Vesting of title to solid waste; liability of generator; authority of resource recovery facilities provided by cities or counties or combinations thereof; contracts

(a) Title to the solid waste collected, processed or disposed of in accordance with the provisions of this act and the rules and regulations adopted thereunder shall vest in the owner of the solid waste management activity, area or facility in which the solid waste is placed. Solid waste produced from a discrete source disposed of in ways other than in accordance with this act shall remain the property of the generator and the generator shall be liable for removal of the waste, restoration of the area in which the waste was disposed and to provide for lawful disposal of the waste. It shall not constitute a defense to the generator that the generator acted through an independent contractor in the transportation or disposal of the solid waste. (b) When a city or a county or any combination of cities or counties, or both, provides by contract for a resource recovery facility or facilities to recover materials or energy from solid wastes as a part of an approved solid waste management plan, the resource recovery facility or facilities shall have sole ownership, utilization and disbursement control of all waste collected by that facility or facilities or delivered to that facility or facilities and shall have the power to sell recovered or recycled materials or energy. Such provision shall be interpreted to include either active participation and financial support of such resource recovery facility or facilities or oversight and regulatory control of such facility or facilities by the local governments. A resource recovery facility may contract to dispose of materials or products as allowed by rules and regulations of the secretary adopted pursuant to K.S.A. 65-3401 et seq., and amendments thereto and conditions as set by the original owner of such materials delivered for disposal and resource recovery, so as to avoid reuse or resale of such special products or materials. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit or limit private waste collectors from extracting from the waste they collect, prior to delivery to the resource recovery facility, any materials that may have value to such collectors for purposes of recycling, reuse or resale.