Decommissioning is beginning for the waste-to-energy incinerator that has disposed much of Harford County's non-recyclable solid waste for nearly 30 years and is due to be shut down for good in the next 10 days.
During its most recent meeting on Feb. 23, the Harford County Board of Estimates approved a $311,538 contract with the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority to decommission and clean out the incinerator.
The authority operates the plant at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground and leases the site from the Army. That lease agreement is scheduled to expire March 17, and operations will cease that day, Jeff Schoenberger, of the county's Department of Public Works, told board members.
The incinerator opened in 1988. The refuse burned there generated steam to heat and cool buildings at the Edgewood Area.