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Maryam Shahzad
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Councilmembers have to make a decision soon on the future of trash removal as Montgomery County’s incinerator in Dickerson is aging, and the contract for its use expires in five years.
On Tuesday evening, residents gathered at the council building in Rockville to share their questions during a town hall hosted by Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles. Sayles and officials with the county’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) read their responses to questions that were pre-submitted or written on index cards by audience members.
The county’s options provided by DEP:
- Continue operating the incinerator and upgrade it
- Close the incinerator and haul trash via trucks to a landfill outside of county
- Close the incinerator, implement an enhanced trash sorting facility called Advanced Waste Processing (AWP), then haul the remaining trash via trucks to a landfill outside of the county, which is County Executive Marc Elrich’s proposal
- Continue operating the incinerator while developing AWP, then close the incinerator and switch to AWP and landfill the remaining trash
Currently, trash is sent from the Shady Grove Transfer Station via train to the incinerator, and then the ash is taken by train to a landfill in Virginia.
Questions submitted by residents, answered by environmental officials:
What about the loss of electricity that the incinerator provides, considering the rising cost of electricity and growing data centers?
The incinerator does produce electricity and the county would no longer have that if it shuts down, DEP Director Jennifer Macdenonia responded. The incinerator currently produces 52 megawatts of electricity which can power about 35,000 homes, according to Willie Wainer, Recycling and Resource Management Division Chief.
“I certainly understand the concerns about rising electricity costs,” Macedonia said. She said there are issues in the region with getting new electricity generation sources connected through PJM, the regional transmission organization. But, there are relatively low-cost sources of electricity like wind and solar that are “trying to get connected.” There’s a long queue of clean generation that’s trying to get added to the grid in the region, and she expects to see that coming online, which will off-set the loss of electricity from the incinerator.
Trucking trash out-of-county would require 80 loads per day, which means 40 tractor-trailers each making two trips from the Shady Grove Transfer Station.
Fuel price fluctuations would be accounted for in transportation contracts, according to Wainer. In the current contract for curbside collections, the cost of diesel is predicted and there is a clause that when the cost surpasses that number, there is an adjustment to the contract.
If truck traffic is supposed to begin around 3 a.m., has the county done a noise study, because there are residents local to the transfer station?
The county collected data from around the transfer station and is working on a study to evaluate noise around the transfer station currently as well as with any operational changes, Macedonia said.
Each option has greenhouse gases, Macdenonia said. Both incinerators and landfills release greenhouse gases, but a study found landfilling waste outside of the county would result in slightly lower greenhouse gases than keeping the incinerator.
One resident wants the county to be more ambitious on zero waste goals, but also wants to get away from landfills and supports retaining the incinerator while improving its technology.
Which year does the county hope to achieve zero waste?
The county answered by stating that it has a vision to aim for zero waste. Zero waste is “a very lofty goal” which the county will keep in its sights but also recognizing that in the foreseeable future there will be residual waste to manage, according to Macedonia.
Why doesn’t Montgomery County landfill within the county?
Macedonia said in theory, that could be considered. There is a location in the agricultural reserve that was permitted as a landfill, but there are concerns like proximity to a drinking water source, and it would take a lot of time to build it out. “We would have to build roads and bridges in order to access the site.”
What’s next
A majority of councilmembers must approve a waste disposal plan. The next council worksession on this topic will be Tuesday, Oct. 27. Council President Natali Fani-González’s goal is to have a decision by Thanksgiving.
Sayles said there will be more opportunities for public engagement.
The post Leaders answer questions from residents on future of the county’s incinerator, trash removal appeared first on Montgomery Community Media.
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