Waste board advances rule allowing limited off-site open burning of vegetative waste

The Virginia Waste Management Board on Thursday voted unanimously to advance a draft regulation that would allow vegetative waste to be transported off-site for open burning when it is unsafe or impractical to burn material at the property where it was generated.

DEQ regulatory analyst Rebecca Rath told the board the amendment responds to Chapter 235 of the 2024 Acts of Assembly (Senate Bill 342) and would add a new subdivision to 9 VAC 20-81-95 specifying conditions for off-site open burning of vegetative waste. "This action would amend the Virginia solid waste management regulations to allow for vegetative waste to be transported to another location for open burning if it is impractical or unsafe to destroy such waste on the premises of private property," Rath said.

The proposed language limits the activity to vegetative waste (yard trimming, brush, leaves) and borrows setback and other conditions from state air open-burning rules and practices used by VDOT, DEQ staff said. Key setbacks noted in the proposal include: 1,000 feet from any occupied building (unless the occupant provides prior written permission), 300 feet from roadways or structures, 200 feet from potable water wells, 100 feet from regularly flowing surface water or wetlands, and 50 feet from property lines, utility lines and potentially combustible materials.

DEQ staff emphasized the amendment is targeted at small-scale events tied to the generator and is not intended to allow centralized or transfer-station-style burning. Priscilla Rohrer of DEQ's solid waste team said the draft would restrict frequency and scale: "Some of the conditions will be prohibited as far as there is a condition in the language that you could only burn every 60 days and only for a 72 hour period," she said. A board member also referenced a 100-cubic-yard limit in the materials, which the board noted would constrain commercial-scale uses.

DEQ legal and program staff told members both the solid waste regulations and air open-burning rules apply, and that federal guidance allows infrequent burning of vegetative waste without classifying a property as an open dump. Catherine Perzik, Director of the Division of Land Protection and Revitalization at the Department of Environmental Quality, said the amendment does not preclude other management options: "This is an elective activity'that there are certainly other framework of the regulation that allows for all the other options like mulching is also exempt and does not require a solid waste permit," Perzik said.

After staff recommended the board approve the draft amendment as a proposed regulation and proceed to public comment, board member Eric Degroff moved to accept the department's recommendation; Michael Benedetta seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

The board's approval sends the draft amendment to the formal public-comment phase required under Virginia's regulatory process. DEQ staff said the Notice of Intended Regulatory Action had already been published and no comments were received during the initial 30-day NOIRA period; the board's vote advances the draft so DEQ can solicit public comment on the specific regulatory language.