Alpha Ridge Landfill

Old white man at booth was HORRIBLE and I will be calling the county to lodge a complaint in the morning. I had trash and one disassembled dog house and he told me I had to go through the scale for building materials. I’m not building!! He was digging through everyone’s trash and asking to see what’s in bags… the line to get in was horrendous!!! Fire this man!!!

The landfill itself is excellent. It’s well laid out and has every option for recycling. If not for the inconsistent policy enforcement and inconsistent knowledge base among the employees, it would be five stars. Second time in three weeks I’ve either been involved or next to someone involved in the same situation and a third situation (with supporting photo) that I’ll get to. I was disposing of a broken down entertainment center and some sort of decking or bridge material found on our exit (76) that I cleaned up, by choice, as I used to on Ilchester and River Rd when we lived in Ellicott city up until last year. An employee comes over from the check-in booth and says the scale employees called him and said I had to take that through the scales. We’re both now physically standing right next to a guy with a mini van pulling furniture out and individual wood pieces from his van then tossing them in the dumpster. I asked what the difference was and all the employee could say was “I don’t know. They called me. You have to ask them.” He then walked back to the booth. He’s an employee and a representative, so the the response should never be “I don’t know” then walk away. Imagine if you were in ANY business yourself. Would that ever be acceptable to you? The other guy just kept on loading while a Toyota pulls up with an entire bed headboard and footboard. Two weeks ago another customer is putting large contractor bags into the dumpsters and two handed dragging them off so you know they’re full of questionable materials. An employee walks right between the truck and the wall and keeps on going. Apparently the takeaway is this- 1- cut up and put whatever you want in a black trash bag and you’re fine. 2- Don’t drop your tailgate where the scale employees can see and you’re fine. 3- Don’t expect any legitimate answers to their policies and you’re fine.4- Don’t help the community by picking up roadside trash. The county would prefer to have their county employees and vehicles take the time and resources to do it (because if I or others don’t, the county would end up having to) rather than you doing it for them without paying a few dollars in fees. Here’s the best one. Check out the photo. This is how they “recycle” those flat screen TVs. They make you put it in the proper location just to have them dump them in the general household trash??

UPDATE: Sadly, they no longer accept Styrofoam ——————————————————- I take a minivan full of Styrofoam Coolers my Medicine is delivered in to the Recycling Center every few months. Great signs and easy to drive up to drop off any recycling items. Many more items can be recycled at the Dump than via curbside pick-up.

It’s a tough pill to swallow when you pay over $10k a year in property taxes and the county civil servants who work (for the taxpayer) at the county landfill find excuses to force you to pay for services you have already paid for. I can see why so many people dump trash on the side of the road here in Howard county. They were probably turned away from the landfill and it’s the only way to have the county accept the waste.