Trash haulers in Pulaski County, Arkansas, could be faced with new penalties for dumping at landfills without a license, according to a report from Arkansas Online.
The Regional Recycling and Waste Reduction District, Little Rock, Arkansas, has been discussing the issue for more than a year following reports of unlicensed haulers using a Jacksonville, Arkansas, landfill of Houston-based Waste Management (WM).
The district’s board of directors voted last week to begin examining language in the existing regulations to specify how the law will be enforced and how offenders will be penalized in the future.
WM Public Sector Services Manager George Wheatley says in the report that the company has been working with the district for months on rectifying the issue. Until now, WM hasn’t turned away unlicensed haulers because they want the revenue from paying customers.
However, the company recently adopted a form to help spot unlicensed drivers that can be used to refer them to the district. While WM hasn’t submitted any forms yet, the district plans on collecting them in January, district Comptroller Desi Ledbetter tells Arkansas Online.
Licenses, which can cost upwards of $1,000 depending on the number and size of a fleet’s trucks, expire every December 31 and need to be renewed annually.
District Executive Director Craig Douglass tells Arkansas Online that the district’s goal is to have the amended language ready to be assessed by the board of directors in March.