Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

District Examining Options On Solid Waste

What to do with solid waste in the near future is a major concern for the Southwest Central Solid Waste District.

The district recently won a lawsuit against the Saline County Solid Waste District which prevented the rates from being raised.

However, the contract will expire in two-and-a-half years. Then, the district will either have to find another landfill for the refuse, construct its own class I landfill or enter the recycling field hot and heavy.

Bill Fletcher, during the group's annual meeting in Hot Springs Wednesday, Jan. 17, said a committee has looked at several sites in the three-county district for a landfill site.

He said a class I landfill could be put anywhere if the district was willing to spend the money. However, the best location would be in south Clark County.

Fletcher said the soil quality is poor in Garland and Hot Spring counties, but Clark County has better clay.

"When the contract (with Saline County) is up," he said, "we're headed for a big hike in the rates."

Fletcher said he couldn't encourage the district to get in the class I landfill business unless it could find a waste stream to help offset the cost.

In addition, he said the district needs to be looking for an alternative site for its refuse when the contract expires. "This will take time," he said.

Or, Fletcher continued, there is the third option -- recycling.

He said the district could invest more money in its recycling program. Hot Springs, Fletcher said, has an excellent compost operation, and a "dirty murf" could be built in the district for composting.

According to Fletcher, the best method may be to take the garbage, remove all recyclable materials and use the rest for composting.

This, the district's board was told, would cut down on the amount of trash needed to be taken to a landfill, and, thereby, cut costs.

He also said two-and-a-half years is not adequate time to find a landfill site and get all the required permits for it.

Joe Hughes, with the Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology, told the board Paris, Texas has a center where fuel pellets are made from garbage.

However, he said this process isn't cheap, and the trash must be hand sorted, but the pellets burn well. "Alternatives are out there. It's a matter of how much waste we have," he said.

Hot Spring County Judge James Bailey said the district's first priority should be recycling, with fuel number two on the list and landfills being the last resort. "Don't bury it unless we have to," he said.

Hughes said anything done to reduce landfills will cost, but the district must weigh its options between building a landfill and something else.

Fletcher said the district may need to look at the other end of the scale in discussing a landfill. He said other areas near the Southwest District have good places to take their garbage, and generating a waste stream for a landfill could be a problem.

Bailey suggested the district push towards alternatives to landfills. "We need to stay away from a hole in the ground."

Hughes told the board this is the time to explore its options. But, he reminded them, they need to make sure someone has something up and working as an alternative before jumping blindly into anything.

"Solid waste is big business," he said. "You must be careful. It's a matter of sorting through what's out there and seeing what's right for here."

Garland County Judge Larry Williams said members of the board need to visit different sites and see how they operate instead of reading about them.

Fletcher suggested the board set a timetable to help stay on track.

"We need to find an option for when the contract is up," he said, "and not leave ourselves in the position of begging instead of negotiating."

He said the district should put out requests for prices (RFPs) to get bids from other landfills. He continued saying it needs to give itself time to develop other options should the landfills fall through.

In other news, Jim Goble said the district is fighting to clean up illegal tire dumps.

He said there were 500,000 tires in the district, but about half of these have been cleaned up.

The majority of the illegally dumped tires were in Garland County, the board was informed.

Goble said they are trying to work with landowners to get their help in cleaning the tires up. "We don't want to take them to court," he said. "We just want the tires cleaned up."

Doyle Smith, director of the regional recycling center, said pickup is going well, but he won't be satisfied until everyone is participating. "That's our goal," he said of the center

He requested the part time employee be made a full timer worker. This is because it's not safe for one man to try and operate the equipment alone.

The board agreed.

Joe Housley, with International Paper of Camden, presented a slide show on Camden's paper recycling plant.

He said the Camden plant makes about 20,000 tons of brown paper a year. The plant, the board was informed, cost $10 million.

The paper is blended to a pulp, cleaned, the debris removed my special machinery, thickened and pumped into a tower. From the tower, it goes into a paper machine.

Housley said they use white paper, cardboard, chip board and can recycle paper roll cores.

He said the plant processes about 300 tons per day, but Southern Arkansas can't supply all the paper it needs. Because of this, the plant purchases 25,000 to 30,000 tons of paper.