Sec. 1.142(a)(6)-1 Exempt facility bonds: solid waste disposal facilities.

(1) Processes solid waste (as defined in paragraph (c) of this section) in a qualified solid waste disposal process (as defined in paragraph (d) of this section);

(2) Performs a preliminary function (as defined in paragraph (f) of this section); or

(3) Is functionally related and subordinate (within the meaning of § 1.103-8(a)(3)) to a facility described in paragraph (b)(1) or (b)(2) of this section.

(1) In general. Except to the extent excluded under paragraph (c)(2) of this section, for purposes of section 142(a)(6), the term solid waste means garbage, refuse, and other solid material derived from any agricultural, commercial, consumer, governmental, or industrial operation or activity if the material meets the requirements of both paragraph (c)(1)(i) and paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section. For purposes of this section, material is solid if it is solid at ambient temperature and pressure.

(2) Exclusions from solid waste. The following materials do not constitute solid waste:

(1) Final disposal process. The term final disposal process means the placement of solid waste in a landfill (including, for this purpose, the spreading of solid waste over land in an environmentally compliant and safe manner with no intent to remove such solid waste), the incineration of solid waste without capturing any useful energy, or the containment of solid waste with a reasonable expectation as of the date of issue of the bonds that the containment will continue indefinitely and that the solid waste has no current or future beneficial use.

(2) Energy conversion process. The term energy conversion process means a thermal, chemical, or other process that is applied to solid waste to create and capture synthesis gas, heat, hot water, steam, or other useful energy. The energy conversion process begins at the point of the first application of such process. The energy conversion process ends at the point at which the useful energy is first created, captured, or incorporated into the form of synthesis gas, heat, hot water, or other useful energy and before any transfer or distribution of such synthesis gas, heat, hot water or other useful energy, regardless of whether such synthesis gas, heat, hot water, or other useful energy constitutes a first useful product within the meaning of paragraph (e) of this section.

(3) Recycling process.

(1) In general. If a facility is used for both a qualified solid waste disposal function (including a qualified solid waste disposal process or a preliminary function) and a nonqualified function (a mixed-use facility), then the costs of the facility allocable to the qualified solid waste disposal function are determined using any reasonable method, based on all the facts and circumstances. See § 1.103-8(a)(1) for allocation rules on amounts properly allocable to an exempt facility. Facilities qualify as functionally related and subordinate to a qualified solid waste disposal function only to the extent that they are functionally related and subordinate to the portion of the mixed-use facility that is used for one or more qualified solid waste disposal functions (including a qualified solid waste disposal process or a preliminary function).

(2) Mixed inputs.

Example 1. Nonqualified Unused Material -- Cloth. Company A takes wool and weaves it into cloth and then sells the cloth to a manufacturer to manufacture clothing. The cloth is material that has not been used previously as a product of or otherwise used in an agricultural, commercial, consumer, governmental, or industrial operation or activity, or as a component of any such product or activity. Accordingly, the cloth is not solid waste.

Example 2. Residual Material -- Waste Coal. Company B mines coal. Some of the ore mined is a low quality byproduct of coal mining commonly known as waste coal, which cannot be converted to energy under a normal energy-production process because the BTU content is too low. Waste coal has the lowest fair market value of any product produced in Company B's coal mining process. Waste coal is solid waste because it is residual material within the meaning of paragraph (c)(1)(i)(B) of this section and Company B reasonably expects to introduce the waste coal into a solid waste disposal process.

Example 3. Virgin Material -- Logs. Company C cuts down trees and sells the logs to another company, which further processes the logs into lumber. In order to facilitate shipping, Company C cuts the trees into uniform logs. The trees are not solid waste because they are virgin material within the meaning of paragraph (c)(2)(i) of this section that are not being introduced into a final disposal process within the meaning of paragraph (d)(1) of this section. The division of such trees into uniform logs does not change the status of the trees as virgin material.

Example 4. Qualified Solid Waste Disposal Process -- Landfill. Company D plans to construct a landfill. The landfill will not be subject to the final permit requirements under subtitle C of title II of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (as in effect on the date of enactment of the Tax Reform Act of 1986). As of the issue date, Company D expects that the landfill will be filled entirely with material that will qualify as solid waste within the meaning of paragraph (c) of this section. Placing solid waste into a landfill is a qualified solid waste disposal process. The landfill is a qualified solid waste disposal facility.

Example 5. Qualified Solid Waste Disposal Process -- Recycling Tires. Company E owns a facility that converts used tires into roadbed material. The used tires are used material within the meaning of paragraph (c)(1)(i)(A) of this section that qualifies as solid waste. Between the introduction of the old tires into the roadbed manufacturing process and the completion of the roadbed material, the facility does not create any interim useful products. The process for the manufacturing of the roadbed material from the old tires is a qualified solid waste disposal process as a recycling process and the facility that converts the tires into roadbed material is a qualified solid waste disposal facility. This conclusion would be the same if the recycling process took place at more than one plant.

Example 6. Qualified Solid Waste Disposal Process -- Energy Conversion Process. Company F receives solid waste from a municipal garbage collector. Company F burns that solid waste in an incinerator to remove exhaust gas and to produce heat. Company F further processes the heat in a heat exchanger to produce steam. Company F further processes the steam to generate electricity. The energy conversion process ends with the production of steam. The facilities used to burn the solid waste and to capture the steam as useful energy are qualified solid waste disposal facilities because they process solid waste in an energy conversion process. The generating facilities used to process the steam further to generate electricity are not engaged in the energy conversion process and are not qualified solid waste disposal facilities.

Example 7. Nonqualified Refurbishment. Company G purchases used cars and restores them. This restoration process includes disassembly, cleaning, and repairing of the cars. Parts that cannot be repaired are replaced. The restored cars contain at least 30 percent of the original parts. While the cars are used material, the refurbishing process is not a qualified solid waste disposal process. Accordingly, Company G's facility is not a qualified solid waste disposal facility.

Example 8. Qualified Solid Waste Disposal Facility -- First Useful Product Rule -- Paper Recycling. (i) Company H employs an integrated process to re-pulp discarded magazines, clean the pulp, and produce retail paper towel products. Operational constraints on Company H's process do not allow for reasonable extraction, isolation, and sale of the cleaned paper pulp independently without degradation of the pulp. Company H further processes the paper pulp into large industrial-sized rolls of paper which are approximately 12 feet in diameter. At this point in the process, Company H could either sell such industrial-sized rolls of paper to another company for further processing to produce retail paper products or it could produce those retail products itself. In general, paper pulp is a useful product that is bought and sold on the market as a material for input into manufacturing or production processes. The discarded magazines are used material within the meaning of paragraph (c)(1)(i)(A) of this section. Company H's facility is engaged in a recycling process within the meaning of paragraph (d)(3) of this section to the extent that it repulps and cleans the discarded magazines generally and further to the extent that it produces industrial-sized rolls of paper under the particular circumstances here. Specifically, taking into account the operational constraints on Company H's facility that limit its ability reasonably to extract, isolate, and sell the paper pulp independently, the first useful products within the meaning of paragraph (e) of this section from Company H's recycling process are the industrial-sized rolls of paper. The portion of Company H's facility that processes the discarded magazines and produces industrial-sized rolls of paper is a qualified solid waste disposal facility, and the portion of Company H's facility that further processes the industrial-sized rolls of paper into retail paper towels is not a qualified solid waste facility.

(ii) The facts are the same as in paragraph (i) of this Example 8, except that Company H is able reasonably to extract the cleaned paper pulp from the process without degradation of the pulp and to sell the cleaned paper pulp at its dock for a price that exceeds its costs of extracting the pulp from the process. Therefore, the paper pulp is the first useful product within the meaning of paragraph (e) of this section. As a result, the portion of Company H's facility that processes the discarded magazines is a qualified solid waste disposal facility, and the portion of Company H's facility that produces industrial-sized rolls of paper is not a qualified solid waste disposal facility. If, however, the only reasonable way Company H could sell the pulp was to transport the pulp to a distant market, then the costs of storing and transporting the pulp to the market may be taken into account in determining whether the pulp is the first useful product.

Example 9. Preliminary Function -- Energy Conversion Process. (i) Company I owns a paper mill. At the mill, logs from nearby timber operations are processed through a machine that removes bark. The stripped logs are used to manufacture paper. The stripped bark has the lowest fair market value of any product produced from the paper mill. The stripped bark falls onto a conveyor belt that transports the bark to a storage bin that is used to store the bark briefly until Company I feeds the bark into a boiler. The conveyor belt and storage bin are used only for these purposes. The boiler is used only to create steam by burning the bark, and the steam is used to generate electricity. The stripped bark is solid waste because it is residual material within the meaning of paragraph (c)(1)(i)(B) of this section and Company I expects to introduce the bark into an energy conversion process within a reasonable period of time. The creation of steam from the stripped bark is an energy conversion process that starts with the incineration of the stripped bark. The energy conversion process is a qualified solid waste disposal process. The conveyor belt performs a collection activity that is preliminary and that is directly related to the solid waste disposal function. The storage bin performs a storage function that is preliminary and that is directly related to the solid waste disposal function. Thus, the conveyor belt and storage bin are solid waste disposal facilities. The bark removal process is not a preliminary function because it is not directly related to the energy conversion process and it does not become so related merely because it results in material that is solid waste.

(ii) The facts are the same as in paragraph (i) of this Example 9, except that the stripped bark represents only 55 percent by weight and volume of the materials that are transported by the conveyor belt. The remaining 45 percent of the materials transported by the conveyor belt are not solid waste and these other materials are sorted from the conveyor belt by a sorting machine immediately before the stripped bark arrives at the storage bin. Fifty-five percent of the costs of the conveyor belt and the sorting machine are allocable to solid waste disposal functions.

Example 10. Preliminary Function -- Final Disposal Process. Company J owns a waste transfer station and uses it to collect, sort, and process solid waste. Company J uses its trucks to haul the solid waste to the nearest landfill. At least 65 percent by weight and volume of the material brought to the transfer station is solid waste. The waste transfer station and the trucks perform functions that are preliminary and directly related to the solid waste disposal function of the landfill. Thus, the waste transfer station and the trucks qualify as solid waste disposal facilities.

Example 11. Mixed-Input Facility. Company K owns an incinerator financed by an issue and uses the incinerator exclusively to burn coal and other solid material to create steam. Each year while the issue is outstanding, 40 percent by volume and 45 percent by weight of the solid material that Company K processes in the conversion process is coal. The remainder of the solid material is either used material or residual material within the meaning of paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section. Sixty percent of the costs of the property used to perform the energy conversion process are allocable to a solid waste disposal function.

(1) In general. Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph (i), this section applies to bonds to which section 142 applies that are sold on or after October 18, 2011.

(2) Elective retroactive application. Issuers may apply this section, in whole, but not in part, to outstanding bonds to which section 142 applies and which were sold before October 18, 2011.

(3) Certain refunding bonds. An issuer need not apply this section to bonds that are issued in a current refunding to refund bonds to which this section does not apply if the weighted average maturity of the refunding bonds is no longer than the remaining weighted average maturity of the refunded bonds.