Arkansas Administrative Code
Agency 118 - DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Division 01 - Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission
Rule 118.01.21-016 - Rule 28, "Rule of the State of Arkansas for County Recycling Programs"

This rule contains the rules and procedures for the establishment or designation of adequate recyclable materials collection centers or systems in counties in the State of Arkansas.

These rules are issued by the Arkansas Pollution Control & Ecology Commission pursuant to A.C.A § 8-6-701, et seq.

The purpose of this rule is to establish, as required by A.C.A. § 8-6-720(b), minimum requirements for adequate recyclable materials collection centers or systems which are convenient for persons to use and which will provide citizens of the State of Arkansas the opportunity to recycle.

For the purpose of this rule, the following definitions apply:

Board or Regional Board - means a regional solid waste management board, established pursuant to A.C.A. § 8-6-701, et seq.;

Centers of Commerce - means locations where residents of a county go to school, work, shop, or conduct business;

Commission - means the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission;

Convenient - means a curbside system of collection; collection centers, whether public, private, or nonprofit, which are accessible to residents on the way to centers of commerce; or any other method of collection which, upon petition by the board to the Director, is deemed readily accessible to the general public for the purpose of recycling;

Division - means the Division of Environmental Quality or its successors;

Director - means the Director of the Division of Environmental Quality;

District - means a regional solid waste management district, as established pursuant to A.C.A. § 8-6-701, et seq.;

End User - means a business or manufacturer which takes recyclable materials and alters or converts them into new materials or products;

Intermediate Processor - means a company or material recovery facility that purchases or otherwise accepts recyclable waste materials and, after processing, sells them to an end user;

Nontraditional Working Hours - means days and hours of the week other than 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday;

Opportunity to Recycle - means the availability of a curbside system of collection; or collection centers at sites which are convenient for persons to use;

Recyclable Materials or Recyclables - means those materials from the solid waste stream that can be recovered for use in present or reprocessed form;

Recyclable Materials Collection Center or Collection Center - means a facility which receives or stores recyclable materials prior to transportation to material recovery facilities, markets for recycling, or disposal;

Recyclable Materials Collection System or Collection System - means a type of recyclables collection which does not include the direct use of a recyclable materials collection system by the general public. Collection systems include curbside, house-to-house, and other such collection services provided to the general public, which directly receive and transport recyclable materials collection centers, material recovery facilities, or markets;

Recycling - means the systematic collection, sorting, decontaminating, and returning of solid waste materials to commerce as commodities for use or exchange.

As required by A.C.A. § 8-6-720, each regional solid waste management board shall provide residents of its district the opportunity to recycle by establishing or designating in each county of the district at least one collection center or system which meets the requirements contained in Chapter Four and Chapter Five below. Each board must incorporate into its solid waste management plan its proposal for fulfilling this mandate.

Collection centers shall be located in or near each county's centers of commerce, to be situated at convenient waste transfer or disposal facilities, or at existing recycling facilities or intermediate processors, whether public, private, or nonprofit. Other locations may be deemed convenient by the Director upon petition by the Board.

Collection centers shall be open a minimum of eight hours per month during nontraditional working hours, with operational hours otherwise not limited.

Collection centers shall be attended by paid workers or volunteers on a periodic basis to ensure quality control of the recyclables collected and the dissemination of educational materials and information to users. The proposed number of hours the collection center is to be attended shall be submitted to the Division for review and approval. "Attended" does not include the servicing or cleaning of the recyclables collection area unless workers are also available to provide educational materials and information to users.

Collection centers shall ensure that collected materials are transported and marketed to either intermediate processors or to end users. Boards shall not prevent a person generating or collecting recyclable materials from delivering the recyclable materials to a recycling facility, an intermediate processor, or an end user of their choice.

The disposal option granted in A.C.A. § 8-6-702(10) may be used only for residue from the decontaminating of collected materials or if markets are determined by the Director, in consultation with the State Marketing Board for Recyclables, to be unavailable for the collected materials. If markets are determined to be available by the Director, collected recyclables must be marketed.

Boards shall provide information to the public describing how, when, and where materials may be deposited for recycling, including an ongoing promotional and educational program which encourages source separation. Each Board shall submit to the Division a description of promotional and educational programs and copies of printed educational material for inclusion in the Recycling Division's library. The information should include all facilities within the District that accept recyclable materials.

Three (3) or more materials shall be collected from the list of recyclable materials contained in Rule 28.602 (A) through (I) or authorized under (M). (Whole tires, lead-acid batteries, and yard waste may be collected at the same collection center, but will not apply toward one of the three required materials in this rule.) Since paper comprises over 40 percent of the solid waste stream, the Division encourages the collection of at least one type of paper as one of the three required materials for recycling.

Boards are to determine if existing recycling facilities are adequate, whether public, private-for-profit, or nonprofit. Boards shall designate those determined to be adequate as collection centers. In the event existing recycling facilities do not accept the minimum number of materials, boards are to encourage existing recycling facilities to accept at a minimum three recyclable materials contained in Rule 28.602 (A) through (I) or authorized under (M) in order to qualify for designation as a recyclables collection center. If existing recycling do not or cannot meet these requirements, two recycling facilities may be jointly designated by the board, provided that a minimum of three recyclable materials contained in Rule 28.602 (A) through (I) or authorized under (M) are collected by the combined locations.

If existing recycling materials are not adequate, boards are to establish at least one recyclable materials collection center in each county of the district, unless granted an exemption by the Commission, as provided in A.C.A. § 8-6-720(a)(2). An exemption may be granted if a county is adequately served by a recyclable materials collection center in another county. A written agreement, complying with A.C.A § 8-6-709 and entered into by the affected recycling centers, counties, and boards, which describes the sharing arrangement, must be presented to the Commission before the Commission may approve an exemption.

Curbside or house-to-house collection systems, or any other types of collection systems, if used instead of a recyclable materials collection center to satisfy the requirements of this rule, shall be made available to every household in the county. The minimum requirements of this rule may be met by a collection system used in conjunction with a collection center, provided that every resident of the county has the opportunity to conveniently recycle three (3) or more materials from the list in Chapter Six.

Boards shall provide information to the public describing how, when, and where materials may be placed for collection, and shall provide an ongoing promotional and educational program. Each board shall submit to the Division a description of promotional and educational programs and copies of printed educational materials for inclusion in the Recycling Division's library.

Three or more materials shall be collected from the list of recyclable materials contained in Rule 28.602 (A) through (I) or authorized under (M). (Whole tires, lead-acid batteries, and yard waste may be collected as part of the system, but will not apply toward one of the three required materials in this rule.) Since paper comprises over 40 percent of the solid waste stream, the Division encourages the collection of at least one type of paper as one of the three required materials for recycling.

Boards are to determine if existing recycling systems are adequate, whether public, private-for-profit, or nonprofit. Boards shall designate those determined as adequate as recyclable materials collection systems. In the event existing recycling systems do not accept the minimum number of materials, boards are to encourage existing recycling systems to accept at a minimum three materials from the list of recyclable materials contained in Rule 28.602 (A) through (I) or authorized under (M) in order to qualify for designation as a recyclable materials collection system.

If existing recycling systems are not adequate, boards are to establish at least one recyclable materials collection center or system or combination of the two in each county of the district, unless granted an exemption by the Commission, as provide in A.C.A. § 8-6-720(a)(2) and there is a written agreement between the affected counties and board(s), as set forth in A.C.A. § 8-6-709.

Three or more materials shall be collected from the list of recyclable materials contained in Rule 28.602 (A) through (I) or authorized under (M). (Whole tires, lead-acid batteries, and yard waste may be collected as part of the collection system, but will not apply toward one of the three required materials in this rule.) Since paper comprises over 40 percent of the solid waste stream, the Division encourages the collection of at least one type of paper as one of the three required materials for recycling.

Reports containing the following information must be filed on or before July 15 for the preceding twelve months by the designated collection center(s) or system(s) to the appropriate Board(s) of jurisdiction, documenting the following data:

Boards shall compile a summary of the information required in Rule 28.601 and submit it to the Division on or before August 15 for the preceding twelve months.

Boards shall determine and include in the August 15 summary report to the Division, the percentage of the district's waste stream represented by the total amounts recycled during the previous calendar year. This data is required to document progress toward the State's recycling goals as provided in A.C.A. § 8-9-101

If any provision of this rule or the application thereof to any person is held invalid such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or application of this rule which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this rule are declared to be severable.

This rule is effective ten (10) days after filing with the Secretary of State, the State Library, and the Bureau of Legislative Research.