Arkansas

Waste and Landfills

The 16th Nationwide Survey of MSW Management in the United States found the following: in 2006, Arkansas had an estimated 3,468,842-tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) generation, placing it 31st in a survey of the 50 states and the capital district. Based on the 2006 population of 2,809,111, an estimated 1.23 tons of MSW were generated per person per year (ranking joint 27th); 2,900,689 tons were landfilled in the state's 62 landfills and 160,937 tons of MSW were exported; the import tonnage was not reported. In 2006, Arkansas was increasing its landfill capacity—it was ranked joint 4th out of 44 respondent states for number of landfills. Yard waste, whole tires, lead-acid batteries, and electronics were reported as banned from Arkansas landfills. Arkansas has three waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities, which processed 35,464 tons of MSW (27th out of 32 respondents), and 532,689 tons of MSW were recycled, placing Arkansas 30th in the ranking of recycled MSW tonnage.

Waste to Energy

Arkansas has been at the forefront of waste-to-energy developments, a technology championed by Governor Mike Beebe and Senator Blanche Lincoln. Waste Management, Inc.'s Two Pine Landfill gas-to-energy plant is the state's first landfill gas (LFG)-to-energy plant. Operational since 2006, the 4.8-megawatt facility powers approximately 4,500 homes in North Little Rock. While the landfill has approval for a 144-acre extension, it plans to build another LFG-to-energy plant on the expansion. A partnership with Audubon Arkansas will turn 300 acres of the site's total 500 acres into a wildlife refuge. A $3 million investment was required to design and install an LFG collection system that met the Environmental Protection Agency's New Source Performance Standards. A 15-year contract to pipe and sell LFG to GEO Specialty Chemicals is being used to recoup this investment. Gas is piped to GEO to fire an industrial kiln, saving annual greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking 5,650 cars off the [Page 48]road. In Fort Smith, the city's landfill uses its LFG by injecting it straight into the natural gas pipeline. SouthTex gas-treating company partnered with Cambrian Energy to create a treatment facility that would remove carbon dioxide from the LFG, bringing it in line with Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Corporation specifications. This treatment and utilization of LFG, rather than combustion in a flare, reduces the Fort Smith landfill's overall carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent. The city also receives royalties from the gas companies for the gas rights, providing a revenue stream from the operation that comes at no cost to the public as the gas companies carry out all of the work in return for ownership of the gas. Fort Smith is the largest landfill in Arkansas; a fifth cell was added in 2010, this 12-acre extension cost $1.9 million and should last for three to five years. Covering over 1,000 acres, the landfill serves Fort Smith, six Arkansas counties, and parts of two Oklahoma counties; the landfill is expected to serve until around 2075.

...