Wiedinmyer set out to produce the first global estimates of burn-related pollution. “I was curious to see how big that source was,” she said. Wiedinmyer wondered if this burning waste could be an underappreciated source of air pollutants, from greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide to tiny particles and toxic chemicals that can harm human lungs. Some 40 percent of the world’s waste may be dealt with in this way. So residents and governments often burn piles of their trash in the open removing the garbage from the land but transferring it to the skies. Ghana, Nepal, Mexico and other developing countries often lack the tax bases and infrastructure needed to put such systems into place. We have people who pick up trash and take it away.” “It’s just not something that I’ve been exposed to,” she told Climate Central. Like most residents of developed nations who hadn’t traveled broadly in the developing world, the sight of smoldering rubbish piles, which contain anything from food waste to plastics to electronics, came as a surprise to Wiedinmyer, who works at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

HB0264 requires facilities that produce more than 2 tons of food waste per week - which are responsible for over half of the total food waste in Maryland - to keep their food waste out of their trash if there is a composting facility nearby that could accept it instead.When atmospheric scientist Christine Wiedinmyer first went to Ghana in 2011 to investigate air pollution produced by burning different materials - from crop stubble to coal used in stoves - she noticed an unexpected potential source: burning piles of trash. Keep compost out of landfills and incinerators: Ensuring that organic waste - food scraps, yard waste, compostable paper and plastic products, etc - is diverted away from trash incineration and landfilling to composting can save municipalities money, build healthy soils on farmland, sequester carbon when used in regenerative agriculture practices, and even create new local businesses in communities across Maryland. In 2021, Maryland passed HB0280/SB0304 which deletes trash incineration from the Maryland Recycling Act so communities don’t receive credit for burning trash The BRESCO trash incinerator in Baltimore has received over $10 million in subsidies, as well as the Covanta-operated incinerators in Montgomery County and Lorton, VA – all from your utility bill.īurning plastic is not recycling: As local governments in Maryland talk about zero waste, they’re not only hearing from community members and advocates – they’re also hearing from plastic and oil industry representatives trying to sell them on “chemical recycling.” That can mean a lot of things, but it often means turning plastic back into fuel to be burned.īurning trash is not recycling: Maryland’s recycling definitions allow toxic incinerator ash to be counted as “recycled,' providing an extra subsidy and incentive for trash incineration. But Maryland’s Renewable Portfolio Standard continues to define burning trash as clean energy and subsidize it like wind and solar, and the passage of the Clean Energy Jobs Act in 2019 made even more subsidies available to trash incineration. Maryland’s incinerators emit higher levels of mercury, lead, nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), and carbon dioxide (CO2) than our coal plants. But alternatives to landfilling and incineration, like composting and source reduction, can reduce costs, create more local jobs, reduce air pollution, and even sequester carbon.īurning trash is not clean energy: Pollution from incinerators increases the risk of pre-term births and lung and blood cancers. Both landfills and incinerators contribute greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, and incinerators emit toxins that contribute to cancer and more diseases in surrounding communities. How communities across Maryland handle their solid waste has enormous impacts on local air quality, municipal budgets, and contributions to climate change.

Burning trash without creating pollutin