Dan Gross/The Gazette Greg Miller of Bethesda recycles cardboard boxes and old medical journals Saturday at the Montgomery County Solid Waste Transfer Station in Rockville. The Montgomery County Waste Coalition is petitioning the county government to "reverse the trash trend" and step up recycling programs.

In a July 10 letter to Councilman Isiah Leggett (D-At large) of Burtonsville, who chairs the County Council's Transportation and Environment Committee, Olivier de Messières, a Boyds resident and member of the Montgomery County Waste Coalition, encouraged the council to "reverse the trash trend."

The Montgomery County Waste Coalition is a loose group of county activists and concerned citizens that formed in October 1986 to lobby the county to establish waste reduction policies. The coalition initially began as a group of upcounty residents concerned about the county's various solid waste facilities in the Dickerson area, but has grown to include residents countywide.

"We found that many people all around the county were very concerned about reducing waste, about protecting our resources and about recovering our resources," de Messières said.

More than 1 million tons of waste were generated in the county in fiscal year 2000, according to the county's Division of Solid Waste Services. The county recycled about 378,000 tons, or 36.5 percent. The rate has hovered at about 37 percent over the past five years, according to county figures.

In July 1990, following a hearing on solid waste, the council adopted a resolution that for the first time established strategies for waste reduction. Those strategies include providing economic incentives for recycling, community outreach, education and reporting on waste processed and recycled at county facilities.

But since the resolution's adoption, the county has been slow in implementing these programs and lags behind nine Maryland counties in recycling performance, de Messières said. He hopes to change that by raising awareness of something that is "not a headline-grabbing issue," he said.

The coalition would like to see the county move forward with its reduction efforts and establish a formal process for evaluating its success.

"Most of the [county's] programs are either off-track or derailed," de Messières said.

In 1992, as part of the agreement to build the county's solid waste incinerator in Dickerson, the County Council set a goal of recycling 50 percent of its solid waste by the end of 2000. But rates have fallen below expectations despite a $4 million campaign to promote recycling begun two years ago. County estimates put the recycling rate at only 37 percent by the end of 2000.

Under new goals established by the council last month, the county will aim to recycle 45 percent of its waste by the end of 2002, and 50 percent of its waste by the end of 2004. The council had opposed proposals by County Executive Douglas M. Duncan to keep the goal at 50 percent but eliminate any deadline for reaching that goal and to include ash from the Dickerson incinerator in recycling rates.

While recycling in single-family homes has been successful, other programs are lacking, de Messières said. Single-family households are projected to recycle about 58 percent of their waste this year, higher than the county's target.

However, while schools and businesses together produce nearly half of the county's trash, businesses recycle only 29 percent of their total waste and schools recycle just over 20 percent. Meanwhile, multifamily residential properties recycle less than 11 percent.

"Our feeling is that economic incentive ... would be the strongest strategy to reduce rates," de Messières said.

But recent efforts by Montgomery County Public Schools to educate students about recycling are encouraging, he said.

The school system surpassed its 20 percent recycling goal last school year, increasing the amount of solid waste recycled from below 10 percent. That's a significant step, said Dick Hawes, facilities director for the school system.

"We feel we've increased awareness at the school level," Hawes said. "Individual schools are putting much more effort into recycling and educating students about why we need to recycle."

Hawes attributed the school system's success in reaching its recycling goal to the relationship MCPS shares with the Division of Solid Waste Services and the efforts of each individual school.

The school system has implemented lessons on the importance of recycling called "Caring for the Earth" as part of the curriculum for elementary schools. In addition, elementary students may have the opportunity to earn credit for urban studies programs by participating in the development of the school's annual recycling plan.

MCPS is looking at implementing similar programs in secondary schools, but for now most recycling programs at high schools are driven by student organizations, Hawes said.

Still, Hawes believes the school system's educational efforts will allow MCPS to reach its recycling goal of 50 percent over the next two years. The county executive recognized 12 schools for their outstanding recycling programs this year, Hawes said.

"We're building the platform, I think, to move to a higher level," he said.

While schools, businesses and individual homeowners focus on their own recycling efforts, de Messières said he would like the county to do a better job of illustrating solid waste trends to residents through figures like tonnage.

The coalition estimates that Montgomery County's actual recycling rate is barely 20 percent, much lower than the county's estimate. And the county's waste is increasing at a much higher rate than the rate of population growth, making reduction all the more important, de Messières said.

But it all depends on how you crunch the numbers, said Bill Davidson, a senior financial specialist for the Division of Solid Waste, which analyzes data the county collects.

And while de Messières said he has heard the county executive's staff mention the possible need for a new incinerator in the next 10 years at public meetings, Davidson dismissed that notion.

"We've thought about it," Davidson said. "We don't need it. ... You can't look that far into the future."

For now, Davidson said, the county hopes to convene a meeting of business leaders in the fall to discuss new strategies for businesses to reduce solid waste.