REGIONAL NEEDS Assessment

Pulaski County Regional Solid Waste Management District

June, 2002

Introduction

Act 752 of 1991, codified at Ark. Code Ann. § 8-6-701 et seq., as amended, established regional solid waste management districts in Arkansas. Act 752 and PC&E Regulation NO. 22 require them to prepare and update regional needs assessments (“RNA”) periodically. Act 752 requires the RNA to include, at a minimum, the following:

(1) An evaluation of the amount of solid waste generated within the district and the amount of remaining capacity, expressed in years, at the solid waste disposal facilities within the district that are permitted under the Arkansas Solid Waste Management Act;

(2) An evaluation of the solid waste collection, transportation, and disposal needs of all localities within the district; and

(3) An evaluation and balancing of the environmental, economic, and other relevant factors which would be implicated by acceptance of solid waste from beyond the boundaries of the district.

Section I: Major Findings of the Regional Needs Assessment

1. Landfill Capacity. If current Municipal Solid Waste, (“MSW”) generation and recovery rates continue, the existing permitted Class I landfill capacity in Pulaski County ranges from 4.3 to 60 years. (BFI Model Fill: 4.3 years; Waste Management Two Pine: 8 years; Jacksonville Wastewater: 10 years; City of Little Rock: 60 years.) In addition, Waste Management was granted a certificate of need on November 23, 1999 for a lateral expansion within its existing site, which will provide substantial additional permitted capacity. However, for the next four years the District anticipates large volumes of MSW from outside Pulaski County being brought to the Class I landfills located within the County. While the average Class I landfill capacity far exceeds the five-year minimum threshold set by ADEQ regulations, the available and permitted Class I landfill space may be depleted prior to the 30-year maximum capacity suggested by ADEQ regulations. The Class IV permitted landfill capacity has an estimated 28-year site life, exceeding the five year minimum threshold for landfill capacity.

2. Solid Waste System Infrastructure. All households within the District have access to regular weekly curbside pickup of garbage and yard wastes. Moreover, 43% of single family households have access to weekly curbside pickup of recyclable materials and the remaining households have access to conveniently located recycling drop-off centers.

3. Solid Waste from Outside the District. The privately owned Class I landfills routinely respond to bid requests and compete to accept large volumes of MSW generated by sources outside Pulaski County. Presently the BFI Model Fill landfill accepts an average of 94,188 tons of MSW from outside Pulaski County and Waste Management’s Two Pine land fill has accepted 12,951 tons during 2002 (January 1, 2002 through May 6, 2002) for an anticipated average annual volume of 38,000+ tons. The environmental impacts of bringing MSW into the County from other Districts has been closely scrutinized by the District and a”host fee” of $1 per ton will be recommended to the District board in 2002 to become effective in 2003. The funds generated from this fee will be used to monitor this situation and illegal dumping in the District as well as to encourage recycling.

Section II: The Regional Solid Waste Needs Assessment Area

District Area. The Pulaski County Regional Solid Waste Management District consists of the geographic area within Pulaski County and includes the municipalities of Alexander, Cammack Village, Jacksonville, Little Rock, Maumelle, North Little Rock, Sherwood, Wrightsville, and the unincorporated areas of the County. The following table lists for each local jurisdiction, the department and official responsible for solid waste management services.

Table #1: Regional Solid Waste Needs Assessment Area

Locality	Form of Government	SWM Dept.	SWM Official	Title
Alexander	Mayor/Council	Sanitation	Shirley Johnson	Mayor
Cammack Village	Mayor/Council	Sanitation	Harry Light	Mayor
Jacksonville	Mayor/Council	Sanitation	Murice Green	Public Works Director
Little Rock	City Manager	Solid Waste	Bob Turner	Public Works Director
Maumelle	Mayor/Council	Sanitation	Robert Cogdell	Public Works Director
North Little Rock	Mayor/Council	Sanitation	Harold Ford	Director of Sanitation
Sherwood	Mayor/Council	Sanitation	Denver Gentry	Public Works Director
Wrightsville	Mayor/Council	Sanitation	Lorraine Smith	Mayor
Unincorporated Areas	County Judge/ Quorum Court	Sanitation	Sherman Smith	Public Works Director

Inter-local Agreements. There is an inter-local agreement between Pulaski County Regional Solid Waste Management District and Southwest Central Regional Solid Waste Management District authorizing the transfer of solid waste between districts. It went into effect on July 29, 1998 and calls for a transfer of approximately 85,000 tons a year between districts, It is effective until September 30, 2003 which is the expiration date of the disposal agreement between the Southwest Central Regional Solid Waste Management District and BFI, the owner and operator of the Modelfill Landfill at which the MSW is being deposited. There is no automatic renewal of this agreement stipulated.

Population Projections. In 1997, Metroplan compiled and analyzed the following population information and projections for Pulaski County.

Table #2: Pulaski County Population Information and Projections

	1990	1995	2000	2005	2010	2015	2020	2025
Pulaski County	349,660	363,088	373,631	382,220	389,809	397,428	405,079	411,811

Section III: Identity and Quantity of Solid Wastes Generated

Solid Waste means any garbage, or refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment plan, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material resulting from community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges that are point sources subject to permit under 33 U.S.C. 1342, or source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (68 Stat. 923).

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) includes wastes such as durable goods, non-durable goods, containers and packaging, food scraps, yard trimmings, and miscellaneous inorganic wastes from residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial sources. Examples of waste from these categories include appliances, automobile tires, newspapers, clothing, boxes, disposal tableware, office and classroom paper, wood pallets, and cafeteria wastes. MSW does not include wastes from other sources, such as construction and demolition debris, automobile bodies, municipal sludge, combustion ash, and industrial process wastes that might also be disposed in municipal waste landfills or incinerators.[1]

Solid Waste Estimates in Pulaski County. The Pulaski County Solid Waste stream increased from 666,053 tons to 741,475 tons between 1997 and 2001

Table #3: 2001 Data for Individual Landfills in Pulaski County

(all data is in tons)

Landfill	Compacted	Uncompacted	Total
Two Pines	187,320	41,155	228,475
City of Little Rock	62,813	57,496	120,309
Jacksonville Waste Water	-	1,886	1,886
Model Fill	221,994	87,478	309,472
TOTALS	471,127	188,015	660,142

Table #4: Solid Waste Estimates by Activity, 1997 Through 2001

(all data shown in tons)

Tons Of:	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Landfilled (Compacted)	395,628	432,955	449,119	423,502	471,127
Landfilled (Not compacted)	212,781	168,057	219,593	172,201	188,015
Composted/ Mulched	42,343	46,616	45,049	33,004	70,290**
Recycled Materials*	8,955	10,445	8,259	6,994	6,143
Waste Tires	6,346	5,285	5,318	5,321	5,900
TOTALS	666,053	663,358	727,338	641,002	741,475

* Includes newsprint, mixed paper, cans, plastic, glass, motor oil, cardboard and

household chemicals

**46%increase in compost/mulched material attributed to 2000/2001 ice storm

2001 MSW Analysis by Jurisdiction. The following table indicates 2001 MSW volumes by jurisdiction and on a per household basis.

Table #5: MSW Analysis by Jurisdiction

(all data shown in tons)

Locality	Households	Volume	Volume	Volume	Volume	Total
	Served (Single Family)	Landfilled (tons) (Class I)	Landfilled (tons) (Class IV)	Yard Waste (tons)	Recyclables (tons)	Volume (tons)
Alexander	576	475	-	-	-	475
(Per Household)		0.82	-	-	-	0.82
Cammack Village	408	520	-	66	23	609
(Per Household)		1.27	-	0.16	0.06	1.49
Jacksonville	7,200	6,583	1,229	9,004