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Frederick County commissioners are set to decide today where to go next in their efforts to dispose of the county's trash.

They can decide to burn it in an incinerator, bury it in a landfill or use a new technology developed by an Israeli company.

Commissioners are scheduled to meet at 8:30 a.m., in the first-floor hearing room of Winchester Hall, 12 E. Church St., Frederick.

The board will discuss the issue during "administrative business." This means no comments from residents will be taken.

"We've taken enough comment at this point," Commissioners' President Jan H. Gardner (D) said.

Commissioners have been debating whether or not to build a $527 million incinerator, or what some people call a "waste-to-energy facility" because it burns trash to generate electricity, with Carroll County for several years.

It is the one option that has generated the most public outcry. Opponents have flooded commissioners with e-mails against the incinerator for months.

The board has come under attack by critics that accuse them of making a rash decision to build an incinerator instead of looking at alternatives.

In an effort to explore other ideas, Gardner and Commissioner Charles A. Jenkins (R) met with an Israeli company, Arrow Ecology, on March 16 in Philadelphia.

The two met with company representatives to discuss its ArrowBio technology that sorts and disposes of trash using liquid, shredding, gravity, screening and other methods. It is considered by some to be more eco-friendly than a landfill or incinerator.

But Gardner and Jenkins said the technology may not be right for Frederick County, in part because operating an ArrowBio plant can be quite costly.

"Fifty million is only the capital expense," Gardner said at an April 21 meeting. "The system would require a large amount of maintenance."

Jenkins said they would have to run the plant in two shifts, with 100 employees working per shift.

Michael G. Marschner, director of the county's division of Utilities and Solid Waste Management, said the landfill has 35 employees.

The board is also considering building a new, larger landfill.

Marschner has suggested that the county expand the Reich's Ford Road landfill for additional space to bury trash.

The Reich's Ford Road landfill is about 530 acres. Of that, 343 are wooded and 163 acres are permitted by the Maryland Department of the Environment for waste disposal.

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