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GROUNDWATER PROTECTION ACT OF 1987 (HF631)
This was the groundbreaking law that led the state of Iowa into modern waste management.
1. Comprehensive Planning
Comprehensive solid waste management plans are required by this law. These plans must address how tipping entities (sanitary landfills) will manage solid waste in their service area within the state's hierarchy of waste management:
- Volume reduction at the source
- Recycling, reuse and composting
- Other approved techniques, including incineration for energy recovery, incineration for volume reduction and landfilling.
Part 1 - Landfills are required to have this part of the comprehensive plan in place before a new sanitary disposal permit will be issued, and before any existing permits may be renewed. Implementation of the Part 1 approach is required before July 1, 1997. Updates will be required every three years, to account for economic and technological changes. (The regional plan for the east central Iowa area was completed and approved in Spring, 1990 and updated in 1994-95).
Part 2 - Sanitary landfills will be required to provide for closure plans for the facility, post-closure maintenance of the site for at least 30 years, maintenance of the final cover of the landfill, and maintenance of leachate control and groundwater and gas monitoring systems. Estimated cost to local governments owning and operating solid waste disposal facilities will be considerable.
2. Additional Tonnage Fee
An additional fee of $4.25/ton of waste is now required (over and above whatever sanitary landfills charge to cover operation and maintenance). A portion of the fee, $3.30/ton, is sent to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to support state planning efforts, and a portion, $0.95/ton, is kept locally to help fund the implementation of solid waste plans (including waste reduction and recycling programs). Additionally, $.50 per ton may be retained by local governments who meet the 25% reduction goal in 1994.
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