📦 Maryland Wants to Dump Its Trash in Virginia — But Not Everyone’s Having It

by TRUCKERS VA
(UNITED STATES)

👃 Trash Talk Just Got Real Between the States

Maryland’s Montgomery County is sitting on a stinky decision: keep burning garbage at its local incinerator or ship it hundreds of miles away — to landfills in Virginia. And as you can imagine, Virginians ain’t exactly rolling out the red carpet to accept Maryland’s leftovers.

Every year, we’re talking 600,000 tons of trash. That’s like trying to hide a mountain behind a blindfold.

On paper, the county says, “Hey, we’re just trying to do what’s greener.” But is trucking it down to the next state really eco-friendly? Or is this one big ol' game of "Not In My Backyard"?

🔥 Burn It or Bury It? Either Way, There’s a Cost

Option 1: Keep burning trash at the Dickerson Resource Recovery Facility

It’s old but still running.

It turns trash into energy and brings in revenue — nearly $24 million in power and metal recovery.

But some folks say it pollutes the air and it's just not worth it anymore.

Option 2: Truck it all to Virginia landfills

Sounds like a clean break... until you realize it's 15,000+ extra truck trips a year.

More diesel burned. More highway wear. More trash in someone else’s town.

And hey — landfills leak. So there’s a real risk of polluting water and soil in places that didn’t even make the trash.

Here’s the truth: It’s not really about “where” we put it. It’s about whether we’re willing to reduce what we produce. Otherwise, we're just playing garbage musical chairs.

🤬 Virginians Are Saying “We Ain’t Your Dump”

It’s easy to say “just send it somewhere else” — but that “somewhere else” usually ends up being a rural, working-class community in Southern Virginia.

They don’t get to vote in Montgomery County.

They don’t get the tax benefits.

But they do get the smell, the noise, the truck traffic, and the long-term risk.

This is what activists call environmental injustice — when wealthier communities export their mess to people with less power and fewer resources. That ain’t green. That’s dirty politics in a green wrapper.

🌍 Climate Math: CO2 vs Methane

Here’s a twist: burning trash puts carbon dioxide into the air. Bad, right?

Well… landfills release methane — which is 80 times worse for the climate in the short term.

So yeah, sending trash to Virginia might mean Maryland’s air is a little cleaner — but the planet could be worse off overall. It’s like cleaning your living room by sweeping everything into your neighbor’s house. Sure looks clean. Doesn’t smell that way.

🧠 The Smarter Question: Why Are We Making So Much Trash?

Instead of fighting over where to dump it… how about we make less of it?

Increase composting.

Expand recycling that actually works.

Reward businesses that cut packaging waste.

Educate people so they stop tossing everything into the same black bag.

Now that’s a long-term fix.

Until then, shipping garbage across state lines is like treating a disease by mailing your symptoms to another hospital. It doesn’t solve the problem — just moves it.

💬 Real Talk from the Road

Truckers might be thinking, “Cool, more loads for us.” But not so fast…

This means thousands more dump trailers, longer hauls through tight backroads, and more pressure on drivers who are already stretched thin. All to move garbage? That ain’t the kind of freight you want to build a future on.

This is the kind of policy where truckers haul the load, but politicians and corporations reap the profits — and leave the mess with drivers and poor communities.

💡 Bottom Line: Don’t Just Move the Trash — Fix the System

Whether you’re in Maryland, Virginia, or anywhere in between, this is more than a landfill debate.

It’s a wake-up call.

We’ve got to stop pretending our trash disappears when it’s out of sight. The real solution isn’t shipping it farther — it’s producing less of it, dealing with it smarter, and not dumping our problems on folks who’ve got enough to deal with.

🔧 Want to Build Something Better Than a Trash Route?

If you're a trucker or blue-collar worker sick of being stuck between bad choices, now’s the time to build off-duty income. That’s how you stop being at the mercy of broken systems — and start controlling your future.

👉 Head over to OffDutyMoney.com
to learn how to earn while you’re off the clock.

Learn the skills to escape the grind — before someone decides to haul your value out of state.

Stay smart. Stay aware. And don’t let them dump on you — in business, in politics, or on the highway.