SECTION 2. Definitions

As used in this chapter, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:

''Assessment'', a project to investigate, monitor, survey, test and gather information to identify the existence, source, nature and extent of pollution or a threat of pollution and the extent of danger to the public health, safety or welfare, or to the environment. The term shall also include without limitation studies, services and investigations to plan, manage and direct assessment, containment, closure and clean up.

''Automobile manufacturer'', any person, firm, association, partnership, corporation, governmental entity, organization, combination or joint venture which is last in the production or assembly process of a new vehicle that uses mercury-added components, or in the case of an imported vehicle, the importer or domestic distributor of the vehicle; however, if a company from whom an importer or domestic distributor purchases the merchandise has a U.S. presence or assets, that company shall be considered to be the manufacturer and the distributor as defined in chapter 93B shall not be considered to be the manufacturer.

''Capture rate'', the annual removal, collection, and recovery of mercury-added vehicle switches as a percentage of that total number of mercury-added vehicle switches available for the removal from end-of-life motor vehicles as determined by the department. This term shall not include mercury-added vehicle switches that are inaccessible due to significant damage to the motor vehicle in the area where the mercury-added vehicle switch is located.

''Clean up'', a project for the removal of pollution which restores potability to a drinking water supply or which prevents the contamination of said supply, including without limitation the planning, design, and implementation of appropriate means of assessment and public solution of the contamination problem.

''Closure'', a project for the deactivation and completion of a solid waste facility, including without limitation planning, design and implementation of capping, containment, completion and any other activity necessary or incidental to minimize or prevent damage, or threats of damage, to the public health, safety or welfare, or to the environment.

''Construction'', a project for the provision of additional solid waste facility capacity, or for closure or containment at existing solid waste facilities, in accordance with all applicable technical and legal requirements, including without limitation planning, design and implementation of facility development, siting, alteration, expansion, improvement or equipping, and all activities necessary or incidental thereto, including acquisition of real or personal property or interests therein.

''Containment'', a project for the prevention of leachate generation and migration from a solid waste facility, including without limitation planning, design and implementation of surface sealing, grading, drainage control, lining, slurry trenching, grout curtain sheeting, and other activities necessary or incidental to leachate control.

''Department'', the department of environmental protection.

''Drinking water supply'', any water within the jurisdiction of the commonwealth, including without limitation rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, springs, impoundments and groundwater, which is used as a source of drinking water.

''Electric lamp'', the bulb or tube portion of a lighting device specifically designed to produce radiant energy, most often in the ultraviolet, visible and infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Examples of common electric lamps include, but are not limited to, incandescent, fluorescent, high intensity discharge and neon lamps.

''End-of-life motor vehicles'', any motor vehicle which is sold, given or otherwise conveyed to a vehicle recycler or scrap recycling facility for the purpose of dismantling, recycling or disposal.

''Facility'', any place or site where solid waste has been or will be deposited, dumped, stored, transferred or treated, including any landfill, refuse transfer station, refuse incinerator rated by the department at more than one ton of refuse per hour, refuse composting plant, or other work for treating or disposing of solid waste.

''Healthcare facility'', any hospital, nursing home, extended care facility, long-term care facility, clinical or medical laboratory, state health or mental institution, institution for the mentally ill or retarded, clinic, physician's office or health maintenance organization.

''IMERC'', the Interstate Mercury Education and Reduction Clearinghouse.

''Landfill'', any area, site or works for the disposal of solid waste into or on land.

''Manufacturer'', any person, firm, association, partnership, corporation, governmental entity, organization, combination or joint venture which produces a product containing mercury or an importer or domestic distributor of a product containing mercury produced in a foreign country. In the case of a mercury-added multi-component product where the only mercury is contained in a mercury-added component manufactured by a different manufacturer which is intended to be readily removable and replaceable by the consumer or user, the manufacturer is the manufacturer who produced the mercury-added component. If the product or component is produced in a foreign country, the manufacturer is the importer or domestic distributor; provided, however, that if a company from whom an importer purchases the merchandise has a United States presence or assets, that company shall be considered to be the manufacturer. This definition shall not apply to a ''distributor'' as defined in section 1 of chapter 93B.

''Mercury relay'', a mercury-added product that opens or closes electrical contacts to affect the operation of other devices in the same or another electrical circuit.

''Mercury switch'', a mercury-added product that opens or closes an electrical circuit or gas valve.

''Mercury-added component'', a component that contains mercury.

''Mercury-added formulated product'', a chemical product to which mercury has been added, intentionally or unintentionally, including, but not limited to, laboratory chemicals, cleaning products, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and coating materials that are sold as consistent mixtures of chemicals.

''Mercury-added lamp'', an electric lamp to which the manufacturer intentionally introduces mercury for the operation of the lamp, including, but not limited to, fluorescent, compact fluorescent, black lights, high intensity discharge lamps, ultraviolet lamps and neon lamps.

''Mercury-added product'', a product to which the manufacturer intentionally introduces mercury, including, but not limited to, electric lamps, thermostats, automotive devices, electric switches, medical or scientific instruments, electric relays or other electrical devices, but not including products made with coal ash or other products that are incorporated into equipment used to manufacture semiconductor devices, elemental mercury in pre-capsulated form that is sold, distributed or provided to a dental practitioner for use in compliance with the department's regulations concerning amalgam wastewater and recycling for dental facilities, or mercury-added formulated products.

''Mercury-added vehicle switch'', a switch installed in a motor vehicle containing mercury, including, but not limited to, light switches and antilock braking systems.

''Mercury-added thermostat'', a product or device that uses a mercury switch to sense and control room temperature through communication with heating, ventilation or air conditioning equipment, including thermostats used to sense and control room temperature in residential, commercial, industrial and other buildings, but shall not include a thermostat used to sense and control temperature as part of a manufacturing process.

''Motor vehicle'', a vehicle propelled by an internal combustion engine or an electric motor, such as an automobile, van, truck, motorized construction equipment, motorized recreational vehicle, motorcycle or forklift.

''Person'', any natural or corporate person, whether public or private, including corporations, societies, associations and partnerships and bodies politic and corporate, public agencies, authorities, departments, offices and political subdivisions of the commonwealth.

''Pollution'', any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping or disposing of any material which, because of its quantity, concentration or other characteristics, is or may be injurious to human, plant or animal life or to property, or may unreasonably interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property.

''Public body'', any city, town, district, commission, council, financing authority or other political subdivision of the commonwealth, and any agency, authority, board, bureau, commission, council, department or other entity or instrumentality of government.

''Qualified lamp recycler'', a person who engages in the manual or mechanical separation of spent household mercury-added lamps to recover components and mercury contained therein, and meets the requirements of the commonwealth for handling, transporting and disposal of mercury-added lamps.

''Scrap recycling facility'', a facility, location, device or unit where machinery and equipment are used for processing and manufacturing scrap metal into prepared grades and whose principal product is scrap iron, scrap steel or nonferrous metallic scrap for sale for remelting purposes.

''Solid waste'' or ''waste'', garbage, refuse, trash, rubbish, sludge, residue or by-products of processing or treatment of discarded material, and any other solid, semi-solid or liquid discarded material resulting from domestic, commercial, mining, industrial, agricultural, municipal, or other sources or activities, but shall not include solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage.

''Tipping fee'', the fee or other cost charged by the operator of a solid waste disposal facility for the disposal of solid waste in the facility.

''Vehicle in commerce'', any vehicle offered for sale by a dealer, or registered in the commonwealth or in the United States to be operated on public roads and highways.

''Vehicle recycler'', any individual or entity engaged in the business of acquiring, dismantling or destroying 6 or more vehicles in a calendar year for the primary purpose of reselling their parts.