WINCHESTER — Local officials converged at the regional landfill in Frederick County on Monday to celebrate a $3.9 million Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that is aimed at bolstering recycling access across the Northern Shenandoah Valley.
“It is a big deal. It is a big deal that we be as responsible as possible for our environment and that includes what we cast away at the end of the day,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz.
The federal dollars will be used to grow the capacity for accepting recyclable material at convenience sites and landfills across the region and increase regional recycling rates.
The SWIFR grant program, which is administered by the EPA, is funded through the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package that was signed into law in 2021, according to an EPA spokesperson.
Ortiz and several local officials addressed the group that gathered beneath a tent at 280 Landfill Road east of Winchester for the ceremony.
The Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission (NSVRC) — which covers Frederick, Clarke, Warren, Shenandoah and Page counties as well as the city of Winchester — is the recipient of the grant money. Established by the state, the regional planning district exists to bring local governments together to pursue common goals.
“This thing, 30 years ago, was somewhat new to people. Some people say, ‘environmentally-friendly is a fad, environmentally friendly is here for the short-term.’ I can tell you it’s not here for the short term,” said Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors Chairman Dennis Morris. “It’s here for the long term, and it’s something we need to deal with on a day-to-day basis.”
Amanda Kerns, the primary grant writer and a senior planner with NSVRC, explained that there are three primary initiatives being funded through the grant.
Notably, the NSVRC will be pushing to reestablish curbside recycling services. Currently, just three of the 14 towns in the region, plus Winchester, offer curbside recycling. In 2017, nine of the 14 towns offered curbside services.
“So we had declined that much. A lot of that has to do with the rising costs of recycling and because there is limited service provider options at that time through the region,” Kerns said. “So our goal is to reestablish curbside, (with) a lofty goal of six more (localities.)”
In what will mark a roughly $785,000 investment, Kerns said the grant will allow the NSVRC to offset the start-up costs that localities face for curbside recycling.
For each locality that contracts with a procured service provider, the regional commission will purchase the curbside receptacle bins for the locality. A goal of this part of the project is to facilitate 10,000 new curbside recycling connections.
Kerns said localities also need new recycling holder containers, adding that the grant will allow for the purchase of 62 30-yard containers — which would be spread out across regional convenience sites — to build out capacity and streamline recycling storage services.
Some of the existing containers are 10 to 15 years old. Warren County has to rent containers, incurring a cost of around $55,000 annually. Moving forward, Warren County will be able to save that money.
There are some residents of the Northern Shenandoah Valley who could be considered as living in “rural disadvantaged” communities, Kerns said, in terms of recycling access. Some who live in the certain parts of Page County, for instance, have “quite a distance to drive to recycle,” she noted.
“If we increase curbside services, we are increasing access that those residents have to recycling programs,” Kerns said.
Kerns explained the third major project that will be funded through the grant will upgrade tire-grinding operations. The current tire-shredding machine — housed at the regional landfill in Frederick County — receives roughly 200,000 tires per year and processes 10,000 tires per month on average.
Other localities have a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Frederick County, so their residents can use the tire processor for a nominal fee, Kerns said. There are challenges, however, associated with the current machine — for instance, it is limited to only passenger and regular truck tires.
The grant money will be used to upgrade to a heavy duty, high capacity shredder in order to create marketable end products such as mulched rubber and steel wire for scrap sale.
“I think the biggest thing is keeping tires out of our landfill,” Kerns said. “Anytime you can find a marketable re-use end-product to keep anything out of the landfill, that’s like a huge bonus.”
Winchester, Front Royal, Berryville and Edinburg offer curbside recycling services currently. Frederick County does not have curbside recycling but offers a voluntary recycling program with a total of 11 drop off stations throughout the county, though glass can only be recycled at 280 Landfill Road and is recycled into bottles through a partnership with Fairfax County.
Those residing in Winchester are permitted to use the regional landfill, as are taxpayers of Clarke County. Through a shared agreement, Clarke residents may also utilize the convenience sites located at Double Tollgate, Stephenson and Greenwood Road.
The Clarke County Convenience Center, located on Quarry Road, is county-operated for Clarke residents only and accepts unbagged recyclables. Warren County offers five locations throughout the county to dispose of household waste and recycle, with recycling centers available at all but one. Shenandoah County operates 12 citizen convenience sites, with just the site on Moose Road in Woodstock receiving recyclables.
“Back in the day, it just used to be the dump. Where do we dump all the chemicals where people can’t smell it too much or see it too much? But nowadays it’s a very sophisticated operation — waste management,” said Ortiz.
Ortiz, the former director of the Montgomery County, Maryland, Department of Environmental Protection, was tapped by the Biden administration in 2021 as administrator of the U.S. EPA’s Region 3 office, based in Philadelphia.
