(a) It is declared to be the public policy of the State of Georgia, in furtherance of its responsibility to protect the public health, safety, and well-being of its citizens and to protect and enhance the quality of its environment, to require corrective action for releases of hazardous wastes, hazardous constituents, and hazardous substances, without regard to when such releases may have occurred, into the environment that may pose a threat to human health or the environment and to provide incentives for the reduction of the amount of hazardous wastes generated or managed in the state. Additionally, the purpose of this part is to reduce the generation of hazardous wastes in this state and to encourage hazardous waste generators, prior to considering landfill disposal, to consider the following measures in descending order of preference:

(1) Reduce the amount of wastes generated through improvement in industrial processes;

(2) Isolate hazardous materials from mixtures in which they occur;

(3) Reuse and recycle wastes in accordance with state and federal requirements;

(4) Transfer wastes through clearing-houses so that they may be recycled in industrial processes;

(5) Detoxify or neutralize wastes into less harmful substances or destroy such wastes; and

(6) Store hazardous waste residues in aboveground facilities using encapsulation and monitoring.

(b) The General Assembly declares its intent to fund the execution of the public policy set forth in subsection (a) of this Code section by and through the division with the fees established and collected by the division pursuant to subsection (e) of Code Section 12-2-2, subsection (e) of Code Section 12-8-39, subsection (d) of Code Section 12-8-68, and Code Section 12-8-95.1. The General Assembly further declares its intent to ensure that the funding provided by fees on hazardous waste management activities and hazardous substance reporting and by owners and operators of solid waste disposal facilities pursuant to those Code sections and through the collection of civil penalties will not be diverted for any purpose other than the administration of this article by the division, including reviewing and overseeing investigations, corrective action, and other actions by federal agencies required under this article and supporting the reduction of hazardous waste and pollution prevention activities by federal agencies; the prevention of pollution, including reduction of hazardous wastes generated; and the effectuation of corrective action at sites that may threaten human health or the environment where hazardous wastes, hazardous constituents, or hazardous substances have been disposed of or released. Appropriation of funds to the department for inclusion in the hazardous waste trust fund continued in existence by subsection (a) of Code Section 12-8-95 shall be deemed consistent with this declaration of legislative intent.