment,

property, real or otherwise, engineering or legal services, or any other

cost incident to the actual implementation of a waste reduction or

management project. The chairman of the corporation is authorized and

directed to deposit all monies received in payment of fees under this

subdivision in an account within the miscellaneous special revenue fund.

d. Any person receiving audit services pursuant to this subdivision

shall, within ninety days of the completion of such audit, submit to the

corporation a description of the steps it will take, if any, to

implement any recommended waste reduction, recycling, or treatment

strategies identified in such audit.

e. In implementing the small quantity generator hazardous waste audit

program, the corporation is authorized to:

(i) hire or contract with an appropriate number of hazardous waste

management specialists to conduct on-site waste audits;

(ii) employ such public information methods as are appropriate to

identify and inform eligible hazardous waste generators of the existence

of the waste audit program;

(iii) establish a small quantity generator hazardous waste audit

program application consistent with the policies and goals of this

section; and

(iv) establish by rule and regulation a small quantity generator

hazardous waste audit program application evaluation procedure

consistent with the policies and goals of this section.