The legislature hereby declares that:

     (1) The health and welfare of the people of the state depend on clean and pure environmental resources unaffected by hazardous waste contamination. Management and regulation of hazardous waste disposal should encourage practices which result in the least amount of waste being produced. Towards that end, the legislature finds that the following priorities in the management of hazardous waste are necessary and should be followed in order of descending priority as applicable:

     (a) Waste reduction;

     (b) Waste recycling;

     (c) Physical, chemical, and biological treatment;

     (d) Incineration;

     (e) Solidification/stabilization treatment;

     (f) Landfill.

     (2) As used in this section:

     (a) "Waste reduction" means reducing waste so that hazardous by-products are not produced;

     (b) "Waste recycling" means reusing waste materials and extracting valuable materials from a waste stream;

     (c) "Physical, chemical, and biological treatment" means processing the waste to render it completely innocuous, produce a recyclable by-product, reduce toxicity, or substantially reduce the volume of material requiring disposal;

     (d) "Incineration" means reducing the volume or toxicity of wastes by use of an enclosed device using controlled flame combustion;

     (e) "Solidification/stabilization treatment" means the use of encapsulation techniques to solidify wastes and make them less permeable or leachable; and

     (f) "Landfill" means a disposal facility, or part of a facility, at which waste is placed in or on land and which is not a land treatment facility, surface impoundment, or injection well.

[1983 1st ex.s. c 70 § 1.]