Getting Montgomery Closer to Zero Waste: Panel Discussion

The MoCo Sierra Club June Bi-monthly Meeting hosted three panelists to discuss the future of solid waste management in Montgomery County on May 20th. 

The first speaker was Lauren Greenberger, President of the Sugarloaf Citizens Association, a nonprofit, voluntary organization which represents residents of the 93,000 acres of the western and northern Agricultural Reserve, a specially protected area, which is also the location of the Dickerson waste incineration facility, operated by Covanta. Greenberger discussed multiple strategies for reducing the amount and types of waste that are now being sent to the incinerator. She advocated for a “pay-as-you-throw” (PAYT) system of waste collection, which is a growing strategy employed by cities and towns across the country and throughout Europe and Asia. In PAYT schemes, instead of paying an annual property tax fee for trash pickup (as we now do in some parts of the county) residents pay for either inexpensive bags or a single sized can (they can choose among various sizes, priced accordingly), and are charged according to the amount they discard. When successfully adopted, many towns have seen significant reductions in overall waste. Adopting PAYT would also increase donations of unwanted items to charitable organizations. She also emphasized that research has found that PAYT does not lead to an increase in illegal dumping. Greenberger also called for greater recycling of building material waste, also known as “C&D,” for construction and demolition waste. The amount of C&D recycling is not currently counted toward our overall recycling rate. 

Next, the group heard from Neil Seldman, co-founder of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which works to give local citizens more power over decisions that affect environmental, energy, and other concerns. Seldman heads up the Waste-to-Wealth Initiative where he is one of the nation’s leading experts on recycling and waste reduction. He summarized a report written by ILSR about how Montgomery County could significantly reduce waste and increase recycling while closing the Dickerson incinerator. You can find it here:  https://www.sugarloafcitizens.org/newdocs/ILSR%20ZW%20Report%20-%20April%202018.pdf.

Some of the policies recommended in the report echoed those mentioned by Greenberger,  including: removing food waste from the trash stream by composting it in a large commercial facility; opening up resource recovery parks to recycle or donate hard-to-recycle materials; implementing PAYT; requiring more C&D recycling, and; setting up fix-it and repair cafes. Any remaining waste, he said, could be sent by rail to landfills in Virginia which currently have additional capacity. Seldman pointed out that Montgomery County’s Department of Environmental Protection “is a bureaucracy that loves incineration,” and that other places like Alachua County, Florida successfully rejected an incinerator and adopted a strong “Zero Waste” plan. Montgomery County, could bring in many non-profits, such as Second Chance and E-Scraps to help it manage its waste, he said. He pointed to Los Angeles as a model in adopting such policies.

Finally, the group heard from Matteo Colombi, Campaign Coordinator for Strategic Research and Campaigns for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, an organization of 30,000 members, many of whom work in waste management, an occupation he said is the fifth most dangerous in America. Colombi stated that two-thirds of the landfills in the United States are managed by the top private waste management companies, rather than local governments, and that there is very little unionization of waste workers. Covanta, he said, is non-union, and claims to pay a “living wage.” He called for a “systems change,” in which workers are more involved in waste management structures.  He pointed to progress being made in New York City and Los Angeles towards changing their waste management programs. San Francisco, he argued, has the best model: a company called “Recology,” which is employee-owned, manages the waste. He described the system as a contracted utility that is transparent, hires from the community, and provides union jobs. He said models that are centered around incinerators or landfills, rather than a zero waste model, have an inherent bias.