A waste-to-energy incinerator could increase recycling in Carroll, said Mike Evans, the county?s public works director.
The discussion and controversy leading up to the decision to get an incinerator prompts residents to pay more attention to the way they dispose of their trash, and ultimately to recycle more, Evans said.
“They?ve had the arguments, they?ve had the controversy and they all understand what they?re doing,” Evans said.
He cited a June 2006 report by Jonathan V. L. Kiser, an environmental and waste management consultant based in Harrisonburg, Va., which studied 18 communities that had trash incinerators and found that their recycling rates were generally higher than rates for places that did not have incinerators.
The ash created by the incinerator could also be recycled and put into surfaces such as asphalt, boosting recycling rates even more, Evans said.
He added that studies have shown that ash from trash incinerators is safe, whereas ash from coal-burning plants can be toxic.
Communities that use incinerators pointed to a reduced reliance on landfills as a top incentive to improve recycling, according to the study.
“People understand that landfills ultimately are a bad thing,” said Evans, who has encouraged Carroll to partner with Frederick County to build the state?s fourth incinerator, which would cost more than $320 million.
His argument counters that of Carroll?s Environmental Advisory Council, a team of commissioner-appointed residents.
Recycling has increased throughout the country, but an incinerator would make residents more wasteful, willing to throw garbage out without thinking about it when some of that garbage could have been recycled, EAC members have said.
EAC members have also questioned if it is healthy to burn the county?s garbage.
