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SCA’s President Shares Her Story
See this video about our president, Lauren Greenberger.
Click here to view.
We look for and welcome your suggestions, concerns and questions about what's going on in the Ag Reserve. Please email us here.
See "Growing Legacy,” a terrific portrait of the Ag Reserve, produced by Montgomery Countryside Alliance. Here’s the link to the 30 minute film. MCA has a synopsis here.
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How to Shut Down the Dickerson Waste Incinerator in One Easy Step
Stop feeding it.
In Montgomery County we recycle about 40% of our waste. The Dept of Environmental Protection (DEP) will tell you it is over 60% but that is because they count the ash that goes to landfills from the incinerator as ‘recycled’. Dumping burned toxic ash on landfill piles and the roads around them does not quite count as recycling in my mind.
So what is in that 60% of our trash that is burned in Dickerson and polluting our air? 34% is food scraps and 8% more is other organics. A whopping 42 % of what we burn could be composted. 24% is paper. 18% is plastic. 5% is textiles. 5% is reusable goods. 3% is metal and 3% is glass. The solution is in our hands. We at SCA continue to push the DEP to close the incinerator and ramp up their ‘reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle’ professed goals but in the meantime:
The less you put in your trash bin, the fewer toxic emissions you and your family will have to breathe.
Let’s take a closer look at food waste, for example. Virtually everyone reading this has enough space in their backyard to compost their food waste. If you need a bin to get you started call 311 and ask for one. The County will give it to you for free. Or pick one up at our booth on Poolesville Day! Americans throw away 40% of their food – about 400 lbs per person per year. Can we reduce this? Check your fridge before buying more. Buy ugly fruits and veggies – cheaper, it’s a benefit for the farmer and saves on waste. Old veggies are not unusable – make a stir-fry or soup; freeze or can them. When eating out – share a meal or get a doggie bag (and bring your own container).
Our schools are another a prime place where we can have huge reductions. Seaton ES in Washington, DC has become a pioneering laboratory set up to tackle food waste. Along one side of their cafeteria is a line of color-coded bins for waste, compost, recycling and liquids. Students separate their trash into appropriate bins and then weigh them and record the day’s results. There is also a ‘share table’ where students can leave uneaten or unopened food for peers who may want it. Volunteer ‘wellness ambassadors’ help their classmates with recycling, weighing and giving out stickers for clean plates and good recycling. Decline in food waste at Seaton has been astonishing. Waste plummeted 47% in 3 months, from 155 lbs to 82 in three months. As the new school year begins, why can’t we do this in Monocacy ES, John Poole MS and Poolesville HS for starters?
Some of our local producers have been reducing food waste by allowing groups to come in and gleen leftover crops after harvesting to feed the hungry. There is also a fairly substantial tax credit you can get for doing this as an added bonus.
We at Sugarloaf will continue to work with the County to institute zero waste initiatives, including a County-wide food composting strategy, but to be truly successful, a big part begins at home. Buy less, fix things that break, give reusable goods to a charity, refill your water bottle, reuse dishes and cutlery and compost all your organics that cannot be eaten by you or your animals.
Come visit us at our booth on Poolesville Day to share your thoughts and ideas. We are here for you!
Lauren Greenberger President
Our Priority This Month – September 2018
A proposed Montgomery County zoning change that would favor alcohol production and promote large-scale events at wineries, breweries and distilleries in the Ag Reserve is scheduled for a vote in the county council on Sept. 18.
We and other local groups are strongly opposed to this zoning change—which is known as “Zoning Text Amendment 18-03”—as currently conceived and written. Here’s why:
1. The full impact of the proposed change on the Ag Reserve, its residents, and surrounding areas has not been assessed. The county attorney, for example, has advised that the proposal be tabled so that it can be further researched, and to allow the county’s Agri-tourism Advisory Committee to weigh in.
2. The proposal favors alcohol production over other non-farm activities, and promotes large-scale events at wineries, breweries and distilleries in the Ag Reserve.
3. The current language of the proposal only vaguely requires that “some ingredients” be grown or sourced locally or regionally. That would permit proprietors to buy the majority of their ingredients from elsewhere and not produce any of them on site. Thus, it would not promote farming in the Ag Reserve. The Ag Reserve was established to promote agriculture.
4. The proposal as written would weaken current regulations for wineries, and is not consistent with winery rules in other Maryland jurisdictions. For example, in some jurisdictions, such as Baltimore County, applications to start a public winery that plans to hold events are individually evaluated. Also, their wines must be made from grapes 51% of which are Maryland-grown, or come from a minimum of 20 acres of grapes grown on their own farm.
5. The proposal does not stipulate clear rules for breweries. Montgomery County can have excellent local craft brew production without being on Ag Reserve farms. We all love breweries but they don’t belong in the Ag Reserve.
6. The proposal has few provisions for limiting the number and size of events such as weddings and festivals. Each facility may have unlimited wedding-type events for over 200 guests and 9 major events annually with no attendance limit. That’s unacceptable.
7. There’s been no formal assessment of the impact on traffic flow and congestion related to events of that size and frequency. There’s also been no assessment of potential noise pollution from such events.
There are simply too many unaddressed questions and concerns to allow this zoning change to move forward.
Fortunately, several county council members have indicated that if they hear from citizens—and especially farmers and landowners in the Ag Reserve—they will consider withdrawing the zoning change for further study.
Please consider emailing all the county council members as soon as you can and definitely before Sept. 6. Their individual email addresses are below. You can send the same note to all.
The “ask” at this point is to delay the vote on “ZTA-18-03” pending a comprehensive review of the impact on the Ag Reserve and its residents.
You can see details on this issue at Montgomery Countryside Alliance’s website. http://www.mocoalliance.org/news/alcohol-production-zta-18-03-what-is-the-big-deal
Councilmember.Riemer@montgomerycountymd.gov Councilmember.Floreen@montgomerycountymd.gov Councilmember.Leventhal@montgomerycountymd.gov Councilmember.Elrich@montgomerycountymd.gov Councilmember.Berliner@montgomerycountymd.gov Councilmember.Hucker@montgomerycountymd.gov Councilmember.Navarro@montgomerycountymd.gov Councilmember.Rice@montgomerycountymd.gov Councilmember.Katz@montgomerycountymd.gov
Announcing a New Sugarloaf Citizens' Association Campaign
Many of you know that the 22-year old Covanta trash incinerator in Dickerson is Montgomery County’s second largest polluter. It’s responsible for some 15 percent of air pollution in the county.
The incinerator also generates 170,000 tons of toxic ash per year and other toxic emissions that are five to 25 times higher than what a coal-driven power plant of the same size would generate.
Dangerous uncontrolled fires at the plant have also occurred recently. Covanta acknowledges that the incinerator is in poor shape. Although the company has committed to new safety procedures and additional funding for repairs and maintenance, many questions remain regarding the feasibility of the plant’s safe operation.
For years, the citizens of Dickerson, Barnesville, Poolesville and the immediate environs around the incinerator have put up with the existence of this major polluting source.
An opportunity to shut down the incinerator has finally arrived, however. The contract with Covanta to operate the incinerator expires in April 2021.
Sugarloaf’s board has, therefore, decided to launch an initiative to close the incinerator down by 2021, if not before.
We will be joining forces withs other environmental, social justice, and public health groups, both local and national, in this effort. But SCA will take the lead, given that the incinerator is in our backyard.
We have hired a leading environmental policy expert to assist us in navigating the legislative aspects of the campaign, as well as to help build the coalition.
You may well be thinking: “Well, what will happen to the trash?" Major advances in recycling and the reuse of waste have occurred over the past 20 years. As a result, a rapidly growing number of counties and cities across the country have switched to other means of waste removal and disposal. Some are achieving 85 percent or higher rates of recycling or environmentally friendly waste disposal - with a resultant sharp reduction in the burning or landfilling of waste.
A recent Montgomery County study found that of the materials being incinerated at the Covanta plant, 34 percent is food waste, 22 percent is paper and 18 percent is plastic. Even if these were the only things we got out of the waste stream and recycled we would already eliminate the need for the incinerator.
Aspirational "zero waste "programs are proving to be both economically viable and to create jobs in many communities. We believe there is emerging political will in Montgomery County to move aggressively toward this option, advocating a “zero waste” strategy for the county will be part of our campaign.
As we move forward, we’ll provide you with more details. For now, please know that we are excited to gear up for this fight to preserve the Agricultural Reserve and protect the health of our friends and neighbors. We will be turning to you in the future for help in assuring this campaign is a success. Lauren Greenberger, SCA President, and the SCA Board
Sugarloaf Citizens' Association, Inc. Linden Farm 20900 Martinsburg Road P.O. Box 218 Dickerson, MD 20842 301-349-4889 info@sugarloafcitizens.org
