In the final hours before the Howard County Council voted down a zoning change aimed at stopping a chemical company from adding a test plastic recycling facility at its Columbia headquarters, residents voiced their concerns once again.

Decked out in red, they chanted “Hey hey, ho ho, plastic burning has got to go!” Monday evening outside of the George Howard Building in Ellicott City.

They also called out to the three council members who had not voiced support for the zoning change ahead of Monday night’s vote, chanting: “Healthy air, healthy homes, Christiana [Rigby], David [Yungmann], Opel Jones!”

For months, residents of the Cedar Creek neighborhood, some of whose backyards abut the W.R. Grace property, as well as other community members, have sounded the alarm over concerns with the company’s plan to research plastic recycling at its home base near the intersection of Cedar Lane and Route 32.

The residents are worried about the risk of pollutants contaminating the air they breathe and getting into the water supply.

Grace has a checkered history with asbestos, and became famous nationwide after a Massachusetts water pollution incident, which inspired the 1998 film “A Civil Action.”

The latest community effort was supporting a council bill that would have prohibited research and development using commercial plastic pellets in some county zoning districts.

The residents’ pleas were not heard. The bill failed 3-2. Council member Deb Jung, who filed the bill, and Council Chair Liz Walsh voted in favor.

The protest made its way to County Council chambers, where two community members walked out in frustration during the vote and others in the audience booed. They were told to stop interrupting the council.

“We appreciate the Council’s decision on this matter,” Grace said in a statement Tuesday morning.

Grace added that it agrees with residents' “desire for this to remain a safe, healthy community.”

While Vice Chair Jones said he is concerned about the air that people are breathing, he found his colleague’s bill “has feel of spot zoning, that targets one entity, I believe is problematic, and sends our body down a rabbit hole we shouldn’t go down.”

“I am concerned about what everyone said. The question is, ‘What is the truth?’” Jones said. “I’m not a subject matter expert.”

Rigby said she understood concerns around health and safety, but the bill would not have been “an effective solution” for stopping W.R. Grace.

Jung, who lives within 1.5 miles of Grace’s headquarters, reassured the community members before the vote that she will continue to work on the issue.

“I will be there right by your side,” Jung said at Monday evening’s protest. “This community’s health and safety concerns are real and valid and should not be dismissed.”

Jung supports W.R. Grace pursuing its project at another location. If Grace continues to pursue the pilot plant, Jung said she would ask the company to do it in an area zoned for manufacturing.

The company has said it is looking to pioneer efforts to reduce the amount of plastic waste by recycling it into “plastic precursors.” The company claims the process could reduce air emissions and keep more plastics out of oceans and landfills.

Grace submitted an air permit application to the Maryland Department of the Environment in September 2023. As of last week, the agency had not made a final decision on Grace’s proposal, according to MDE spokesperson Jay Apperson.

In its statement Tuesday, Grace said approval for the project belongs under MDE and its science-based process.

Grace has said the project has been mischaracterized.

“With this new project, we will not burn plastic, as some who misunderstand our project and our intentions have asserted,” Grace said in a statement last month. “Rather, we are studying a potentially game-changing innovation for recycling plastic — a safe and effective way to solve a problem facing us all.”

This article was updated Tuesday with a statement from W.R. Grace and additional comments from Opel Jones.