Department of Environment & Conservation
Jim Fyke, Commissioner

Contact

Mike Apple, Director
5th floor, L&C Tower, Nashville, TN 37243
(615) 532-0780
E-mail SWM

Qualitative Reviews

Municipal Solid Waste Planning Region Qualitative Reviews

Tennessee’s Solid Waste Management Act of 1991 (SWMA) requires solid waste regions to achieve a twenty-five percent (25%) waste reduction goal for solid waste going into Class I landfills by December 31, 2003. Under T.C.A. § 68-211-861, the basis for determining compliance with this waste reduction goal is based on a per capita reduction measurement that may be adjusted for economic or population trends, or by a qualitative assessment that evaluates whether the region had comparable progress to those of similar regions that made the waste reduction goal based on the per capita methodology. Until 2003 the need to define the qualitative assessment was not necessary since there were no regions out of compliance. After the 2003 reporting period, 34 regions failed to meet the 25% waste reduction goal, which necessitated the promulgation of rules describing the methodology for qualitative assessment of regions failing to meet the per capita base year reduction. These rules became effective August 6, 2006.

The first step in the qualitative assessment process is to determine if the failing region met the waste reduction goal using the real-time methodology. This method is calculated annually by dividing the total amount recycled or diverted from Class I landfills by the total generated waste stream. If the region did not meet the 25% goal through this process, the region is then reviewed in order to determine if a “good faith” effort was made toward compliance and if their programs and solid waste infrastructure are qualitatively equivalent to like regions of similar population and economic characteristics who have achieved the goal.