MD releases draft “Zero Waste Maryland” plan

The Maryland Department of Environment recently released its draft “Zero Waste Maryland – Maryland’s Plan to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle Nearly All Waste Generated in Maryland by 2040.”  Maryland has established an 80% recycling goal and an 85% waste diversion goal in order to meet their mandated Green House Gas Reduction Plan.  It is anticipated that composting and anaerobic digestion of organic materials will contribute a large portion of the additional recycling needed to meet the overall goals.  Note that MD calculates recycling rates based on defined solid waste dictated by the MD Recycling Act (MRA).  Non-MRA materials are tracked separately, which includes biosolids. These non-MRA materials are tracked on a voluntary basis.  Thus, recycling of these non-MRA materials does not count toward compliance with mandatory MRA recycling rates, so not all counties submit complete information, resulting in underestimation of recycling.

The MD Department of Agriculture adopted revised nutrient management regulations and new guidelines in 2012 for land application. Due to timing restrictions there may be increased need for biosolids storage.  “Increased costs associated with storage may make application on agricultural land more expensive relative to disposal, resulting in more disposal of sewage sludge.”

See draft at Zero_Waste_Plan_Draft_12.15.14MD