More News

Frederick County commissioners on Tuesday will decide whether to continue looking at a trash disposal process that is considered by some to be more eco-friendly than a landfill or incinerator.

Commissioners' President Jan H. Gardner (D) and Commissioner Charles A. Jenkins (R) will brief the board on their meeting with the Israeli company, Arrow Ecology, March 16 in Philadelphia, Pa.

The two met with company representative to discuss its ArrowBio technology that sorts and disposes of trash using liquid, shredding, gravity, screening and other methods.

The briefing will be at 8:30 a.m. in the first-floor hearing room of Winchester Hall, 12 E. Church St., downtown Frederick.

The briefing is part of a larger discussion on solid waste issues, including use of the Reich's Ford Road landfill and fees charged to dump trash at it.

The county is considering ArrowBio as a new waste disposal option, because its landfill is full and shipping waste to Virginia is temporary.

Commissioners are also considering building a $527 million trash incinerator or what some people call a "waste-to-energy facility" because it burns trash to produce electricity.

The incinerator would be built to handle 1,500 tons of trash per day. Of that, 900 tons would come from Frederick County and 600 tons from Carroll County.

Commissioners over the past several years have looked at other alternatives.

For example, in 2006 they looked at technology that disposes of trash to make ethanol, but the technology was not fully developed at the time.

Arrow Ecology has a plant in Israel and Australia. The process is being evaluated in California and New York City.

Jenkins and Gardner are recommending that the board consider the disadvantages and advantages of the ArrowBio process, and determine if it should be further evaluated, according to the staff report for the meeting.

E-mail Sherry Greenfield at sgreenfield@gazette.net.