The July 22nd edition of the Pulaski County Regional Recycling and Waste Reduction District (“Pulaski District”) Publication Friday Update (“Update”) notes:
The House and Senate Committees on Public Health and Welfare met jointly on Tuesday to discuss Arkansas’s Waste Tire Program.
The Arkansas General Assembly enacted legislation a number of years ago whose purpose is to ensure the appropriate management of waste tires in Arkansas.
Both the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (“ADEQ”) and the Arkansas Regional Solid Waste Management Districts (“District”) play roles in the program.
The Update notes that there was substantial interest in the hearing that was reflected by the attendance of both the ADEQ Director and Senior Associate Director (Becky Keogh and Julie Chapman, respectively) along with the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration’s Accounting Manager, and Roger Davis, Davis Rubber Company. Also in attendance were two County Judges, a representative of Pulaski District, along with representatives of three other Districts.
The Update states that the Joint Committee voted to:
. . .request a legislative audit of the waste tire districts in order to more thoroughly evaluate each district’s current position as well as its challenges.
The Update voices a desire for the development of a waste tire legislative package for the upcoming 2017 Arkansas General Assembly legislative session. The stated objective of such legislation would include:
- Make Arkansas’s statewide Waste Tire Program more accountable, effective and efficient
- Repair the program’s outdated funding mechanism
- Correct other structural policy issues that undermine further effectiveness and prevent Districts from employing industry best practices (e.g., or lack of onsite of used tire dealers)
The Pulaski District is one of 18 Arkansas Regional Solid Waste Management Districts authorized in 1991 by Act 752.
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