This legislation sets new limitations on permitting requirements for new landfills. The restrictions include; revisions to permitting within 50 miles of an existing private or public landfill in this state, permitting within 2 miles of a signifigant ground water discharge area. 

Every application for a permit for a new landfill shall demonstrate to the [EPD] director that a need exists for the landfill in that jurisdiction, in that insufficient capacity currently exists within the region to accommodate the volume of commercial, residential, and local governmental waste.

The legislation also introduces a new code section modifying the term 'buffer area', to mean an area of natural habitat in which no residential or commercial structure exists. Including that no new private or public landfill shall exceed more than 100 acres in size, and that every new private and public landfill shall include a buffer area of not less than two square miles in every direction.