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Frederick County Commissioner Kai J. Hagen gave his long-awaited presentation Tuesday afternoon on how he thinks the county should dispose of its trash.

But as Hagen (D) sat before the board, alone at a table of empty chairs, he found himself under attack by his colleagues.

Commissioners repeatedly asked Hagen to explain his assumptions that the county will increase recycling and composting to 70 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2030, and his belief that the county can avoid building a trash incinerator by those efforts.

"How are you going to get to 70 percent recycling?" Commissioner John "Lennie" Thompson Jr. (R) asked of Hagen. "How are you going to do it different than what we've done today? … What do we do?"

"I don't see anything new in your report," Board President Jan H. Gardner (D) said at one point in the discussion. "I don't want to have a fight about this, but what is new?"

Hagen offered few specifics. "I didn't come to the table to present a 20-year plan," he replied.

As audience members clapped and yelled their support for Hagen, commissioners continued to press him for specifics.

But he again offered few alternatives beyond looking at beefing up recycling. So Thompson and Gardner pounded on Hagen for specific ways to increase recycling.

Hagen suggested they could ban certain materials from being dumped at the landfill.

"What materials do you want to ban?" Thompson asked. "I'm just asking."

Hagen finally relented, and named electronics, at which point Gardner said the county already offers recycling for electronics.

Hagen acknowledged that fact, but said the county does not ban electronics from the landfill, which he said is different from allowing people to recycle items.

The discussion then veered into how the county could ban electronics and make recycling them easier, but Hagen argued such details could be worked out later.

Thompson reminded Hagen of all the specific options he has put into the legislative package of bills for years that have never passed through the Maryland General Assembly.

Hagen kept his cool and countered back. "I think people are getting sick of hearing ‘no we can't," he said.

"We're not saying we can't. We want to know how you do it," Thompson said.

Hagen wants to encourage residents to compost through education and support. He also wants schools, office buildings, restaurants and grocery stores to compost fruit waste.

The county is increasing recycling.

According to the county Department of Utilities and Solid Waste, Frederick recycles 36 percent of its waste, and has a goal of reaching 60 percent by 2024.

Over the next two months, the county will unveil a "single-stream" recycling program by replacing most of the 18-gallon blue recycling containers that residents use with 65-gallon carts on wheels. The purpose is to hold more recyclable items that residents do not have to sort. For years, commissioners have been looking at building a trash incinerator to burn the 600 tons to 800 tons of trash county residents and businesses generate each day. As it stands, the county trucks the trash to landfills in Virginia because the Reichs Ford Road landfill is full.

Hagen has been against the incinerator, and has tried to persuade his colleagues to look at alternatives.

After several delays and a bit of controversy, he presented a 29-page document to his board colleagues Tuesday on alternatives to building an incinerator, or some people call a "waste-to-energy facility" because it burns trash to make electricity.

He referred to his presentation as "a different way of evaluating the economic impact and options regarding waste-to-energy and solid waste management."

The first-term commissioner has been vocal about his opposition to building an incinerator in Frederick County, posting criticism about the $323 million proposal on online forums for months. He has accused fellow commissioners and county staff of not thoroughly looking at other options for trash disposal.

"There have been many and serious concerns raised about both the public health and environmental impacts associated with a waste-to-energy incinerator," Hagen said. "I believe there are real and significant public health and environmental issues that have not been adequately addressed or resolved."