4.3.2 WASHINGTON COUNTY’S RECYCLING PROGRAM

Since 1994, Washington County has provided a comprehensive recycling program and continuously reviews various recycling and resource recovery options so as to meet and exceed established recycling program goals. Recycling benefits include reducing environmental impacts, reducing use of nonrenewable resources, saving landfill construction and lining costs, diversion of resources for use by business and industry, and extending landfill life. Solid waste department staff continuously reviews recycling and resource recovery options.

County government promotes recycling of used office paper, aluminum cans, and plastic beverage bottles at all County offices. The County Board of Education offices and all public schools have paper and cardboard collection and recycling programs. The recycling programs coordinator is responsible for development, implementation and management of recycling programs under the direction of the Deputy Director of Solid Waste. The recycling coordinator is also a point of contact for comprehensive and current information on waste reduction, solid waste management, and recycling issues to the public, businesses, and industries by means of:

• Contact phone number/email on County website and in phone directory government pages

• Monthly radio and print media campaigns

• Presentations to professional and social organizations and school programs • Recycling display tabling at special events and activities

• Outreach and promotion for special waste collection days, such as household hazardous waste (HHW)

Recycling facilities listed on the County’s Recycling webpage include:

• Drop-off facilities at fifteen recycling collection sites around the County for components of the residential waste stream, including clear and colored glass, aluminum and ferrous metal cans, selected plastics and paper, including pasteboard and cardboard. For added

convenience glass, metal, and plastic containers can be co-mingled.

• Drop off facilities for white goods, scrap metals, batteries (auto and rechargeable), magazines, styrofoam, and scrap tires at the Forty West Municipal Landfill

• Drop off facility for residential electronic equipment (scale fee charged) at the Forty West Municipal Landfill, established in 2008

• Used oil and antifreeze receptacles at each convenience center and at the Forty West Municipal Landfill

• Used cooking oil/grease receptacle at the Forty West Municipal Landfill

• Private recycling and processing businesses in Washington County, with contact information

4.3.3 YARD DEBRIS (COMPOST/MULCH)

Since 1994, by state law, yard waste and leaves have been diverted from landfill disposal. The County Collection Licensing Ordinance also requires yard waste to be diverted (Sec. 3.6.1). These materials are now stockpiled at the Forty West Municipal Landfill and processed using a horizontal grinder and tub grinder. Following composting, the finished product is sold at the wholesale and retail level as mulch and soil amendment.

The County recycling coordinator, along with agencies such as the University of Maryland Extension Service also promote grass recycling and backyard composting by means of workshops and training.

4.4 WASTE PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES

Various alternatives have been and will continue to be evaluated in order to effectively maximize the life of the County landfill. Waste processing alternatives discussed in this section are:

• Waste combustion/Resource Recovery • MSW Composting

• Mining of waste from County landfills • Balefilling

• Bio-reactor landfilling

4.4.1 WASTE COMBUSTION/RESOURCE RECOVERY

This waste processing alternative has the potential to extend landfill life considerably. However, the technology requires a comprehensive development scheme including a detailed site selection and evaluation study. Modern waste combustion facilities, whether the technology is intended for waste-to-energy or simply incineration, are outfitted with state of the art air pollution control

technology to control air emissions. Combustion technologies available today are capable of reducing material volumes going into the landfill by up to 90%. Facilities have been toured by County staff.

The cost of this technology per ton of waste is often higher than other methods of disposal due to significant capital costs associated with facility licensing, design, and construction. A number of large municipalities have allowed private ventures to fund, design, construct and operate in their jurisdictions in exchange for long-term contracts for tipping, steam, and energy sales. The arrangements generally involve the sale of steam and/or electricity that is used to help offset a portion of the cost of operations. The companies agree to construct, own and operate the facilities for a designated number of years (usually 20-30 years) on a leaseback arrangement in exchange for the agreed tipping rate. Facilities are designed in various configurations including waste separation before combustion. Materials such as glass and metals that do not add to the fuel needed for combustion can be separated and recycled. Metals are also recovered post- combustion and offered for sale. After combustion, the revenue realized through the sale of steam and/or electricity is used to offset and minimize tipping costs.

Resource recovery is focused on viewing waste as a resource. A resource recovery system consists of waste sorting and processing technologies designed to process municipal solid waste and convert it into a resource such as compost or energy. Using such technologies has the additional benefit of reducing land disposal needs. At this time Washington County is preserving landfill space by means of less costly and complex methods, such as modifying and improving daily cover techniques, and encouraging more waste reduction and recycling.

4.4.2 SOLID WASTE COMPOSTING

Municipal solid waste (MSW) composting has been practiced for many years with various methods. The significant volume reductions associated with composting make MSW composting attractive as a potential means of diverting waste from landfills. On the other hand, MSW composting requires considerable pre-sorting of the incoming waste and screening of the finished product to remove uncompostable materials such as glass, metal, and plastic – activities that tend to be relatively costly. Composted material may be used as landfill cover, for agricultural purposes or for landscaping. The market for composted municipal solid waste in Washington County and the mid-Atlantic area has not been fully developed. As with all solid waste technologies providing recovered or processed materials, determination of markets is an essential first step in evaluating benefits and cost effectiveness. In the U.S. solid waste composting has had limited success due to high costs, product odors, technology issues, product quality and lack of markets for end product.

4.4.3 LANDFILL MINING

Landfill mining refers to excavating previously buried waste with the goal of separating easily recovered ferrous metals, screening for separation of residual fine material, and final disposal through landfill or combustion. The objective of this effort at operating landfills is the recovery of air space in the landfill cell. The objective at closed landfills includes minimizing or mitigating potential environmental liabilities.

4.4.4 BALEFILLING

Balefilling is the process of using mechanical equipment to compress municipal solid waste into bales, then transporting, stacking, and covering them in a compact mass. Resource recovery is facilitated at the baling plant as refuse travels along conveyer belts, metals and corrugated cardboard are easily removed for recycling. Balefilling can require a large upfront investment for construction of a transfer station to sort and bale the waste. However, such a facility can also function as a transfer station if waste management processes change and balefilling is discontinued.

4.4.5 BIOREACTOR LANDFILL/LEACHATE RECIRCULATION

As an alternative to “dry tomb” landfills, bioreactor landfills are designed to promote the rapid decomposition of the organic portion of the MSW. This is accomplished by maintaining optimal moisture conditions at or near field capacity (approximately 34 to 65 percent). At a minimum, leachate is injected into the landfill to stimulate naturally occurring micro-organisms that can be either aerobic (with oxygen) or anaerobic (without oxygen). Liquids are added to the landfill through vertical wells, horizontal pipes, or trenches. The primary purpose of a bioreactor landfill is to accelerate decomposition of the organic fraction of the MSW to less than 10 years (i.e., rather than 30 or more years). Because decomposition and biological stabilization of the waste in a bioreactor landfill occurs in a much shorter time period than in a “dry tomb” landfill (i.e., years versus decades), the potential advantages of the bioreactor landfill can include:

1. Reduced leachate disposal costs;

2. Increased waste decomposition and settlement that results in additional air space. This space can be as much as 40 percent;

3. Reduced post-closure care periods and costs;

4. Increased revenues through acceptance of liquid wastes;

5. Shortened time periods over which air and water emissions are generated and must be controlled resulting in increased environmental protection;

6. Increased methane production over shorter time periods making methane recovery and use as an energy source more economical; and

7. Faster return of the landfill to a productive end-use.