The Harford County Council is considering a bill that would mandate recycling at larger apartment complexes and require owners to keep records of recycling.
Recycling could also be required at public events.
But one thing that isn't going to be required any time soon is for private trash haulers to operate along routes controlled by or designated by the county, a spokesperson for County Executive Barry Glassman said.
The recycling bill, introduced Jan. 20 by Glassman's administration, is merely a "housekeeping" bill to bring the county in line with similar state requirements, spokesperson Cindy Mumby said.
"This is being done in concert with the solid waste management plan that has to be updated every 10 years," Mumby explained. "This recycling portion is to codify state requirements."
Another bill, introduced along with the recycling legislation, would adopt a revised January 2015 solid waste management plan.
Both bills are scheduled to have public hearings at 6:30 on Feb. 17 in the council chamber.
The recycling legislation would require property owners of apartment or condominium buildings with at least 10 dwelling units to provide recycling under the county's single-stream recycling program and remove recyclables at least once a week.
Property owners, or condominium councils, would also be required to keep records of the amount of recycling collected for at least three years, according to the bill.
Violators would be subject to a penalty of up to $50 daily.
The bill also requires recycling at special events that use a public street or facility or public park, serve food or drink and expect to have at least 200 people attend.
A recycling container would have to be placed immediately next to each trash receptacle, be clearly distinguished from trash containers and be collected after the event.
Food scrap recycling must also be provided if feasible, and each organizer must submit a report detailing the quantity of recyclables and the type of material after the event, according to the legislation.
Collection changes unlikely
While the county's previous administration may have been considering new options for trash collection and disposal, Mumby said Glassman has no plans to implement county control over private trash collection routes.
"This administration is not moving forward [with that]," she said. "We are not taking over trash collection. We are leaving that to private businesses."
With the exception of the county's three autonomous municipal governments in Aberdeen, Bel Air and Havre de Grace, the collection of trash and garbage in most of Harford County has been done by private companies that contract with homeowners and businesses for those services.
Last summer, officials with the administration of former executive David Craig warned the cost of getting rid of the trash once it is collected was likely to escalate by as much as 24 percent of the next decade and efforts were under way to look at ways of making the system more efficient.
One possible change floated was for the county to develop a so-called waste fee structure and to possibly have more say over how trash is collected, possibly with implementation of a route system.
All those proposals were suggested by Craig's public works department, whose director, Tim Whittie, was retained in the same position by Glassman, one of only a handful of Craig's top people Glassman kept.
The county's two main sources of disposing non-recyclable refuse, a trash-to-steam incinerator in Joppa and a landfill in Scarboro, are both nearing the end.
Craig negotiated an agreement with Baltimore County to take waste to a transfer station Baltimore County is building in White Marsh, and that deal is being phased in.
Under the agreement between the two counties, Harford is contributing to some of the cost of the White Marsh transfer station and also agreed to deliver recyclable materials to a Baltimore County recycling station in Cockeysville.
Aberdeen Proving Ground has been buying steam produced at the Joppa waste-to-energy facility, but that agreement is scheduled to end on March 17, 2016, when the incinerator will be decommissioned and presumably dismantled. Talks between the county and the Army about a replacement facility were ended after Army representatives indicated they did not want to continue the relationship, Craig said at the time.
Mumby said that while Glassman hasn't initiated any major proposals for solid waste management in his short time in office, "the administration is looking for ways to improve efficiency and cut costs."