Base Year/Reporting Year Change Policy

Reporting-Year Inaccuracies

The working group also examined measurement accuracy issues related to the reporting-year disposal tonnage from the Disposal Reporting System (DRS). The DRS regulations established minimum reporting standards which require at least a one week per quarter origin survey to be conducted at all permitted solid waste facilities. Although the disposal reporting data has proven useful to jurisdictions investigating base-year inaccuracies, many jurisdictions believe the reporting-year data does not accurately estimate their waste disposal.

The most common concern noted by jurisdictions submitting reporting-year revisions in the annual reports was that the quarterly disposal estimate based on a one week survey did not reconcile with data received from franchised or permitted haulers. The issue of a one week survey not being representative of a jurisdiction’s total disposal for the entire quarter may be of particular concern to small jurisdictions and jurisdictions that do not have another source of data for comparison. Small jurisdictions generate fewer loads during the survey week and so are disproportionately affected by any change in disposal patterns that occurs during the survey week. Jurisdictions that do not have another source of disposal data (such as data from a franchised or permitted hauler) can not easily make reporting-year revisions in their annual reports.

Another common concern expressed was that the origin information provided was not accurate, and so disposal tonnage were not assigned to the correct jurisdiction. This concern frequently involved loads containing waste from more than one jurisdiction or uncertainty over jurisdiction boundaries.

These reporting-year inaccuracies, if not adequately resolved, may result in a jurisdiction’s reported disposal being too high or too low. A jurisdiction that is assigned a reporting-year disposal quantity that is too high may have difficulty quantitatively demonstrating progress towards achievement of the diversion goals. A jurisdiction that is assigned a reporting-year disposal quantity that is too low may make program implementation or budget decisions based on an artificially high diversion rate. As the accuracy of disposal reporting improves, such a jurisdiction may have difficulty quantitatively demonstrating progress towards achievement of the 50 percent diversion goal.

Table of Contents | Working Group Progress

Last updated: October 26, 2007