Two solid waste management districts in Northwest Arkansas agreed Thursday to continue a long-term conversation that could lead to a merger of the entities.
The communication between the Benton County Solid Waste Management District and the Boston Mountain Solid Waste Management District about collaborating more, exploring new partnerships and a potential merger started earlier this year after the retirement of Wendy Bland, the long-time Benton County director.
The boards on Thursday met together to view a PowerPoint presentation by most of the eight members of a boards’ joint subcommittee to discuss how the boards can more efficiently serve Northwest Arkansas residents, expand services and potentially reduce how much it costs to provide solid waste- and recycling-related services.
Over the next several months, a national nonprofit called The Recycling Partnership will continue its work in the region, providing information to and receiving feedback from the joint subcommittee members. Four members of each board are on the subcommittee that so far has held three, day-long meetings about collaboration.
The plan is for the Joint Board Subcommittee, with support from external experts and The Recycling Partnership, to pursue identified milestones that must be achieved every few weeks for the conversations to continue. If all goes well, the two boards are likely to continue their conversations through March next year.
“There are some roads you’ve gotta go down before you know what you are going to hit, and there’s always the option of changing course,” said Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse, the chairman of the Boston Mountain district who invited the Benton County group on Jan. 20 to have a discussion about consolidation. “We’ll never know unless we go down that road further than we have.”
In the coming months, The Recycling Partnership will support the Joint Board Subcommittee, in making recommendations about a power-sharing structure, and discuss how the district can successfully navigate a board that would have more than 25 members. “A core goal would be fairness to all members,” said Charlotte Pitt, a vice president of community development with TRP.
Additionally, there will be a deep evaluation of the programs, services and finances of the two districts.
There are notable differences in how the two districts function now.
The Boston Mountain district, for example, operates a waste transfer station, has more employees, and it has an educator on staff who works with school children and other people to inform them of how the trash collection and recycling systems work in Madison and Washington counties.
The Benton County solid waste district staff and its annual budget are much smaller. It does have a greater number of recycling drop-off centers, places where Benton County residents can offload recyclables that they’ve gathered up.
Little Flock Mayor Jeff Van Sickler, who is chair of the Benton County Solid Waste District and a member of the joint subcommittee, said he was encouraged by the meetings with the Boston Mountain district representatives on the subcommittee.
“One thing was clear: We care about our communities, and we need to work together to address our challenges,” Van Sickler said.
Northwest Arkansas was once served by the Four-County Solid Waste District that included Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties. Carroll County left about 25 years ago, and it evolved again in 2019. It’s now one of eight, one-county solid waste districts in Arkansas.
Benton County was part of the Tri-County Solid Waste District, but left to go it alone in 2005.
The state has 19 solid waste management districts in all across its 75 counties, and many districts serve far larger geographic areas than those in Northwest Arkansas. Two districts — the White River district and the Southeast district — include representatives from 10 counties apiece.
