Recycling on the rise in Montgomery County

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) – On Friday, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich and Department of Environmental Protection officials highlighted the County’s recent recycling accomplishments and new programs that are being rolled out.

To celebrate Earth Month, leaders thanked people in Montgomery County for their continued commitment to recycling.

“Our county’s recycling efforts are paying off,” Elrich said. “Recycling is up. We’re recycling more in Montgomery County between 2020 and 2022.”

Officials said the county has made major progress in several recycling categories.

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“Plastic went up 110 percent, mixed paper went up 10 percent, electronics recycling increased seven percent and glass recycling increased three percent,” Elrich said.

The county’s recycling efforts expanded by creating new initiatives to ensure this success continues.

“We have a pilot program right now for residential food scraps where we actually collect those from the curb for residents participating in the pilot, and those are sent to a food processing facility,” said Jon Monger, director of the Department of Environmental Protection.

Officials say that in addition to being eco-friendly, these programs are also designed to make money for the county.

“We’re getting,” one Montgomery County Recycling Center spokesperson said, “revenue-wise per year, from $4 million to $5.5 million dollars.”

Monger says the amount of waste disposed per person in the County has gone down by 11 percent from 2018 to 2022.

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