What the Waste Disposal Permit System Covers
The disposal of waste in Georgia is regulated by the Waste Management Code, which governs both the categories of landfills and the waste admissible on them, and the procedure for obtaining an environmental decision — the administrative act that constitutes the legal basis for waste processing activities. If your company plans to build or operate a landfill, or to bring an existing landfill into compliance, this page explains which category of landfill is designated for which waste, what happens to landfills that existed when the Code entered into force, and what information is required to obtain the environmental decision.
One systemic detail matters: the Waste Management Code does not use the name waste disposal permit as a separate document. Disposal operations are included in the list of waste processing related activities, and the act required for them is the environmental decision. The correct question is therefore not how to obtain a disposal permit but how to obtain an environmental decision for disposal operations — and that is the path described below.
The Three Categories of Landfills and Placement Rules
Under the Code, landfills are divided into three categories: landfills for hazardous waste, landfills for non hazardous waste and landfills for inert waste. This classification determines which waste may be placed where, and violating it carries consequences both for the environment and for liability.
The rules are strict. Hazardous waste is placed only on a landfill for hazardous waste. On a landfill for non hazardous waste, only municipal waste and other non hazardous waste that satisfies the waste acceptance criteria for this category of landfill, determined by a resolution adopted on the basis of the Code, may be placed. In addition, the operator of a non hazardous waste landfill has a clear obligation: it must accept the municipal waste generated on the territory of the respective municipality — meaning the operator has no right to refuse acceptance of local municipal waste. For waste producers this creates predictability: municipal waste has a guaranteed route to the designated landfill of the municipality.
Existing Landfills — Transitional Period Rules
For landfills operating at the time the Code entered into force, a special transitional rule applies. A landfill continues to function if it holds a permit issued in accordance with the Law of Georgia on the Permit for Impact on the Environment. In other words, an act issued under the old permitting system retains its force and allows the landfill to continue operating.
That force, however, is conditional: the holder of such a permit is obliged, after the Environmental Assessment Code enters into force, to request the issuance of an environmental decision under the procedure established by that Code. In practice this means existing facilities are being transferred in stages to the new permitting regime, and if your company manages such a landfill, the request for an environmental decision should be planned well before the deadline, because missing the periods established by the rules creates the risk of suspending the operation of the landfill. The transition also involves technical preparation, since the environmental decision process examines the facility against current standards rather than grandfathered conditions.