Waste Not! Carroll

By Don West

On Wednesday, June 9, members of both Waste Not! Carroll and Frederick, along with a couple of Carroll County Commissioner Candidates and other interested citizens, toured the Montgomery County Incinerator at Dickerson, MD.  The event was organized by Mr. J. Michael Evans and the Carroll County Department of Public Works. Our hosts for the tour were Mark A. Freedman, Facility Manager and Peter L. Hartwell, Business Manager, both employed by Covanta Energy Corporation, the plant's operator.  Also helping with the tour was Mr. Chris Scaggs, Deputy Director of the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority (NMWDA), the plant's designer and owner.

The afternoon started with an explanation of how the facility operates by Mr. Freedman.  Then the group asked many questions regarding the plants capacity, efficiency, ash and finances.  There were also questions about Montgomery County's recycling efforts and how their citizens fund the incinerator and its operation.  We were then taken on a tour of the plant.

I will refrain from editorializing on our groups impression of the plant and it's operation.  Reactions reported ranged from being impressed to depressed.  Many visitors were more interested in the composting facility adjacent to the incinerator that we were unable to tour.

I would like to report some information that I was unaware of or clarified earlier misconceptions:

1)  The Dickerson facility is currently operating at 68% of capacity.  The slower economy was credited with this lowered volume.  By law, Montgomery County does not allow out of county trash to supplement any shortage in waste.

2)  All the trash is brought in by rail from the transfer station in Shady Grove (the original proposed site for this facility).  But because of design constraints, the trash is still trucked from the rail cars to the tipping floor.

3)  In Montgomery County, recycling is mandated.

4)  Plant operators admitted that they like paper and plastic as a fuel because of their high heat content, but they still maintain that recycling and incineration are compatible.

5)  The residual ash (both fly and bottom ash) are taken by rail to a landfill in Virginia (M. C. does not operate any active landfills) where it is placed in a monofill (isolated from other trash).  Montgomery County cannot take the recycling credit for its ash, since this is not classified as a "beneficial use".  They are exploring some possible beneficial uses for their ash, namely using it as fill in road beds at the landfill or mixing it with concrete.

6)  At he end of our visit, we were shown a bar graph that hangs on the wall of the conference room.  Basically, this graph showed that over the past 10 years, the charges to residents for their trash disposal has remained fairly flat - at least the increases have been less than predicted (by whom?).  The charge to residents consists of their fee for waste pick-up plus the service benefit charge ( a "tax" born by all residents and businesses of M.C.).  One of our group asked why the graph only covered the last ten years, what did this graph look like 15 or 16 years ago?  The answer was that there was no Systems Benefit Charge before the incinerator was constructed - the two coincide.  Also, it was pointed out afterward that even though the charges have not gone up dramatically during the 10 year period, the population of Montgomery County has!  That means they have a lot more residents and businesses to pay that fee every year.

I would welcome comments and corrections from those who also attended the plant tour.