The Gazette's Nov. 12 editorial, "A bitter battle, breaking faith and failed program ('Recycling lags')," is a welcome update. However, the news that business, retail, government, multiunit housing and public schools have been dragging down county recycling performance -- blotting out the excellent recycling rates of single-family homes -- should come as no surprise to the county executive, County Council or the press.
The executive was alerted 13 years ago of a possible crisis by a council that foresaw the non-residential sectors as problem recyclers and wisely enacted Resolution 11-2132 on July 5, 1990. That resolution said the executive must develop a recycling and waste reduction incentive program for commercial and business establishments, and multifamily dwellings.
The council was warned last year by a council staff that had evaluated the alarming solid waste data and reported insufficient capacity to meet waste disposal demand within five years. Despite the warning, the council still displays little interest on behalf of waste reduction.
The stubborn neglect of recycling by the wasteful sectors should worry us, but run-away generation of waste, exceeding population growth, should worry us even more. Waste generation increased by 43 percent from fiscal 1993 to fiscal 2000.
Now that council staff has rung the alarm bell will the council, at last, support the waste reduction policy? Faced with a trashlock will the executive, at last, develop a recycling and waste reduction incentive program to reduce the generation of trash and discourage the incineration of recyclable wastes?
Olivier de Messières, Boyds
The writer is with the Montgomery County Waste Prevention Coalition.
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