Composting

A proposed Carroll County animal composting site could require up to 2 acres of space and cost between $300,000 and $600,000 to build, according to recent information from the University of Maryland's agricultural engineering department.Members of the Carroll County Agricultural Commission said last week they expect construction costs for the site to be borne by a federal grant.William Powel, coordinator of the county's Agricultural Land Preservation program, said it will be unnecessary for Carroll to seek a preliminary grant for a feasibility study because the county will use research and plans developed by the University of Maryland.

Composting Carroll's garbage could be cheaper than burning it and could be a way to avoid mandatory recycling, Westminster's mayor told the Carroll commissioners yesterday.The commissioners and Carroll's town mayors agreed to tour a Tennessee composting plant next month to see the process."I definitely would have an open mind," said Commissioner Donald I. Dell. He has proposed building an incinerator at the Northern Landfill to burn trash and generate electricity."I think it's something that's do- able," Commissioner Julia W. Gouge said of building a composting plant.

Opponents of a regional composting center on the Anne Arundel-Howard County line filed a $22 million lawsuit yesterday against the owner, operator, state and counties that created the facility, demanding that it be closed because it is making them ill.Owners of eight Lennox Park homes in both counties allege the stench of rotting leaves and grass from the composting center is so pungent that it threatens their health and has devalued their homes. If the yard is not closed, the governments should be forced to buy the homes, said the suit, which was filed in Anne Arundel Circuit Court.

A regional composting facility serving Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Howard counties could open as early as Oct. 1 after winning approval last night from the Anne Arundel County Council.The composting facility was approved by a 6-1 vote, despite spirited opposition from Councilman Thomas Redmond, a Pasadena Democrat, who argued the $5.9 million project is too costly and would leave Anne Arundel with an "open-ended obligation.""As a business person, I look at this contract as a bad deal for the county," Mr. Redmond said.

Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker is considering closing the regional composting facility on the Anne Arundel-Howard County line at the request of two Anne Arundel delegates.Dels. James E. Rzepkowski and Michael W. Burns wrote Ecker last month, asking him to close the facility because the stink it creates has been bothering residents on both sides of the line for a year.Ecker said yesterday he is "looking at what can be done, and closing is one of the options we're looking at."In their letter Sept.

Westminster Mayor W. Benjamin Brown rekindled interest in a visit to a Tennessee composting plant among members of the county's incinerator study committee yesterday.Mr. Brown also reintroduced his argument that county residents would save money on trash collection if local commissioners would open the county to competitive bidding by refuse haulers. Currently, individuals buy the service from private haulers.The 25-member citizens committee is to study and make recommendations to the commissioners on whether Carroll County should build a trash-burning incinerator.

THE NEVER-ENDING search for a panacea to our trash disposal dilemma now leads down the road of composting.All other magical solutions having fallen victim to reality, composting (or co-composting, as it is called today) now appears to be the method of choice for Carroll County.The dog-and-pony shows in distant states evidently persuaded a majority of Carroll's Three Wise Men to favor co-composting to process the county's solid waste in the next century.A much shorter junket to Howard County might have dispelled that notion of composting as a magic bullet.

In response to environmentalists' critiques of a proposed solid waste plan, county officials have agreed to include consideration of major composting programs as an alternative to an incinerator.That was one of 53 amendments to the three-volume solid waste management plan offered by officials at last night's County Council meeting. The council delayed a vote on the amendments for more study.Environmentalists, who met with council members before last night's meeting, expressed appreciation of the proposed amendments.

A Curtis Bay company is composting refuse -- leaves, food, paper and other items people throw into their trash cans -- and making a soil product that is sold to farmers and landscapers, a company representative said yesterday."

A Curtis Bay company is composting refuse -- leaves, food, paper and other items people throw into their trash cans -- and making a soil product that is sold to farmers and landscapers, a company representative said yesterday."