The county government needs to know what we are all throwing away in our garbage cans each week.

And there's only one way to find out: Take a look inside that stinky, gross mess.

The county government is sampling trash bags from Linthicum to Lothian, from Maryland City to Mayo, to figure out how much trash is really trash, and how much of it is really recyclable.

County workers aren't actually doing the dirty work themselves. They've contracted with SCS Engineers, a Northern Virginia firm, which in turn hired workers through the Aerotek staffing agency to help.

Sheltered from the wind and cold by a tent...