A multidisciplinary team led by GBB developed a holistic plan, building on the firm’s deep understanding of the County’s past, that incorporated the current state and realities of the solid waste management system and anticipated trends, needs, and future plans.

As a first step, the county created a Solid Waste Work Group — composed of County leadership, community members, and industry representatives — to examine current solid waste collection and disposal policies and practices and make recommendations for implementing innovative industry practices and trash diversion strategies to reduce the overall volume of trash produced in the County. As part of the fast-paced initiative, the GBB project team provided subject-matter expertise to the workgroup through a detailed review, including findings, best practices, and recommendations, of the various elements of the County’s system.

Key outreach components included:

• An online survey of Baltimore County residents and businesses (in total, approximately 6,000 responses for a county with a population of nearly 850,000)
• A series of eight virtual stakeholder meetings, during which findings and recommendations were reviewed and innovative, technologies and solid waste management solutions were discussed (video recordings of the meetings are available on the County’s Work Group webpage.

As a final step, the GBB Project Team developed a 5‐year Tactical Plan, which included detailed descriptions of the recommendations, a schedule for implementation, the estimated costs for implementation (both capital and operating), anticipated cost reductions or revenues gained, and anticipated change(s) in recycling and disposal tonnages.