Thousands of Elkridge Residents Are Without Curbside Recycling

In June 2007, Waste Management (WM) announced that it had opened in Elkridge the largest single-stream recycling facility in the nation. Four years later, some residents living within miles of WM’s  plant on Kit Kat Road still don't have curbside recycling services available to them.

Howard County piloted a curbside recycling collection program in 1989 in Ellicott City and Columbia. By 1993, it was phased in throughout the county, said Evelyn Tomlin, chief of the Bureau of Environmental Services.

But neighborhoods with privately owned streets, including those in several Elkridge mobile home parks, don't automatically receive county services—like street maintenance, snow removal and trash collection—according to county spokesman Kevin Enright.

“The county can only provide trash and/or recycling at the request of legal representatives such as community associations or management companies on private roads,” said Enright.

“The bigger issue is that we have private roads all over the county and it’s more than just recycling. We should probably look at private roads in the general plan to determine if we should allow developers to use them," said Councilwoman Courtney Watson, whose district includes part of Elkridge. "Sometimes different rules apply to private roads–setbacks, for example–and by building private roads, developers can sell additional units."

, a community of 621 mobile homes tucked behind the Gateway Overlook shopping center, is home to approximately 2,100 residents and is the largest Elkridge neighborhood lacking curbside recycling.

Deep Run does not pay trash and recycling fees to Howard County, according to Enright.

“The park management deemed it was too expensive,” said Kelly Lundgren, who has lived in Deep Run for five years. “We have curbside trash collection that [residents] pay for quarterly. The stupid thing is that the cost for recycling would be offset by a lower trash bill ... trash fees are determined by how much was collected the previous year.”

“A vote was taken a couple of years ago, and the [residents] decided not to pay more for recycling,” said a man standing outside the Deep Run Park sales office who identified himself as a representative of Deep Run’s owner but would not give his name.

“Out of all the people that I talked to, no one was ever asked. I was never asked, either. I am thinking that the management never polled people and decided not to [start recycling] just because it was a hassle,” said Lundgren with a dubious tone.

Mobile homes are typically privately owned and kept on rented lots. The land owner pays property tax on the land and trailer owners pay a mobile home tax, which amounts to $35 to $40 per month, according to the Deep Run representative. The added cost for recycling would be $4 per month per household, he said.

“I can scrape together couch change for that,” said Lundgren. “Recycling is incredibly important, and it would be worth paying an extra fee even if it wasn’t offset by a lower trash bill.”

“I understand what it means to be strapped, but I am willing to pay a few extra dollars to make the world a better place,” said Jesse Herrmann, 19, a resident of Deep Run who works at Target.

“I’m not sure why the county doesn’t provide the service like it does for other citizens. [The land owner] pays property tax. We pay mobile home tax. I feel like we’re the redheaded stepchild again,” said Lundgren.

“I understand and sympathize, but if [we] were to treat one private road differently than others, it would cause a problem,” said Watson.

“We have reached out to private areas not recycling to encourage them to recycle and have worked with the Howard County Chamber of Commerce to create a recycling co-op for businesses and on private roads,” said Enright.

Howard County provided recycling services to 76,995 households in 2010, according to Enright. Those collections resulted in 64.22 million pounds of refuse being sent to plant in Elkridge, or more than 834 pounds per household.

“Deep Run should do a lot more. I am trying to be greener,” said Herrmann.

“Howard County supports and encourages recycling. Recycling reduces waste, saves energy, reduces greenhouse gases and saves landfill space," said Enright. "It is the right thing to do."