Northeast Maryland Disposal Authority defends trash study

“Beck’s qualifications are excellent,“ Davidov said. “They don’t always make a recommendation for waste-to-energy.“

She said the consultant evaluates a county’s specific circumstances, and makes a recommendation based on that analysis.

Davidov’s comments are in response to a petition circulating by Friends of Frederick County calling for an independent study of ways the county can dispose of its trash other than burn it.

Friends contends that an incinerator is wrong because of its adverse environmental impact.

Jack Lynch, vice chairman of the group, said the county should look at beefing up its composting and curbside recycling programs. “It appears they’ve forced one option on us, and they are not looking at anything else,“ he said.

Douglas Pierce, another member of the group, said he believes the county should look at mandatory curbside recycling. “The first step should be recycling,“ he said. “I would not be opposed to the incinerator if it was the best solution. ... It’s worth spending more money [on another study] to make sure they do the right thing.“

Both Lynch and Pierce contend that Beck and the authority are biased toward incinerators, and it was clear from the beginning they would not come to any other conclusion.

Davidov said Beck studies all options before making a conclusion.

The Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority is an independent state agency that helps counties handle its trash. Seven counties pay $25,000 per year to belong to the authority. Frederick County joined in 2004.

For 40 years, Frederick County has had a landfill on Reichs Ford Road, four miles south of the City of Frederick. County officials realized in 2000 that it was running out of space in the landfille, so they began hauling trash to landfills in Virginia.

A year after Frederick County joined the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority, the commissioners asked the authority to conduct a comprehensive study of better ways they could dispose of trash.

Davidov said the authority uses many consultants to study trash disposal options. After screening several consultants, she said they recommended R.W. Beck to Frederick because of its qualifications and background in evaluating recycling programs.

Beck recommended that Frederick build an incinerator with Carroll County. It did not recommend a place to build it.

“Landfills are a large source of greenhouse gasses because methane is 14 times more potent than carbon dioxide,“ Davidov said. “Waste-to-energy is a much cleaner technology, particularly when the energy produced replaces energy made from coal, as is the case in Frederick County, where 80 percent of the electricity comes from coal burning plants.“

She said incineration is not always the solution.

Prior to 2005, the authority recommended to Frederick and several of its other member counties — Anne Arundel, Howard and Carroll — that they haul their trash out of state, Davidov said.

But that has changed.

Anne Arundel and Howard are in the middle of a 10-year contract and pay $35 a ton to landfills in Virginia. That contract will expire in 2013 and they will be forced to either look for other trash disposal options, like an incinerator, or pay higher transport fees.

Frederick and Carroll counties are paying between $50 and $57 at ton to transport its trash to several landfills in Virginia. The costs vary due to gas prices, Davidov said.

Transporting trash down the highway is also not a viable solution, because waste spreads carcinogens and carbon emissions over long distances, Davidov said.

About The Authority

The Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority helps member counties with their waste disposal. The final decision on trash disposal is left to each county.

The counties that belong to the authority dispose of their trash in the following manner:

Anne Arundel: transports out of county

Baltimore city and county: share an incinerator; the city also composts

Carroll: transports out of county

Frederick: transports out of county

Harford: incinerates

Howard: transports out of county

Montgomery: incinerates