Montgomery County Council to vote on trash incinerator options

Stephanie Ramirez doing a little trash talking this morning, or at least talking trash in Montgomery County. The council is expected to take up a vote on the future of waste collection. That's what we're talking about. So, Stephanie, she's live in Rockville this morning with more. Good morning. Good morning, guys. And more specifically, this is to whether to keep and update an incinerator facility that the county has. The council or might decide on whether to instead choose to haul solid waste to landfills outside of Montgomery County. Now, both options are going to cost money. You should be seeing Sky Fox drone video of the Dickerson incinerator or what the county calls its Resource Recovery Facility. Which opened in 1995. County reviews already done found that keeping the site open and updating it with the latest technology could cost an upward of $356 million. The current county executive, Mark Elridge, he has a few environmental concerns and equity concerns with some of the other plans, which could include needing to find a new site not located in a poorer or minority community for ash disposal. The outgoing county executive, he has long wanted to close the incinerator and long haul the waste out of the county while also investing in more environmental waste disposal options like increasing recycling. And composting, he wrote the county last week, urging that if they don't vote to close today, they instead study different technologies being used in other places like San Jose, California, to help reduce the amount of trash and increase recycling. The council, they already held meetings in September and October. All of our residents are going to be impacted. All the rate payers, even if you are in an apartment, those costs will get passed down to renters. So, you know, it's it's we're encouraging residents continue to put in your comments, any additional questions you may have. And guys, Fox 5 did report last month that early county projections show that it could cost an upward of around $50, I believe, per household. And that's whether they decide to update the facility as is and keep it there or long haul the garbage. We'll have more, but that vote, guys, expected for 10 o'clock this morning. Steve.