Montgomery County Council President Natali Fani-González and County Executive Marc Elrich disagree on how quickly a decision should be made on the future of trash disposal, as the contract for the incinerator in Dickerson expires in five years.
Elrich’s position
Fani-González’s goal is to have a decision by councilmembers by Thanksgiving. But Elrich disagreed, “I think they should take as much time as they need. I think self-imposed deadlines when you have no clue about what kind of information you need, and what kind of questions you want to ask after you start learning more, is a bit pointless,” he said Sept. 16 during his weekly media briefing. “You reach the right point to make a decision when you have all the information you need, and saying that you’re going to have that information by Thanksgiving, sitting here today, there’s no certainty that you’ll have that information. I understand her obsession with wanting to take credit for stuff under her watch, but some things actually need to cook a little bit.”
Fani-González statement
During her own media briefing Monday, Fani-González retorted, “He’s the one who wanted us, the county council, to have an answer during the budget in March. Now that he’s seeing the handwriting on the wall, that people are not really excited to see 80 trucks on a daily basis — smelly trucks — on 495, going to a place that he has not disclosed. And as we know, if any of us have any idea of what environmental justice and racial justice is, you know that usually the communities that receive landfills are low-income communities. He knows that we have councilmembers that actually are critical and think.”
Elrich’s plan
During the budget season in March, Elrich proposed to close the incinerator and transition to hauling trash on trucks to landfills outside of the county, while minimizing the amount hauled by using an enhanced trash sorting system.
The long-haul plan would require 80 loads per day, which means 40 tractor-trailers each making two trips from the Shady Grove Transfer Station, according to county Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) officials.
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.
If the incinerator closes, trash would go to out-of-county landfills that were “selected in part based on their environmental justice screening and how well they would avoid negative impacts to those communities,” DEP Chief of Zero Waste Programs Kayley Laleker said two weeks ago.
Council continues review
A majority of councilmembers must approve a waste disposal plan. Councilmembers are reviewing options and will continue to meet on this topic.
The county’s options, provided by the Department of Environmental Protection:
- Continue operating the incinerator and upgrade it
- Close the incinerator and haul trash via truck to a landfill outside of county
- Close the incinerator, implement Advanced Waste Processing (AWP), haul the remaining trash via truck to a landfill outside of county (Elrich’s proposal)
- Continue operating the incinerator while developing AWP, then close the incinerator and switch to AWP and landfill the remaining trash
Elrich wants to implement AWP, which means a system that receives trash and separates recyclables like metal and plastic containers, organic materials like food, and trash. It would supplement the county’s existing recycling program, not replace it. Read more about AWP here
Incinerator operator to join council meeting
Reworld, the company operating the incinerator, will join Tuesday’s council meeting. Reworld will discuss how the company does its work and what investments in technology the county should make in order to be more efficient with trash disposal. Two weeks ago, DEP was at a council meeting to present the four options for future trash disposal.
