Bfi

County administrators defended awarding Harford's recycling contractto Browning-Ferris Industries Inc., despite estimates showing another company would have charged less, based on information in the county's own recycling plan and a bid analysis commissioned by the county.BFI's one-year $285,000 contract was based on an estimate Harford would provide the company with 4,680 tons of recyclables to process and make ready for market. That means the company will charge $61 a ton and would be expected to process about 15 tons of recyclables a dayin 312 working days.

Browning-Ferris Industries will hold a grand opening and dedication from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. today to mark the completion of its newest Maryland investment, a $4 million regional recycling plant in Howard County.The 42,000-square-foot Elkridge Recyclery, off U.S. 1 in Elkridge, will use technology developed by Aluminum Co. of America to process up to 300 tons of recyclable material a day. Its opening will result in the addition of 30 jobs to BFI's 115-person work force in Howard County.William D. Ruckelshaus, former head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and now chief executive officer of BFI, said recycling is one of the fastest-growing parts of the company's business.

Attorneys for a coalition of Elkridge residents and businesses attacked a waste-management company's claim last night that its services are needed.Browning-Ferris Inc. has asked the Howard County Council, sitting as the Zoning Board, to approve a 17-acre solid-waste transfer station off U.S. 1 near Cemetery Lane in Elkridge. A transfer station consolidates and prepares trash for transport to a landfill.The company has said the new transfer facility is needed to dispose of commercial trash and promote more recycling among residents.

As Howard County moves to divert its residential trash from Alpha Ridge in Marriottsville to an out-of-state landfill, a waste-management company told the County Council last night that a new transfer facility is needed to dispose of commercial trash and promote more recycling.Browning-Ferris Inc. asked the council members, sitting as the Zoning Board, to approve a 17-acre solid-waste transfer station off U.S. 1 near Cemetery Lane in Elkridge. A transfer station consolidates and prepares trash for transport to a landfill.

After four years of lobbying and seven months of hearings, the Howard County Zoning Board voted yesterday to deny a plan by Browning Ferris Industries to build a solid-waste trash transfer station on a 17-acre site in Elkridge.C. Vernon Gray was the lone board member who voted to permit the facility, which was denied on the basis that there was no compelling reason for it.The 4-1 decision -- surprising in that two of the five board members voted three years ago to encourage construction of the facility -- pleased residents who feared the project would lower property values and endanger their health.

Is it too good to be true? Browning-Ferris Industries, the nation's second largest trash hauler, has offered to transport Howard County trash out of state for disposal. Such a thing would allow the county to close its aging landfill and avoid the politically prickly business of finding an in-house alternative for waste disposal. The idea of the county washing its hands of any involvement in a new landfill or incinerator has already tempted county officials, judging by their glowing response to the BFI proposal last week.

A proposal by a waste-management company to build a new waste-transfer facility off U.S. 1 has so inflamed the Elkridge community that the ethics of the leaders of a historic church are being called into question.At issue is the rumor that the 140-year-old Trinity Episcopal Church on U.S. 1 received funds from Browning-Ferris Inc. for a recent rectory renovation.BFI and church officials say that this is not true and that the story is being promoted by residents who are against the proposal.

The owners of the Solley Road landfill say they will yield to neighborhood pressure and not use fly ash to reseal leaking trash heaps."People want us to be more conventional. So we are going to be using topsoil," Jill Nelson, Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI) project manager for the closed landfill, said last week.New plans call for a 9-inch layer of topsoil covered with an 8-inch layer of soil that has municipal sludge mixed in.BFI originally proposed to recap the two trash hills with a sealer of clay 2 feet deep, topped with 9 inches of shredded tires for drainage, and finally an 18-inch layer of mixed sludge, fly ash and dirt to grow grass.

Browning-Ferris Industries Inc., one of the nation's largest trash companies, today will dedicate offices it has moved to Annapolis from northern Anne Arundel County.Ceremonies will include BFI Chairman of the Board William D. Ruckelshaus presenting Anne Arundel Community College with a five-year, $25,000 scholarship. Each year, a $5,000 scholarship will go to a student in environmental studies. Mr. Ruckelshaus served as both the first and fifth administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

WASHINGTON -- No one wants trash in their neighborhood.That simple sentiment explains the bitter fights that trash-transfer stations can engender. And a visit to a transfer station that opened in the Brentwood community in Northeast Washington three years ago shows that the troubled relations can continue."