The Montgomery County Resource Recovery Facility began commercial operation in August 1995. The facility processes an average of 1,500 tons per day of solid waste, generating up to 55 megawatts of renewable energy, enough power for 40,000 homes. All waste is first delivered to the Shady Grove Transfer Station in Derwood, compacted into intermodal steel waste containers and then loaded onto railcars with gantry cranes. Each day CSX assembles the train and makes the 22-mile trip to the facility in Dickerson. There the containers are off-loaded and trucked from the on-site railyard to the facility's enclosed refuse building. Residue that remains from the process is loaded into sealed containers and shipped by rail to a landfill located in Brunswick, Virginia. This unique rail system allows the County to virtually eliminate truck traffic associated with the facility on the rural roads leading to the facility.