Tennessee Code Title 68. Health, Safety and Environmental Protection § 68-211-803

(a) It is declared to be the policy of this state, 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 institute and maintain a comprehensive, integrated, statewide program for solid waste management, which will assure that solid waste facilities, whether publicly or privately operated, do not adversely affect the health, safety and well-being of the public and do not degrade the quality of the environment by reason of their location, design, method of operation or other means and which, to the extent feasible and practical, makes maximum utilization of the resources contained in solid waste.

(b) It is further declared to be the policy of this state to educate and encourage generators and handlers of solid waste to reduce and minimize to the greatest extent possible the amount of solid waste which requires collection, treatment, incineration or disposal through source reduction, reuse, composting, recycling and other methods.

(c) It is further declared to be the policy of this state to promote markets for, and engage in the purchase of, goods made from recovered materials and goods which are recyclable.