A Scrap Metal Recycle-Off in Maryland

Aluminum cans are easy to recycle. But scrap metal items, such as old scissors, paper clips and disfigured wire clothes hangers, aren't -- an unfortunate fact, given the astonishing energy savings offered by recycling metals instead of mining and processing virgin ore.

Cabin John resident Tom Rojas, 47, owner and president of property management and renovations firm RBC Inc., knows this. For years, he has recycled materials from pipes to old screws on the job and dropped off his own household scrap metal at Montgomery County's Shady Grove solid waste facility. So when one of his home-improvement clients, landscape architect Martha Donnelly, 56, asked him to speak about his passion for recycling metals at a potluck dinner in her Bethesda neighborhood, Carderock Springs, it sparked an idea: Why not hold a contest between their communities to see which could collect the most household metals?

Less than two months later, the race is underway.

Since March 1, both Cabin John and Carderock Springs, in cooperation with Montgomery County's Division of Solid Waste Services, have been collecting household metals in four large bins at the Clara Barton Community Center (7425 MacArthur Blvd., Cabin John) and the Carderock Springs Clubhouse (8200 Hamilton Springs Ct., Bethesda). The county will weigh the final hauls after the contest ends April 18, and the winner will be announced April 27 at a party in the community center.

Montgomery offers pickups of scrap metal items and accepts drop-offs at its Shady Grove site. After meeting with Rojas and Donnelly, Division of Solid Waste Services officials arranged to provide the bins at no charge and created a pamphlet explaining the project to residents. Any item composed of at least 50 percent metal is accepted, including nails, screws, broken scissors, keys and appliances. Large items, such as washer-dryers, metal doors, rusty swing sets and lawn mowers, can be scheduled for curbside pickup and will be added to the tally (residents should call 240-777-6410 no later than 11 a.m. the day before their trash and recycling pickup day).

Carderock Springs resident Margie Orrick says the project has raised awareness of the resources available in the county. "At first we thought, 'Well, what is scrap metal?' " she says. "Because it's on our radar now, I think we'll all be trying to do the right thing after it's over."

The relatively small scale of the project (the neighborhoods' combined size is about 1,200 households) is conducive to both high participation and neighborly interaction. Children have taken part, going door-to-door to pass out pamphlets.

The contest's organizers hope that sifting through household junk will inspire residents to more closely consider how they consume. "A lot of things people throw out are things they never really used in the first place," Rojas says. "We want people, while doing this, to give some thought to whether they really need all the stuff they have."

Rojas says he has contacted other Montgomery County neighborhood associations about issuing similar challenges, with the goal of adding scrap metal to the county's household blue-bin recycling pickup. The groups in Cabin John and Carderock Springs, meanwhile, plan to extend their friendly rivalry with contests for other planet-minded activities, such as reducing energy use. "The kids have bought into it, and if for no other reason, we have to keep doing it for them," Donnelly says. "We do not want it to end, and we can't let it end."