(Enlarge) From left, Tim Ely, Bob Leatherwood and Karen Leatherwood pose at Carroll County Waste Services in Eldersburg. The company is the first in Carroll County to offer a ‘pay-as-you-throw’ program, which encourages consumer recycling through lower fees. ((staff photo by Sarah Nix))

About 20 years ago, when Bob Leatherwood, co-owner of Carroll County Waste Services, was still a newcomer to the trash hauling business, he got his real wake-up call about the importance of recycling.

"Back then, we picked up trash from about 5,000 houses around the Randallstown area, which was about 24, eight-ton truckloads of trash per week," said Leatherwood, a resident of Eldersburg.

Leatherwood was staggered by the volume of garbage people put out. He made a few calculations and converted the 192 tons per week into cubic feet. Then he divided by the number of households on his route, then multiplied that figure by Baltimore County's total number of residences.

It was too much to even visualize, until he hit on a measuring stick: Baltimore's old Memorial Stadium.

"I'm a huge Orioles fan, and I used to always be down in Row 1, Section 39, upper reserve, at Memorial Stadium," Leatherwood said. "One of my friends was a math whiz. We were sitting there one day and I asked him to help me visualize just how much trash we were talking about. He did a few calculations and said it was enough garbage to completely fill Memorial Stadium in four weeks.

"I remember thinking at the time, 'That is just not sustainable. That's insane.' "

It's also reality -- and one Leatherwood believes has to change.

That's why Carroll County Waste services recently became the first operation in Carroll to offer a "pay-as-you throw" option -- in which residents are charged by the amount of garbage they generate, as opposed to a flat monthly or annual fee. The service, dubbed "Waste Watchers," is available in the 21784 ZIP code.

The idea is simple:

Recycle more = save more.

Leatherwood and his wife and business partner, Karen, are convinced that pay-as-you-throw can create at least a small dent in that tidal wave of garbage that ends up rotting and festering in landfills.

Pay-as-you-throw also provides people with a financial incentive to take recycling more seriously.

Carroll County Waste Services' version of pay-as-you-throw system is simple and straightforward. Participating customers buy special tags for $2.50. They affix one tag to each 33-gallon bag of trash they put out, thus they are charged per bag.

Recyclables are hauled for free.

The Leatherwoods emphasize that customers who try pay-as-you-throw but find it doesn't work for them can switch back to conventional flat-fee service. No harm done, no questions asked.

Bob Leatherwood explains the financial incentive: "Let's say you put out one bag of trash a week for 13 weeks; that's $32.50 (for 13 tags)," he said. "That compares to $78 per quarter for your average, standard, flat-fee charge. That's a significant, big-time savings."

Turning trash to cash

Obviously, Carroll County Waste Services is hoping pay-as-you-throw will be both sustainable and profitable for the company, even though recyclables, due to price fluctuations and other reasons, do not generate significant revenues for trash hauling companies.

"Recycling makes no money for us," Bob Leatherwood said. "From our standpoint, money is not the incentive. Our incentive is to give people who want to recycle a financial incentive to do it."

The company's operations manager, Tim Ely, said pay-as-you-throw, with its increased emphasis on recycling, is also a great way to raise Carroll County Waste Services' profile, differentiating it from other haulers and creating good will in the community.

"We've been trying for years to think of ways of separating ourselves from our competitors and offering a better service," Ely said. "We think this is the way."

Will the market respond?

Bob Leatherwood concedes there's some risk involved in forging ahead with pay-as-you-throw.

After all, Carroll County government and some municipalities, including Sykesville, have studied the idea, yet none has taken the plunge.

For Carroll County Waste Service's pay-as-you-throw program to become economically viable, it's crucial that a critical mass of customers buy into it within a concentrated area -- that's why the company is, for now, only offering it in the 21784 ZIP code.

But is the general public this interested in recycling?

The Leatherwoods sure hope so.

As consumers and business people, they're big believers in recycling, and they think residents are ready, willing and eager for this option.

"There was also a public outcry for increased recycling, and somebody had to do something," Karen Leatherwood said. "Up until now there just wasn't any incentive to increase recycling, but now there is."

So far, the Leatherwoods say response has been overwhelming.

"It's an onslaught," Bob said. "Within the first week of launching the program we had over 100 households signed up and I think by mid-November we should have 500 to 600.

"At first we just put a little notice in our newsletter. Right away we started getting all kinds of calls," Bob said. "I don't know how many people have told us, 'Man, this is something I've been waiting for a long time.' "

Cliff Engle, chief of Carroll's Bureau of Solid Waste, says he's impressed that Carroll County Waste Services has single-handedly taken on the pay-as-you-throw initiative.

"We wish them luck and we'll definitely be watching very closely," Engle added. "It's a program that we wouldn't mind seeing other waste removal companies implement."

Details on Carroll Waste Service's pay-as-you-throw Waste Watcher program is available at the company's Web site, www.ccwasteservices.com, or by calling 410-795-2595.

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