Pulaski County waste district gets OK to draft rules for haulers

Audits find lack of licenses

The solid-waste district in Pulaski County will draw up rules to potentially penalize trash haulers for dumping at landfills without a license.

For more than a year, the Regional Recycling and Waste Reduction District has discussed the issue of unlicensed haulers using the Waste Management-operated Two Pine landfill in Jacksonville.

Periodic district audits have found several haulers at any given time don't have licenses.

The revenue from hauler licenses, which can cost up to $1,000 each, goes to the district.

Last week, the district's board of directors voted to allow the district to begin exploring language to amend the district's regulations to specify how the district will enforce the license law and potentially penalize violators. State law allows for penalties and fines for violating solid-waste laws.

The language will ideally go before the district's board in March, said Craig Douglass, district executive director.

"What I try to remember is the overarching mission of all of this is to protect the public health and the quality of our environment," Douglass said. "The haulers of solid waste fit into that significantly."

The board includes the mayors of Pulaski County's six largest cities: Little Rock, North Little Rock, Sherwood, Jacksonville, Maumelle and Wrightsville. The district is a state regional solid-waste district that operates only in the county.

Waste Management Public Sector Services Manager George Wheatley said the company has worked with the district for several months on addressing unlicensed haulers. In May, Wheatley wrote a letter to the district explaining the district had the ability to enforce the license requirement, even though it did not own the landfill.

Wheatley said Waste Management had not been checking licenses or turning away unlicensed drivers because the company doesn't turn away paying customers.

"We want customers," he said.

Wheatley said he drew up a form several months ago to identify unlicensed haulers and refer them to the district for action. That form has not been used to report any unlicensed haulers to the district yet. Waste Management has used it for about a month, and the district plans to begin collecting them in January, district Comptroller Desi Ledbetter said.

At Little Rock's landfill, city workers check whether haulers have a license and deny them service if they don't, city officials told the board.

In the past year and a half, Ledbetter has done periodic four-hour stops at the landfill to ask drivers if they have licenses. Ledbetter said he doesn't track what percentage of drivers are not licensed but said a random check in June 2016 revealed eight unlicensed haulers, and a check in September 2016 revealed seven.

Licenses cost up to $1,000, depending on the number of trucks and how big they are.

Licenses expire every Dec. 31 and must be renewed by March 1. In 2016, 226 haulers were licensed but dozens did not renew until after March 1 of 2017, according to the district. Haulers have purchased about 80 licenses since November, when the district began asking Waste Management to hand out brochures on licensing to all drivers.

In 2015, the district had 87 licensed haulers.

Since paying extra attention to whether haulers have licenses, the district has more than doubled its revenue from hauler license purchases.

From fiscal 2011 through fiscal 2016, the district never brought in more than $19,682.50. In fiscal 2017, the district brought in $39,820. That comprised about 3.1 percent of the district's $1.3 million revenue from that year.

Metro on 12/11/2017

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