A waste-to-energy incinerator won?t increase recycling in Carroll, as a top county official suggests, an advisory panel says.
“It?s counter to think that taking all of our trash and dragging it to the curb is going to encourage people to recycle,” said Sher Horosko, a member of the county?s Environmental Advisory Council.
Horosko?s comments reinforce the panel?s position that Carroll should push recycling for five years before deciding whether to partnerwith Frederick County to build the state?s fourth waste-to-energy incinerator, which would cost more than $320 million.
But Public Works Director Mike Evans has argued that an incinerator could improve recycling rates.
Evans cited a 2006 study by Jonathan V.L. Kiser, an environmental and waste-management consultant based in Harrisonburg, Va., that studied 18 communities that had trash incinerators and found that their recycling rates were higher than rates for areas that did not have incinerators.
He said the debate leading to the decision on the incinerator would raise residents? awareness, predicting that even without an incinerator, recycling would increase about 10 percent by next year.
The ash created by the incinerator could also be recycled, boosting recycling rates even more, Evans said.
Horosko, however, said supporters of an incinerator do not have the best interests of the environment at heart.
Creating ash so that it can be recycled to boost recycling rates does not teach people to take better care of the planet, she said.
“This is not the wish-upon-the-star program for recycling,” Horosko said. “I don?t think it merits any applause from anyone who cares about the environment.”
Carroll?s recycling rate ranks among the worst in Maryland.
“To increase recycling, you need vision, leadership, resources for education and faith in people?s ability to change,” Horosko said. “We cannot expect different results by doing the same thing.”
