is now collected, separated, and placed in containers for hauling to either the incinerator or landfill. In addition, setting up new procedures for rail or truck transport to landfills will take time and money, they claimed, due to engineering, logistical and social obstacles.
But environmental and civic groups, including Sugarloaf Citizens Association( SCA, with which both authors of this article are affiliated), say there’ s an alternative path that could yield incinerator closure by the end of 2027.
First, and without delay, the County could initiate the necessary regulatory steps to switch from incineration to landfill. Once state and local approvals are obtained, they could initiate necessary infrastructure improvements, and identify and contract with trucking and / or rail companies and acceptable landfill sites. Those steps shouldn’ t take more than two years. Second, the County could prioritize and fully fund an urgent program to aggressively pursue waste reduction through enhanced recycling, food scrap composting and a county-wide program( with financial incentives) called Save As You Throw, to propel citizens to reduce what they throw away. Such programs have reduced waste by up to 40 percent within a year of roll-out in some municipalities. A concentrated initiative among Montgomery County’ s educated populace could meaningfully reduce trash volume quite rapidly.
Third, if the estimated cost of up to $ 100 million to keep the incinerator operating for seven more years can be avoided— in total or in large measure— that money could be shifted to enhanced food scrap composting, recycling and reduction in trash volume.
Understandably, some County officials are concerned about sending trash outside the County. Landfills still get a bad rap, some of them
Above: Rows of yard waste being churned at the Dickerson yard waste facility; inset: an aerial overview of the 50-acre Dickerson yard waste compost facility.
30 plenty I spring sowing 2025