Yard Waste

For more than a year, leaders of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council have talked a good game about creating regional solutions to regional problems. And not much else.But now it appears the non-profit corporation that guides joint efforts of the elected executives of Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties is nearing fruition with its first major project: a yard-waste composting facility to serve the city and Anne Arundel and Howard counties, the area subdivisions that lack such a facility or at least a plan for one. The proposed site is in eastern Howard County, near the intersection of U.S. 1 and Route 176.One of the biggest problems affecting the jurisdictions of central Maryland -- and a key concern of the council's -- is the disposal of solid waste that threatens to stuff local landfills at an alarmingly fast rate.

(Tim Wheeler is away this week. The following is a guest post by Laurel Peltier, who publishes the down-to-earth "eco-glancer" www.greenlaurel.com ) Many Marylanders like to think of themselves as pretty green. But are we? If you peeked at curbside recycling rates, you may be surprised to find that we're a lighter shade of green than we thought.  When it comes to recycling, the state Department of the Environment says we're diverting 41 percent of our trash statewide from landfills and incinerators - well above the 34 percent national average, as figured by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Harford County residents now can recycle their clippings, leaves and other yard waste free at four sites.The county landfill at Scarboro has been operating as a collection point for yard waste. This summer, with the start of a curbside trash-recycling program, the county banned yard waste from the landfill and the county incinerator to save landfill space and promote recycling.Three large containers for yard waste collection have been placed in Joppa, Fallston and Churchville, said Becky Joesting-Hahn, a county recycling official.

On Wednesday, Aug. 31, Baltimore County began providing non-potable water at all career fire stations for residents with homes using well water who remain without power and have no running water. "Four days after Irene, we recognize that the need for water is becoming critical for thousands of residents with wells," said County Executive Kevin Kamenetz in a statement. When coming to a fire station for water, residents should bring containers with them.   Most residents on wells live in rural areas outside the limits of public utilities.

The county's weekly curbside recycling service will accept leaves and yard waste through December.Leaves and yard waste must be placed in containers with tops open for speedy collection and in open-topped plastic or paper bags weighing less than 40 pounds. Acceptable containers include 30-gallon, brown-paper leaf bags; plastic bags; and rigid-walled, open-topped metal or plastic trash containers. Information: Bureau of Environmental Services, 313-SORT.POLICE LOG* Long Reach: 5700 block of Twelve Months Court: Someone stole a CD player, radar detector and other items from a red Honda AccordThursday or Friday.

Responding to requests by Fallston residents, the county government has opened a drop-off center for yard waste at the park and ride lot on Route 152 near Harford Road in Fallston.The new center, a cooperative effort by the State Highway Administration and the county's Department of Public Works, is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.The center is one of six in the county. Grass clippings, brush and leaves deposited at the centers are transported to the county's composting facility at Scarboro.

The Union Bridge government is reminding residents that Waste Management, the city's recycling hauler, will no longer accept yard waste.The hauler's decision is in compliance with the County Commissioners' mandate that grass clipings, sticks and other material that could be composted will not be put in the county landfill after May 1.Also, residents are also urged not to put recyclables in plastic bags.Those materials that do not fit in the bins should be placed in a paper bag or a large trash container clearly marked so the hauler will take them, said Kathleen D. Kreimer, the town clerk-treasurer.

The mayors of New Windsor and Hampstead have asked the county to provide bins where residents could drop off yard waste in the same way they drop off recycleables.The commissioners have taken no action.Bins would cost about $4,000 each, said Keith Kirschnick, director of public works for the county.Mr. Kirschnick looked into the cost and practicality of the bins and reported to Commissioner Elmer C. Lippy yesterday.Commissioner President Donald I. Dell was attending another meeting and Commissioner Julia W. Gouge is home recovering from a fall on the ice last week.

Harford officials said late last week that the county plans to keep one of its yard-waste recycling sites open through November to take in debris from Tropical Storm Isabel and fall leaves. Kroh's Nursery on Route 22, which had been scheduled to close Wednesday with other county recycling sites in Fallston and Bel Air, will remain open during regular business hours to receive branches and other yard waste, said John O'Neill Jr., director of administration. The county had already extended hours at the Scarboro landfill and a site on the U.S. 1 bypass for storm debris.

The Harford County Council delayed last night action for a week on legislation spelling out where residents can dump yard waste, and imposing a $1,000 fine and six months in jail for those who choose to flout the rules. The council held the bill over for amendments suggested by member Robert G. Cassilly to detail fines and hours of operation at recycling centers more clearly. The bill calls for disposing yard trim only at the county's disposal sites on Tollgate Road in Bel Air and at the Scarboro Landfill in Street.

Yard waste collection Howard County's Bureau of Environmental Services will resume weekly yard waste collections, beginning Friday, April 1, and continuing through Jan. 20. Yard waste collection will be picked up once a week during a resident's regular recycling day and should be placed outside by 6 a.m. Allowable yard waste items include grass, leaves, hedge clippings/light brush, small limbs or branches less than 4 inches in diameter and...

Kidsave International is seeking host families for its Maryland Summer Miracles Program, which brings orphanage children, ages 7 to 12, to the U.S. to experience family life and attend camp. The intent is for children to meet a family interested in adopting or advocating on their behalf. Host families are needed for an expected seven children from Taiwan for five weeks during July and August. Host families are expected to provide a loving, stable environment for the child, get the child to camp, attend all required Kidsave functions and advocate for the child during his/her visit.

Aberdeen fined over mercury spill Aberdeen will pay a $200 fine and nearly $700 in restitution to the county's hazardous materials team, which responded to a small mercury spill at the city's water treatment plant two months ago. The costs are in addition to the more than $5,000 the city paid a private contractor to clean up the spill in a little-used building at the plant. A pressure switch weighted with mercury broke and leaked onto the floor in early May. Harford County's Local Emergency Planning Committee, which assessed the fine, was critical of the city's almost-one-week delay in notifying the county's hazardous materials team.

The Mount Airy Economic Development Commission will hold a business breakfast in partnership with Brunswick Main Street, Frederick County at 7:30 a.m. Thursday at Brunswick City Hall, 1 W. Potomac St. Speaker Casey Willson will explain how shopping at locally owned small businesses keeps three times more dollars in the community in "The Multiplier Effect." The program will explore how cities can create a livable and sustainable local economy and how the community, from business owners to government, can work together to achieve this goal.

To keep pace with the costs of trash disposal, the Carroll County commissioners approved yesterday increases in the fees charged at the Northern Landfill. Haulers will pay $54 per ton, an increase of $3. Individual cars will see a 50-cent increase, to $4.50, to dispose of trash. Tipping fees, paid by trash haulers and residents who take refuse to the county's landfill on Route 140 near Westminster, pay the bulk of solid-waste operating costs. The county last increased the fees in 2002.

Abingdon man charged with child abduction An Abingdon man was arrested Wednesday at Bel Air Middle School and has been charged with one count of child abduction. He is being held without bond, Harford County authorities said. Gary Linwood Williams, 24, was seen in the school parking lot around dismissal time with a 12-year-old sixth-grader, schools spokesman Donald R. Morrison said. Morrison said Williams had befriended the youngster that afternoon. Williams, who is accused of trying to sign the pupil out at school dismissal, was taken to the school office, where Bel Air police arrested him, Morrison said.

Manchester Mayor Earl A. J. "Tim" Warehime followed the lead of several other county municipal leaders and expressed his concern about plans for county landfills to stop accepting yard waste.Mr. Warehime said he was upset the county commissioners failed to notify the town about its recent decision to ban yard waste from county landfills effective May 1.He and the Manchester Town Council must decide alternatives for the more than 1,000 trash hauling customers in the town."[The commissioners]

Carroll residents wouldn't be allowed to put their grass clippings and leaves into landfill-bound garbage under a proposed ordinance change supported by a majority of the county commissioners.But the commissioners say they will rely on voluntary compliance rather than try to enforce the requirement that yard waste be placed in the mulching area at the northern landfill in Reese and kept out of the cells where refuse is buried.The county uses the mulched material in gardening and offers it free to anyone interested.

The Harford County Council delayed last night action for a week on legislation spelling out where residents can dump yard waste, and imposing a $1,000 fine and six months in jail for those who choose to flout the rules. The council held the bill over for amendments suggested by member Robert G. Cassilly to detail fines and hours of operation at recycling centers more clearly. The bill calls for disposing yard trim only at the county's disposal sites on Tollgate Road in Bel Air and at the Scarboro Landfill in Street.