Leaders from several environmental organizations came together to rally last Friday morning before the Economic Matters Committee held its first hearing on the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA). Their message and the message of other local environmental, civic, and public health groups: Passing CEJA and a companion bill to remove ratepayer subsidies for trash incineration does not mean there will be heaps of trash with nowhere to go and a damaged local economy from job losses. The truth is, reusing, recycling, and composting disposes of large amounts of waste more efficiently than trash incineration. Not to mention it has vastly more positive effects on our environment and can be a job creator that helps drive economic development.
Despite having a successful recycling program and markets for its recycled materials, Montgomery County continues to send a significant percentage of recoverable waste to the Dickerson incinerator – i.e., waste that has the potential for reuse, recycling, or composting. Four components make up 86 percent of the county’s waste stream: organics (including food), paper, plastics, and wood. Plastics, which make up 16 percent of the waste, include large amounts of plastic bottles that could have been placed in recycling bins. Food waste makes up close to 20 percent of the waste, but could instead be sent to large-scale composting facilities or composted in approved backyard composting containers, in community composting sites, or on farms. Much of the paper waste, such as pizza boxes and waxed paper, comes from carryout food and also could be composted. Montgomery County is just one example - the circumstances are similar in Baltimore City where a large percentage of trash is going to incinerators.
Some local jurisdictions are leading the way on composting. For example, Prince George’s County began composting food waste on a commercial scale years ago, reselling the compost by the cubic yard so it can be applied to gardens. The pilot has been so successful that Prince George’s expanded from accepting 12,000 tons per year to 57,000 tons last summer. The county is now considering adding curbside residential compost pick-up in it’s push toward zero waste.
Prince George’s County officials breaking ground on the compost facility expansion in 2018
Trash to Treasure
The job creation that comes with reusing, composting, and recycling our trash can be substantial and lead to new businesses centered around turning trash into treasure. Counties can support and encourage small reuse businesses and non-profits by clustering them in eco-industrial parks. Clustering supports creative cooperation and innovation. For example, a recently launched Eco-Industrial Park in Gainesville, Florida clustered businesses that use waste materials to create new products. This could serve as a model for supporting business and job creation, all while reducing waste and conserving tax revenues. University of Florida researchers estimate that the park will create up to 470 long-term manufacturing jobs.
Closer to home, salvaged materials have become resources for small businesses and non-profits. Reuse enterprises for computer recycling (e.g., e-End USA), and deconstruction of buildings and donation of surplus building materials (e.g., Second Chance, The Loading Dock, Community Forklift, and Habitat for Humanity Restores) are thriving in Maryland and elsewhere, allowing small businesses and individuals to reduce costs and obtain added value from discarded materials. In Baltimore, Second Chance creates "green collar jobs" by taking apart buildings that would otherwise be demolished and dumped in a landfill. They then offer the reclaimed materials and other donated goods to the public at a discount, helping to fund job training and workforce development programs that primarily serve those who face barriers to employment.
Second Chance workers salvaging materials that can be resold.
At the root of the trash disposal issues is the production of trash from households and businesses. One of the ways that trash production can be limited is by creating incentives to reduce trash disposal and to encourage more people to compost and recycle. These incentives could be created through a variable rate, or “pay-as-you-throw,” system, that gives residents a financial incentive to reduce their trash output. More than one thousand cities and towns in the United States have successfully adopted this system. Many communities have experienced nearly immediate results, including doubling of recycling rates and diversion of 16-20% of waste, which saves municipalities and taxpayers money.
There will still be a relatively small amount of trash that can’t be repurposed, but by composting food waste rather than landfilling it, this would substantially reduce the methane produced from landfills. Any residual waste left after implementing a comprehensive Zero Waste program can be sent to well-managed, state-of-the-art landfills, located in appropriate areas, that use gas capture technology. Combined with the composting of organics, this ensures that greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants are likely to be far lower than is currently experienced.
Amy Maron, MD Sierra Club Member & Volunteer
Nikhitta Sanjay, Spring ‘19 Transportation & Energy Intern
Sasha Tidwell, Spring ‘19 Transportation & Energy Intern
Matt Dernoga, Beyond Coal Representative