Montgomery County DEP outlines two paths for waste disposal: long-haul landfill or expensive RF upgrades

The Department of Environmental Protection told the full council on July 22 that the county faces two near‑term options for handling residual municipal solid waste before the incinerator contract ends in 2031: long‑haul to out‑of‑county landfills or a new long‑term contract to operate and upgrade the existing resource‑recovery facility (RF). DEP director said the Arcadis analysis and DEP estimates show the RF option carries large capital carrying costs and a per‑ton premium; the difference in modeled per‑ton cost is roughly $22 per ton, and fixed RF costs were described as roughly $13 million annually in the slides presented.

"Long haul is less expensive, when compared to the resource recovery facility costs," DEP said, adding that long‑haul combined with later investment in advanced waste processing technologies gives the county flexibility to reduce volumes and greenhouse gas emissions over time. DEP recommended issuing an RFP for long‑haul proposals in the coming months and returning to the council with the procurement responses in December or January so that policymakers can consider cost, environmental justice and greenhouse gas implications before next spring's budget decisions.

Council members pressed DEP on environmental justice screening for candidate host landfills (DEP said it will use tools such as EPA EJScreen and asked proposers to identify potential landfill sites so the county can assess demographic and health burdens). Questions also covered the transportation impacts of trucking vs. rail, the timeline for procurement and transition overlaps that raise FY27 transition costs. DEP emphasized the importance of evaluating proposals on total cost of service, environmental justice, greenhouse gas life‑cycle emissions and potential diversion technologies to reduce long‑term volumes.