Recycling Plan

From: Christopher C. BoardmanJoppatowneGary Gately's lead article of March 3, "Energy plant filled to capacity," requires comment.Your reporter informs us that the county is seeking to expand the plant's daily capacity by 125 tons to accommodate the additional flow of trash. This would be nearly a 40 percent increase over the current capacity and is estimated to cost the taxpayers an additional $10 to $15 million, according to your article.I assume that the plant manager, William F. Davidson, is speaking only about the cost of expansion of the plant's capacity.

The city's new recycling plan is exceeding expections, officials say, with trucks picking up 53 percent more recyclables since July, when Mayor Sheila Dixon increased collections to once a week. "I really thought it would take a little bit longer to get to this point," Dixon said in an interview. "People have taken heed. People are really getting into the groove of this process." The mayor's plan also reduced garbage collection to once a week and now city garbage trucks are hauling less trash to the landfills.

Mayors of Carroll's eight municipalities Monday reiterated their plea for a unified, county-administered trash and recycling pick-up, paid for by a county tax.The county commissioners appeared willing to study the idea, but have not taken a formal vote on any recycling plan. They will meet again with mayors tomorrow.A study could take several months if it is to include prices, said J. Michael Evans, director of the Department of General Services, but the county can start a curbside recycling program in the meantime.

Harford County has remained the state's leader in recycling, ending 2007 with the highest percentage of recycled waste and announcing efforts to push those numbers higher. In the past 10 years, the county has increased recycling from 39 percent to 63 percent, with nearly 180,000 tons of materials recycled in the last fiscal year, which ended June 30. Since the county implemented a state-mandated recycling plan 15 years ago, it has processed nearly 2 million tons of recycled products, including 68 tons of textiles, 43,500 tons of scrap metal -- which it can sell for about $125 a ton -- and 18,600 pounds of litter collected along Harford's roads, according to the annual report presented to the County Council on Tuesday.

The Maryland Department of the Environment last week gave Harford's proposed trash recycling plan generally upbeat reviews last week and said approval of the plan should come soon.The department, which must approve the plan before it can take effect, said Harford's "freeenterprise" recycling plan is an "innovative approach" that should allow it to meet state-mandated recycling goals.The comments were made in a March 18 letter from Lori Scozzafava,chief of the Office of Waste Minimization and Recycling at the Maryland Department of the Environment, to Larry Klimovitz, director of administration.

County households and businesses must separate recyclables from trash for pickup by their haulers starting July 1 if a plan unveiled Thursday becomes a reality.The plan, announced by the county commissioners during a quarterly meeting with Carroll mayors, also calls for a comprehensive trash and recycling plan to begin in July 1993."We made every effort to keep sight of the best interests of all the citizens," Commissioner President Donald I. Dell said.The plan includes fewer answers than questions, but one outcome is certain: The program will be financed by a recycling tax, the amount of which has yet to be determined.

The County Council has voted to ignore a Jan. 1 state deadline for filing a plan to recycle trash.The council's 4-3 vote on Tuesday to delay action on the plan until at least Jan. 7 could result, some county administrators warn, in stiff penalties, such as a state ban onthe issuance of building permits in Harford.State regulators would not say what action they are considering in response to the delay."We are disappointed they decided to holdoff a decision on the recycling plan until next year," said John Goheen, a spokesman for the state Department of the Environment.

The Sykesville Recycling Committee will present its curbside recycling proposal at the Aug. 8 Town Council meeting."We plan to continue with our curbside recycling plans and stay at twice-weekly trash pickup," said Councilwoman Julie A. Kaus, who chairs the committee.Ms. Kaus said she has received many positive comments on the proposal, which will be available to town residents only.Plans call for a twice-monthly collection of recyclables. Haulers will pick up the recyclables from half the town on alternate Wednesdays.

Harford sent a draft of its trash recycling plan to the state for review last week but it ran into some last-minute opposition over a proposed $60-per-ton waste disposal fee.The County Council, in a review of the proposal last week, said it backed curbside pickup of bluebags filled with separated newspaper, glass, cans and other garbage from homes and businesses, as called for in the plan.But during a three-hour council hearing Tuesday night on the proposal, the $60-per-ton fee to support a new solid waste fund and encourage recycling was challenged by haulers and some representatives of homeowner associations.

The recycling committee is expected to present the City Council withbid specifications next month for a curbside recycling program, which could begin as soon as January.Councilman James L. McCarron, who serves as the council's liaison to the committee, said the group met last week and decided to move forward because of the overwhelming response for recycling at a recent public hearing."We thought it prudent to move ahead," he told the council Monday.Although the county commissioners also are considering a countywide curbside recycling program, McCarron said committee members agreed it would be useful to proceed with a city plan.

County staff members will answer questions and receive comments on Carroll's "Ten Year Solid Waste Management Plan" at 2 p.m. tomorrow. The session precedes a public hearing on the plan at 2 p.m. Aug. 7 in Room 300A of the County Office Building. The county is seeking residents' comments on the plan that governs its landfills and recycling efforts. The county staff session will be held in Room 003-004, Carroll County Office Building, 225 N. Center St., Westminster. Anyone wishing to file written comments for the public hearing record may do so before, or at, the public hearing.

ROCKVILLE -- His highly publicized recycling program in ruins, an angry Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan yesterday demanded an apology from those he holds responsible: the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society, the County Council and his own advisers."

F&E Resource Systems Technology Inc., a Baltimore company that operates a Curtis Bay recycling and composting center, yesterday announced a $20 million private equity offering to gain full ownership of the facility.Ronald W. Pickett, F&E's chairman and chief executive, said the deal should close Dec. 15.F&E currently owns 5 percent of the Baltimore First Facility and will spend $10 million for full ownership. The 15-acre center opened in August 1993 and is designed to handle 700 tons of trash per day. Its main supplier is Browning Ferris Industries, which handles trash from commercial customers such as hotels, restaurants and shopping centers.

You can help people paint their homes simply by supplying the paint.Bring usable latex paints in labeled, tightly sealed containers from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday to Harrison's Paint Center, 101 N. Main St. in Bel Air, and help launch Harford County's second annual Latex Paint Recycling Program. Last year, residents contributed enough paint to fill 500 one-gallon cans.The donated paint will be mixed on site. After being sent to the Loading Dock, a Baltimore-based building material recycler, the paint is distributed free or sold at a low price to low-income housing projects.

Howard County recycling officials have found a way to prevent more than 900 tons of glass from being broken each year in the recycling process -- breakage that renders the glass worthless to recyclers and fit only to be buried in a trash dump.This month, all neighborhoods were required to put containers in see-through plastic shopping bags on the curb, rather than loose in the plastic bins that formerly had been used in the curbside recycling program.The tied-up bags -- each containing a mix of glass, plastic and metal containers -- keep the items from rattling around when they are loaded into collection trucks and from getting smashed when they are dumped onto the floor of the Browning-Ferris Industries recycling plant in Elkridge.

Howard County recycling officials have found a way to prevent more than 900 tons of glass from being broken each year in the recycling process -- breakage that renders the glass worthless to recyclers and fit only to be buried in a trash dump.This month, all neighborhoods were required to put containers in see-through plastic shopping bags on the curb rather than loose in the plastic bins that were formerly used in the curbside recycling program.The tied-up bags -- each containing a mix of glass, plastic and metal containers -- keep the items from rattling around when they are loaded into collection trucks and from getting smashed when they are dumped onto the floor of the Browning-Ferris Industries recycling plant in Elkridge.

Glen Leach and his brother, Billy, who describe themselves as hard-working truckers and construction contractors, are eager to get in on the ground floor of the Baltimore region's growing trash-recycling industry."

Get those blue bags ready. Recycling is finally coming to Harford County.The County Council voted, 6-1, at 12:45 a.m. Wednesday to pass an amended recycling plan that calls for glass, plastic containers, newspaper and other recyclables separated in blue plastic bags for curbside collection.The blue plastic bags already are being used as grocery bags by some food chains in Harford. They also may be purchased separately like other trash bags once the voluntary recycling program starts in July.

The Sykesville Recycling Committee will present its curbside recycling proposal at the Aug. 8 Town Council meeting."We plan to continue with our curbside recycling plans and stay at twice-weekly trash pickup," said Councilwoman Julie A. Kaus, who chairs the committee.Ms. Kaus said she has received many positive comments on the proposal, which will be available to town residents only.Plans call for a twice-monthly collection of recyclables. Haulers will pick up the recyclables from half the town on alternate Wednesdays.