Closing the Dickerson Incinerator Is an Environmental Justice Issue

Updated July 23, 2026

On Tuesday, July 28, the Montgomery County Council will consider options for how we manage our waste disposal. Just months ago, the County’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) presented a comprehensive and visionary waste management plan to the County Council. This plan would close the Dickerson Incinerator and end burning of nearly 600,000 tons per year of non-recyclable trash— the single largest source of pollution in the County. 

Importantly, the closure will:

End the practice of dumping incinerator ash on a majority Black community in Virginia,

Implement significant waste reduction strategies like food, scrap composting countywide, and

Send our residual trash to an out-of-state landfill that meets strict environmental justice criteria, thus no longer harming the population that lives in the community.

SCA is concerned that several County Council Members have these facts confused.

This plan is a win-win solution--for Montgomery County, for waste disposal, and for communities of color affected by current practice

Have a look at the video produced by Zero Waste Montgomery County, one of the advocacy groups with which SCA works closely on these issues.

The video highlights County Council members criticizing the DEP plan because they claim it would hurt communities of color.

The opposite is true. Our current system--burning the trash and dumping its ash has been harming a majority black community for 30 years

The plan proposed by DEP is a far safer and forward-looking solution—for all of us. The current system promulgates environmental racism.

Please contact your County Council members and demand they accept and implement the plan designed by DEP. Close the Dickerson Incinerator now.

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