Ten Year Solid Waste Plan
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T&E COMMITTEE #2 March 22, 2021 M E M O R A N D U M March 17, 2021 TO: Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee FROM: Keith Levchenko, Senior Legislative Analyst SUBJECT: Comprehensive Solid Waste Management 10 Year Plan - 2020 - 2029 PURPOSE: To Review and make recommendations regarding the 10 Year Plan transmitted by the County Executive Expected Participants Adam Ortiz, Director, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Patty Bubar, Deputy Director, DEP Willie Wainer, Chief, Recycling and Resource Management Division, DEP Rich Harris, Office of Management and Budget Attachments CE Transmittal Letter ©1 Draft Resolution ©2-4 Draft Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan 2020 – 2029 ©5-229 DEP Presentation Slides ©230-251 On February 8, 2021, the County Executive transmitted the Comprehensive Solid Waste Management 10 Year Plan – 2020 -2029 which is an update of the current (2012-2023) Solid Waste Management Plan.1 A public hearing was held on March 16. Background State law (Sections 9-503 and 9-515, Environment Article, of the Maryland Code) requires the governing body of each County to adopt and submit to the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) a ten-year plan dealing with solid waste disposal systems, solid waste acceptance facilities, and the systematic collection and disposal of solid waste. 1 The current 2012-2023 Solid Waste Management Plan is available for download at: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/council/Resources/Files/REPORTS/Comprehensive10yrPlan.pdf The Environment Article further requires each County to review its solid waste management plan at least every three years. The current plan was adopted in March 2015 via Council Resolution 18-86. As noted in the draft resolution included in the CE’s transmittal (see ©2-4), DEP had previously requested and received an extension of time from MDE pending completion of the Aiming For Zero Waste planning effort and the development of a strategic plan to address food waste diversion and recycling/composting (as required by Bill 28-16; Strategic Plan to Advance Composting, Compost Use, and Food Waste Diversion). The current pandemic led to further delays in the development of this update. Discussion The Plan includes a substantial amount of information on the legal and regulatory environment for Solid Waste management (Chapter 1) updated demographic information (Chapter 2) and background on the County’s solid waste programs and facilities (Chapters 3 and 4). Council Staff has reviewed these sections of the Plan and has identified some minor errata and areas where additional information would be helpful. Council Staff will work with DEP on these items. Also, pursuant to Senate Bill 370, Environment – Recycling – Office Buildings signed into law in May 2019, the Department of Environmental Protection developed a Recycling Plan for Office Buildings. This is incorporated into the Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan 2020 – 2029 as Appendix F. Council Staff suggests that the Committee focus its review on Chapter 5 “Solid Waste Management System Plan of Action.” As noted at the beginning of Chapter 5, this section is crafted largely in response to issues raised and recommendations made in the Strategic Plan to Advance Composting, Compost Use, and Food Scraps Diversion in Montgomery County, Maryland," (2018) and the Aiming for Zero Waste planning process and the Aiming for Zero Waste Task Force’s recommendations (April 2020). The Committee received a briefing from the Chair of the Aiming for Zero Waste Task Force in December 2020. Council Staff has attached some presentation slides from DEP (see ©230-251). However, since the Committee received some of this information previously back at its December meeting, Council Staff has asked DEP to focus on the slides (starting on ©240) related to Chapter 5 of the Draft Plan. Major Issues Included below is some discussion of the most significant policy and budget issues in the Draft Plan, from Council Staff’s perspective. However, Chapter 5 of the Draft Plan outlines numerous other issues and assumes continuous analysis and study by DEP going forward. Many of these issues will require specific follow-up at the Council in the form of budget, legislative, and regulatory change as well as potential future amendments to the Plan. Regular updates on these issues can be provided to the Committee as the issues move forward. Also, the County’s consideration of racial equity and social justice implications in its budget and policymaking is still under development. How to consider these issues within the solid waste context will need further exploration going forward. Food Waste -2- According to DEP’s most recent waste composition study (2017) (see summary table from the Draft Plan on ©105), food waste makes up approximately 12 percent of the County’s municipal solid waste (MSW). Even more telling, only about 4.4 percent of it is being diverted from the waste stream (leaving about 124,000 tons per year being disposed; about 20 percent of total waste disposed). This represents, by far, the single biggest opportunity for the County to increase its waste diversion. The County has over five years of experience with a food waste composting effort focusing on several County Government facilities. This effort has helped the County better understand food waste diversion challenges (both on-site capture and storage and securing receiving facilities for the food waste). On November 15, 2016, the Council enacted Bill 28-16 “Solid Waste (Trash) - Strategic Plan to Advance Composting, Compost Use and Food Waste Diversion”. This bill required DEP to develop a strategic plan to advance composting, compost use, and food waste diversion in Montgomery County. This Strategic Plan was completed in 2018 and the County has been moving forward with this issue on several fronts including: continuing to divert pre-consumer food waste from several County government facilities including the COB and EOB and securing additional food waste receiving capacity at the Prince George’s County Organics Composting (Western Branch) facility to support DEP’s initial commercial food waste diversion efforts. The Council approved $667,000 and a full-time position for this effort in FY19. Additional dollars were added in the FY20 and FY21 budgets to expand the County’s commercial food waste diversion efforts (with over 100 tons of food scraps diverted to date) and conduct a single-family residential food waste pilot program. DEP is finalizing a request of procurement to initiate this project (see ©249 for more information). New language is included throughout the Draft Plan noting the benefits of food waste composting and diversion and the County’s new planning direction toward food waste composting (see ©110-113). The Draft Plan notes that the lack of receiving capacity in the region continues to be a limiting factor for expansion. On ©152, the Draft Plan describes the County’s interest in securing receiving capacity within the County and that it is studying multiple approaches including: modifying the County’s compost facility in Dickerson to accept food scraps,2 working with other jurisdictions to develop a regional facility, and issuing an RPF to a private developer to develop a facility. The expansion of food waste diversion in both the commercial and ultimately residential sectors will be a huge undertaking and could also impact other important policy considerations in the near future, such as frequency of trash collection (i.e. potentially moving to bi-weekly collection when residential curbside collection of food waste is implemented) and a Pay as You Throw (PAYT) system for trash disposal (which would further encourage food waste diversion and recycling).. Materials Recovery Facility As part of the Aiming for Zero Waste effort, DEP worked with a consultant (HDR) to develop a “Review of Existing Processing Facilities” report. This report identified improvements needed at the Transfer Station, Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), Yard Trim Composting Facility, and the Resource Recovery Facility (RRF). The Aiming for Zero Waste Task Force recommendations reiterate the criticality of upgrading the MRF. Chapter 4 of the Plan (see ©121) notes that the facility is 28 years old 2 Modifying the County’s compost facility would require a revision to the County’s agreement with the Sugarloaf Citizens Association. This agreement is discussed on ©85 of the Draft Plan. The agreement is also included in Appendix D of the Current Plan. -3- and that most of the equipment has exceeded its useful life. In addition, the facility is significantly undersized for the volume of materials coming in. Chapter 3 of the Plan (see ©84) notes that the current facility was designed to process 80 tons of commingled recyclables per day. However, the facility is currently receiving 135 to 170 tons per day of these materials; resulting in a substantial amount of materials having to bypass the facility and be shipped to a recycling facility in York County, Pennsylvania for processing. Given the current MRF site’s expansion limitations (as well as limitations on the neighboring Transfer Station site as well (see ©244), DEP explored the potential to move the facility to another site (and perhaps create a large “Recovery/Eco Park”) but was unsuccessful in identifying any feasible sites. DEP later hired a consultant to identify improvements that could be made on the existing site to upgrade the facility and increase its throughput. On March 15, 2021, the County Executive transmitted an FY21- 26 CIP amendment (totaling $20.4 million) to upgrade the MRF. The project would increase the processing capacity of commingled materials to 200 to 240 tons per day which would eliminate the need for bypass, provide some capacity for increased recycling within the county and potentially allow for consideration of taking in recycled materials from County municipalities or from outside the County to maximize recycling revenues. This project will be reviewed in more detail by the Committee later this spring.