Baltimore County is planning to build a materials recovery center to recycle cans and plastic and glass containers that officials say could save a minimum of $300,000 a year.
The center, planned for the Texas landfill in Cockeysville, would replace a contract with a private recycling firm in Baltimore.
Tomorrow night, the County Council is expected to approve a request to use $1 million in capital improvement funds for the project. The capital request is $100,000 more than the projected cost to cover unexpected overruns, said Charles K. Weiss, chief of the solid waste management bureau.
Maryland Environmental Service, a quasi-public state agency, will reimburse the county for half the $1 million cost, Mr. Weiss said.
County public works officials said the materials recovery center will handle recycled containers from the north central, northeast and northwest areas of the county's curbside recycling program. Initially, the center will operate one eight-hour shift handling about 40 tons a day.
The center will be operated by MES, which also runs the Resource Recovery Center at the Texas landfill.
Mr. Weiss told council members last week that the county collects 30 tons of mixed containers a day from areas with the curbside recycling program. The containers, which are collected six days a week, are taken to G & L Corp. in Baltimore at a cost to the county of $48.50 a ton. It will cost the county about $25 a ton to operate the materials recovery center, he said. The contract with G & L expires at the end of March, Mr. Weiss said, with an option to extend. The recovery center is expected to be built and operating by the end of March or early April, when the county expects to be collecting 40 tons of recyclable material a day. The county is holding discussions with the North East Waste Disposal Authority and surrounding jurisdictions to find another materials recovery facility for the southeast and southwest areas, Mr. Weiss said.