Earlier this year, the Alabama Legislature passed a one-year extension on a 2011 24-month moratorium for issuing permits to new landfills.

The moratorium came after the Legislature directed the Alabama Department of Environmental Management to evaluate solid waste management procedures in Alabama.

That request included taking a look at requirements for permitting new, solid waste landfills. In order to ensure an unbiased perspective on the state of Alabama’s solid waste management procedures, the Auburn University Solid Waste Management Research Team is holding public meetings throughout the state and will compile public input into a final report for ADEM.

The study by the Auburn research team is a two-part process. First, researches must determine if and how the state should change it’s permitting process when it comes to landfills. The second part comes in the decision of how the state should dispose of waste in the future.

Some public meetings have yielded discussions about recycling or energy production.

Researchers are interested in hearing from all perspectives and will be available to speak with Pike County area residents this week.
The fourth in the series of meetings with the research team will be held on Wednesday in Troy at the Pike County Cattlemen’s Association from 6 to 8 p.m. The meeting is open to the public and no pre-registration is required, according to Dr. Joel Hayworth who is working on the Auburn University research project.

On Sept. 6, another meeting will be held in Huntsville.

The report, along with any needed program enhancements, will be presented to ADEM and the Legislature later this year, according to Hayworth.

For more information about the public meetings, or about Auburn’s role in assisting ADEM, visit www.eng.auburn.edu/asws/.