Chapter 289

289.01(2) (2) “Air pollution” means the presence in the atmosphere of one or more air contaminants in such quantities and of such duration as is or tends to be injurious to human health or welfare, animal or plant life, or property, or would unreasonably interfere with the enjoyment of life or property.

289.01(3) (3) “Approved facility” means a solid or hazardous waste disposal facility with an approved plan of operation under s. 289.30 or a solid waste disposal facility initially licensed within 3 years prior to May 21, 1978, whose owner successfully applies, within 2 years after May 21, 1978, for a determination by the department that the facility’s design and plan of operation comply substantially with the requirements necessary for plan approval under s. 289.30.

289.01(4) (4) “Approved mining facility” means an approved facility which is part of a mining site, as defined under s. 293.01 (12), used for the disposal of waste resulting from mining, as defined under s. 293.01 (9), or prospecting, as defined under s. 293.01 (18).

289.01(5) (5) “Closing” means the time at which a solid or hazardous waste facility ceases to accept wastes, and includes those actions taken by the owner or operator to prepare the facility for long-term care and to make it suitable for other uses.

289.01(6) (6) “Contested case” has the meaning specified under s. 227.01 (3).

289.01(7) (7) “Department” means the department of natural resources.

289.01(8) (8) “Environmental pollution” means the contaminating or rendering unclean or impure the air, land or waters of the state, or making the same injurious to public health, harmful for commercial or recreational use, or deleterious to fish, bird, animal or plant life.

289.01(8m) (8m) “Feedstock” means raw material that is used in a machine or industrial process.

289.01(9) (9) “Garbage” means discarded materials resulting from the handling, processing, storage and consumption of food.

289.01(9m) (9m) “Gasification facility” means a facility that processes nonrecycled feedstock by heating and converting the feedstock only into a fuel-gas mixture in an oxygen-deficient, noncombustible atmosphere and converting the mixture only into fuel, including ethanol and transportation fuel, chemicals, or other chemical feedstock.

289.01(10) (10) “Hazardous constituent” means any constituent designated by the department under s. 291.05 (4).

289.01(11) (11) “Hazardous substance” means any substance or combination of substances including any waste of a solid, semisolid, liquid or gaseous form which may cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness or which may pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment because of its quantity, concentration or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics. This term includes, but is not limited to, substances which are toxic, corrosive, flammable, irritants, strong sensitizers or explosives as determined by the department.

289.01(12) (12) “Hazardous waste” means any solid waste identified by the department as hazardous under s. 291.05 (2).

289.01(13) (13) “Hazardous waste disposal” has the meaning specified for disposal under s. 291.01 (3).

289.01(14) (14) “Hazardous waste facility” has the meaning specified under s. 291.01 (8).

289.01(15) (15) “Hazardous waste storage” has the meaning specified for storage under s. 291.01 (18).

289.01(16) (16) “Hazardous waste treatment” has the meaning specified for treatment under s. 291.01 (21).

289.01(17) (17) “High-volume industrial waste” means fly ash, bottom ash, paper mill sludge or foundry process waste.

289.01(18) (18) “Informational hearing” means a hearing conducted under s. 227.18.

289.01(20) (20) “Landfill” means a solid waste facility for solid waste disposal.

289.01(21) (21) “Long-term care” means the routine care, maintenance and monitoring of a solid or hazardous waste facility following closing of the facility.

289.01(22) (22) “Municipal waste landfill” means a solid waste disposal facility that is not one of the following:

289.01(22)(a) (a) A solid waste disposal facility designed exclusively for the disposal of waste generated by a pulp mill, paper mill, foundry, prospecting or mining operation, electric or process steam generating facility or demolition activity.

289.01(22)(b) (b) A hazardous waste disposal facility.

289.01(23) (23) “Municipality” means any city, town, village, county, county utility district, town sanitary district, public inland lake protection and rehabilitation district or metropolitan sewage district.

289.01(24) (24) “Nonapproved facility” means a licensed solid or hazardous waste disposal facility which is not an approved facility.

289.01(24g) (24g) 

289.01(24g)(a) (a) “Nonrecycled feedstock” means one or more of the following materials, derived from nonrecycled waste, that has been processed so that it may be used as feedstock in a gasification facility:

289.01(24g)(a)1. 1. Post-use plastics.

289.01(24g)(a)2. 2. Municipal solid waste that contains post-use plastics and that is processed into a fuel that would be considered a legitimate fuel under 40 CFR 241.3 (c).

289.01(24g)(a)3. 3. Other post-industrial waste that contains post-use plastics and that may contain incidental contaminants or impurities.

289.01(24g)(b) (b) “Nonrecycled feedstock” does not include coal refuse, scrap tires, or resinated wood.

289.01(27) (27) “Person” means an individual, owner, operator, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association, municipality, interstate agency, state agency or federal agency.

289.01(27g) (27g) “Post-use plastics” means plastics derived from any source that are not being used for their originally intended purpose and that might otherwise become solid waste if not processed at a pyrolysis or gasification facility or recycled. “Post-use plastics” includes plastics that may contain incidental contaminants or impurities such as paper labels or metal rings.

289.01(27m) (27m) “Pyrolysis facility” means a facility at which post-use plastics are heated, in an oxygen-free environment, until melted and thermally decomposed, then cooled, condensed, and converted into oil, diesel, gasoline, home heating oil, or other liquid fuel; gasoline or diesel blendstock; chemicals or chemical feedstock; waxes or lubricants; or other similar raw materials or intermediate or final products.

289.01(28) (28) “Refuse” means all matters produced from industrial or community life, subject to decomposition, not defined as sewage.

289.01(29) (29) “Release” has the meaning given under s. 291.37 (1) (b).

289.01(30) (30) “Resource conservation and recovery act” means the federal resource conservation and recovery act, 42 USC 6901 to 6991i, as amended on November 8, 1984.

289.01(31) (31) “Secretary” means the secretary of natural resources.

289.01(31m) (31m) “Sewage” means the water-carried wastes created in and to be conducted away from residences, industrial establishments, and public buildings as defined in s. 101.01 (12), with such surface water or groundwater as may be present.

289.01(33) (33) “Solid waste” means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, and other discarded or salvageable materials, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous materials resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities. “Solid waste” does not include solids 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 ch. 283, slag generated by the production or processing of iron or steel and that is managed as an item of value in a controlled manner and is not discarded, source material, as defined in s. 254.31 (10), special nuclear material, as defined in s. 254.31 (11), or by-product material, as defined in s. 254.31 (1). “Solid waste” does not include post-use plastics or nonrecycled feedstock that are processed at a pyrolysis or gasification facility; that are held at a pyrolysis or gasification facility, prior to processing at the facility where they are being held, to ensure that production is not interrupted; or that are held off site before delivery to a pyrolysis or gasification facility with the intent that they will be processed at a pyrolysis or gasification facility.

289.01(34) (34) “Solid waste disposal” means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping or placing of any solid waste into or on any land or water. This term does not include the transportation, storage or treatment of solid waste.

289.01(35) (35) “Solid waste facility” means a facility for solid waste treatment, solid waste storage, or solid waste disposal, and includes commercial, industrial, municipal, state, and federal establishments or operations such as, without limitation because of enumeration, sanitary landfills, dumps, land disposal sites, incinerators, transfer stations, storage facilities, collection and transportation services, and processing, treatment, and recovery facilities. “Solid waste facility” includes the land where the facility is located. “Solid waste facility” does not include a facility for the processing of scrap iron, steel, or nonferrous metal using large machines to produce a principal product of scrap metal for sale or use for remelting purposes. “Solid waste facility” does not include a facility which uses large machines to sort, grade, compact, or bale clean wastepaper, fibers, or plastics, not mixed with other solid waste, for sale or use for recycling purposes. “Solid waste facility” does not include an auto junk yard or scrap metal salvage yard. “Solid waste facility” does not include a pyrolysis facility or a gasification facility.

289.01(36) (36) “Solid waste management” means planning, organizing, financing, and implementing programs to effect the reduction, storage, collection, transporting, processing, reuse, recycling, composting, energy recovery from or final disposal of solid wastes in a sanitary, nuisance-free manner.

289.01(37) (37) “Solid waste management plan” means a plan prepared to provide for solid waste management.

289.01(38) (38) “Solid waste storage” means the holding of solid waste for a temporary period, at the end of which period the solid waste is to be treated or disposed. “Solid waste storage” does not include the holding of post-use plastics or nonrecycled feedstock at a pyrolysis or gasification facility, prior to processing at the facility where they are being held, to ensure that production is not interrupted, or the holding of post-use plastics or nonrecycled feedstock off site before delivery to a pyrolysis or gasification facility with the intent that they will be processed at a pyrolysis or gasification facility.

289.01(39) (39) “Solid waste treatment” means any method, technique or process which is designed to change the physical, chemical or biological character or composition of solid waste. “Treatment” includes incineration. “Solid waste treatment” does not include the treatment of post-use plastics or nonrecycled feedstock at a pyrolysis or gasification facility.

289.01(40) (40) “Termination” means the final actions taken by an owner or operator of a solid or hazardous waste facility when formal responsibilities for long-term care cease.

289.01(41) (41) “Waste site” means any site, other than an approved facility, an approved mining facility or a nonapproved facility, where waste is disposed of regardless of when disposal occurred or where a hazardous substance is discharged before May 21, 1978.

289.01(42) (42) “Wastewater” means all sewage.

289.01(44) (44) “Water supply” means the sources and their surroundings from which water is supplied for drinking or domestic purposes.

289.01 History History: 1979 c. 34 ss. 978k, 984rd; 1981 c. 374 ss. 20 to 27, 148; 1983 a. 425, 426; 1987 a. 384; 1989 a. 335; 1995 a. 227 s. 514 to 520, 541, 576, 585; Stats. 1995 s. 289.01; 1997 a. 241; 1999 a. 9; 2017 a. 284, 285; 2021 a. 238 ss. 26, 44.

289.01 Annotation A violation of rules promulgated under ss. 144.43 and 144.44 [now this chapter] does not give rise to a private right of action. Fortier v. Flambeau Plastics Co., 164 Wis. 2d 639, 476 N.W.2d 593 (Ct. App. 1991).

289.01 Annotation Under sub. (33), “‘solid waste’ means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility and other discarded or salvageable materials . . .” Cigarette butts manifestly constitute “other discarded . . . materials.” State v. Iverson, 2015 WI 101, 365 Wis. 2d 302, 871 N.W.2d 661, 14-0515.

subch. II of ch. 289 SUBCHAPTER II

ADMINISTRATION; SOLID WASTE
MANAGEMENT STANDARDS

289.05 289.05 Solid waste management standards.

289.05(1) (1) The department shall promulgate rules establishing minimum standards for the location, design, construction, sanitation, operation, monitoring and maintenance of solid waste facilities. Following a public hearing, the department shall promulgate rules relating to the operation and maintenance of solid waste facilities as it deems necessary to ensure compliance and consistency with the purposes of and standards established under the resource conservation and recovery act, except that the rules relating to open burning shall be consistent with s. 289.51. The rules promulgated under this subsection shall conform to the rules promulgated under sub. (2).

289.05(2) (2) With the advice and comment of the metallic mining council, the department shall promulgate rules for the identification and regulation of metallic mining wastes. The rules promulgated to identify metallic mining wastes and to regulate the location, design, construction, operation and maintenance of facilities for the disposal of metallic mining wastes shall be in accordance with any or all of the provisions under this chapter and chs. 30 and 283. The rules shall take into consideration the special requirements of metallic mining operations in the location, design, construction, operation and maintenance of facilities for the disposal of metallic mining wastes as well as any special environmental concerns that will arise as a result of the disposal of metallic mining wastes. In promulgating the rules, the department shall give consideration to research, studies, data and recommendations of the U.S. environmental protection agency on the subject of metallic mining wastes arising from the agency’s efforts to implement the resource conservation and recovery act.

289.05(3) (3) The department shall prescribe by rule minimum standards for closing, long-term care and termination of solid waste disposal facilities or hazardous waste facilities. The standards and any additional facility-specific requirements designated by the department shall be incorporated into the plan of operation prepared under s. 289.30. The long-term care provisions in an approved plan of operation may be modified under s. 289.30 (8) (a) 3. or (b).

289.05(4) (4) The department shall promulgate, by rule, standards for the reuse of foundry sand and other high-volume industrial waste, including high-volume industrial waste that qualifies for an exemption from regulation under s. 289.43 (8). The department shall design the rules under this subsection to allow and encourage, to the maximum extent possible consistent with the protection of public health and the environment, the beneficial reuse of high-volume industrial waste, in order to preserve resources, conserve energy and reduce or eliminate the need to dispose of high-volume industrial waste in landfills. In developing rules under this subsection, the department shall review methods of reusing high-volume industrial waste that are approved by other states and incorporate those methods to the extent that the department determines is advisable. In developing rules under this subsection, the department shall also consider the analysis and methodology used under 40 CFR 503.13 in determining the impacts on groundwater from various methods of reusing high-volume industrial wastes.

289.05 History History: 1995 a. 227 ss. 530, 534.

289.06 289.06 Department duties. The department shall:

289.06(1) (1) Promulgate rules implementing and consistent with this chapter and ss. 292.31 and 292.35.

289.06(2) (2) Encourage voluntary cooperation by persons and affected groups to achieve the purposes of this chapter and ss. 292.31 and 292.35.

289.06(3) (3) Encourage local units of government to handle solid waste disposal problems within their respective jurisdictions and on a regional basis, and provide technical and consultative assistance for that purpose.

289.06(4) (4) Collect and disseminate information and conduct educational and training programs relating to the purposes of this chapter and ss. 292.31 and 292.35.

289.06(5) (5) Organize a comprehensive and integrated program to enhance the quality, management and protection of the state’s land and water resources.

289.06(6) (6) Provide technical assistance for the closure of a solid waste disposal facility that is a nonapproved facility.

289.06 History History: 1995 a. 227 s. 522, 991.

289.06 Cross-reference Cross-reference: See also NR ch. 500- and NR ch. 700-, Wis. adm. code.

289.07 289.07 Department powers. The department may:

289.07(1) (1) Hold hearings relating to any aspect of the administration of this chapter and ss. 292.31 and 292.35 and, in connection therewith, compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of evidence.

289.07(2) (2) Secure necessary scientific, technical, administrative and operational services, including laboratory facilities, by contract or otherwise.

289.07(3) (3) Advise, consult, contract and cooperate with other agencies of the state, local governments, industries, other states, interstate or interlocal agencies, and the federal government, and with interested persons or groups.

289.07(4) (4) Conduct or direct scientific experiments, investigations, demonstration grants and research on any matter relating to solid waste disposal, including, but not limited to, land fill, disposal and utilization of junked vehicles, and production of compost.

289.07 History History: 1995 a. 227 ss. 523, 525, 632.

289.08 289.08 Duties of metallic mining council.

289.08(1) (1) The metallic mining council shall advise the department on the implementation of ss. 289.05, 289.21 to 289.32, 289.34, 289.42, 289.43, 289.46, 289.47, 289.62 to 289.64, 289.67, 289.68 and 292.31 and chs. 291 and 293 as those sections and chapters relate to metallic mining in this state.

289.08(2) (2) The council shall serve as an advisory, problem-solving body to work with and advise the department on matters relating to the reclamation of mined land in this state and on methods of and criteria for the location, design, construction and operation and maintenance of facilities for the disposal of metallic mine-related wastes.

289.08(3) (3) All rules proposed by the department relating to the subjects specified in this section shall be submitted to the council for review and comment prior to the time the rules are proposed in final draft form by the department. The department shall transmit the written comments of all members of the council submitting written comments with the summary of the proposed rules to the presiding officer of each house of the legislature under s. 227.19 (2).

289.08(4) (4) Written minutes of all meetings of the council shall be prepared by the department and made available to all interested parties upon request.

289.08 History History: 1979 c. 355; 1981 c. 374 s. 148; 1983 a. 410 s. 2202 (38); 1985 a. 182; 1995 a. 227 s. 629; Stats. 1995 s. 289.08.

289.09 289.09 Confidentiality of records.

289.09(1) (1) Records. Except as provided under sub. (2), any records or other information furnished to or obtained by the department in the administration of this chapter and ss. 287.27 and 299.15 are public records subject to s. 19.21.

289.09(2) (2) Confidential records.

289.09(2)(a) (a) Application.

289.09(2)(a)1. 1. An owner or operator of a solid waste facility may seek confidential treatment of any records or other information furnished to or obtained by the department in the administration of this chapter and s. 299.15.

289.09(2)(a)2. 2. A licensed hauler who transports solid waste to a facility listed in s. 289.57 (1) may seek confidential treatment of information submitted under s. 289.57 (1) (d).