INDIANAPOLIS (AP): A bill that would allow county commissioners to eliminate solid waste districts is advancing in the Indiana Legislature.

The Senate’s Environmental Affairs Committee endorsed the bill on a 6-3 vote Monday, sending it to the full chamber for an expected vote next week.

Environmentalists oppose the measure because it would allow a simple majority of a county’s three commissioners to vote to eliminate that county’s solid waste district.

Such districts oversee local recycling efforts.

The South Bend Tribune reports bill sponsor Republican Sen. Liz Brown of Fort Wayne says cities, counties and the private sector can provide recycling more efficiently than solid waste districts.

Hoosier Environmental Council Executive Director Jesse Kharbanda says if the measure becomes law it could “set back the clock on a community’s environmental efforts.”