Some talked trash, but not always the kind that dealt with the topic at hand during a public hearing Tuesday night in Frederick, where a proposed incinerator angered residents who favor more recycling.
More than 200 residents turned out to speak their minds about an incinerator that would be the fourth in the state, shared by Frederick and Carroll counties.
Chris Hodge, head of the Sierra Club Catoctin Group, called the Northeast Waste Disposal Authority, a state group advising the county, a group of lobbyists that was pushing the incinerator on the county.
“I?m only hearing one side of the story,” Hodge said. “The way this process has gone alone should make people think. There?s a lot of money involved here.”
County officials fired back.
“Frankly, I?m disturbed by that comment,” said Michael Marschner, the county?s director of utilities and waste management. “I?m disturbed because it?s not true. I think it?s inappropriate.”
Most of the speakers supported increasing recycling instead of building the incinerator, the same arguments made by Carroll County?s Environmental Advisory Council.
The two counties should only invest in the $328 million incinerator if they did all they could to recycle and still had to consider another landfill, Hodge said.
Frederick recycles at almost 40 percent now, but officials aim to increase that to 65 percent. Meanwhile, Carroll?s recycling rate is about 30 percent; public works officials want to raise that to 40 percent.
“Once an incinerator of this size is built, it will compete with recycling,” Hodge said. “There?s so much low-hanging fruit here. How can you say people won?t recycle when you don?t even make it easy for them?”
But Bob Clark, who runs a local trash-hauling company, said the county would be forced to build the incinerator because people would not recycle enough.
“I wouldn?t want it in this county, but we?ve got to do something,” Clark said. “Yes we can increase recycling, but can we do 100 percent recycling? It?s a pie in the sky ? no.”
Also in support of the incinerator were the town of Mount Airy, which is split between Frederick and Carroll and passed a resolution this month backing it, and Frederick?s Farm Bureau.
