Howard County Announces Major Recycling Expansion

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): A neighborhood’s worth of discarded computers, mattresses and refrigerators dot the Alpha Ridge Landfill, a ghost town of household appliances. It’s not until you drive to the back of the county’s 550-acre property in Marriottsville that you find some of the most exciting — and smelly— activity. It’s here that the county does its composting, working to churn food and yard waste into compost, mulch and topsoil.

The three-quarters-acre facility diverts about 4,000 tons of organic material from the landfill each year most of which is brought to the facility by three truck deliveries a day. The trucks pick up food scraps, leaves and tree branches from roughly 15,000 households across three of its curb collection routes, according to Alan Wilcom, chief of the county’s recycling division.

The heaps of banana peels, bread and other food must sit for 45 days to become compost, before it’s taken to a curing site to cool for another 30 days and get tested for harmful bacteria, according to Keith Winkles, a landfill equipment operator.

Once ready, the mulch, topsoil and compost that’s produced is used by county departments and is sold to residents and businesses by the cubic yard.

The county is in the process of doubling the size of the composting operation as part of a broader goal to keep 60 percent of the county’s waste from ending up in the landfill by the next decade.

The expanded operation, scheduled to open in October, will allow the county to divert up to 8,000 tons of waste. The work being done by the county’s Office of Community Sustainability and the Department of Public Works’ Bureau of Environmental Services, which houses the recycling division, are on display this month as the county prepares for GreenFest, a Saturday event coinciding with Earth Day on April 22.

 Courtesy: https://wasteadvantage.com