Throughout Northwest Arkansas' cities and rural areas, there's a constant flow that's as much a part of the region's culture as its entrepreneurial spirit, its porcine attachment and its affection for these hills and valleys comprising the Ozarks.
Is it water? No, although creeks, streams and rivers are important pieces of the region's ecological vitality.
What’s the point?
A request to expand the region’s landfill is a great time to discuss Northwest Arkansas’ practices when it comes to trash.
Is it money? No, although this corner of Arkansas is blessed in that regard compared to some parts of the state.
Is it population? Not directly, even though folks have been coming to this area steadily for decades.
The flow we're focused on today is part of everyday living on the Ozark Plateau.
It's trash.
We are a trash-generating people living in an era of mass-marketed products, many of which are disposable or have short-duration shelf lives. We haul our trash to the curb -- hopefully with a robust effort to recycle or reuse as many materials as possible -- and watch it hauled away in a truck.
Problem solved, right?
Not really. That's just the beginning, because our waste doesn't just evaporate. It has to reside someplace for a long, long time, and for many years now, that someplace has been in Tontitown. That's where Waste Management operates what a few years back they named the Eco-Vista Landfill. Sounds almost like a resort get-away, doesn't it?
Names can be deceiving, though. The landfill is the final resting place of our garbage, and from time to time, the landfill's owner along with local and state regulators must face the reality: People's trash-producing ways aren't going away, so preparations must be made to give their byproduct a forever home.
Waste Management has asked the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality for all the necessary permissions to expand the 109 acres it uses within a 609-acre area it owns to bury household garbage and, separately, construction debris, which the region generates plenty of. The expansion would add 72 acres to the operation, creating a longer lifetime for the spot where Northwest Arkansas buries its waste.
Last week, the Boston Mountain Solid Waste District hosted a meeting in Springdale to get feedback about the Eco-Vista situation. According to district officials, the site will fill up within about 5½ years unless something is done. The requested expansion would cover the region's projected needs until 2049.
Perhaps more than any other time, such requests to the state and local regulatory agencies represent an opportunity for a conversation about how Waste Management is doing. But if the question is whether Northwest Arkansas ought to expand the landfill, the answer really has to be "yes," doesn't it?
Certainly, there are always other options, such as hauling Northwest Arkansas trash farther distances to places with capacity to handle the volume. But should residents and businesses pay what would likely be a costly premium to do that? And one can convincingly argue that our region has a responsibility to manage its trash within its own geography.
That can be one of the prime motivators for Northwest Arkansas leaders to do as much as humanly possible to reduce the flow of trash to the landfill. And if we don't take care of business in that regard, we really should have to deal with the results right here in our own back yard.
Northwest Arkansas can use more leadership -- from government and from the business community -- when it comes to reducing the trash we generate and recycling whatever can be.
Fayetteville is one of the more serious towns on the issue of diverting waste from landfills, and a representative spoke up the other evening. The city wants to make sure as much as possible is done to slow the amount of trash going to the landfill.
Our waste has to go somewhere, but we humans still have a lot to discover about how we package things, how we can reduce wasteful tendencies, and how we can live up to higher standards when it comes to our consumption.
Is now a time for a vigorous conversation about how we manage the region's waste? Yes, but the fact is, that's always true.
Commentary on 04/24/2018