Editable-Baltimore's Fair Development Plan for Zero Waste - Flipbook - Page 16
Trash that doesn’t get burned at BRESCO and pollute the air is often illegally dumped on vacant land,
or in our alleyways and waterways. Despite a variety of efforts, Baltimore’s Department of Public
Works has failed to successfully address the illegal dumping problem. An estimated 10,000 tons of
trash are illegally dumped in Baltimore every year.9 The level of rental housing evictions is a huge
contributor to this issue– Baltimore has the second highest eviction rate in the country, following just
behind Detroit.10 Personal belongings like furniture and clothes are often dumped at the City’s
estimated 44,000 vacant buildings and lots.11 Mayor Jack Young recently released a list of the City’s
10 worst dumping violators, which is comprised mostly of non-transparent property holding Limited
Liability Companies.12
The worst illegal dumping areas are in Black and poor communities that have the highest
concentration of vacant properties and evictions. In 2018, Baltimore city reported 1,148 illegal
dumping complaints. West Baltimore’s District 40 had the highest number of complaints with 283.13
Even Baltimore’s acclaimed Inner Harbor is not immune to the inadequate waste management
system; the famous Mr. Trash Wheel has collected tons of debris from the water, including more than
850,000 plastic bottles and 627,000 plastic bags.14
ILLEGAL DUMPING OF HOUSEHOLD GOODS
IN BALTIMORE
A shift to a Zero Waste approach will help to address unemployment and underemployment of many
in our communities. The incinerator only employs about 50-60 non-union workers. Unemployment in
Brooklyn/Curtis Bay is at 11.8%.15 In McElderry Park unemployment is more than double the city’s
overall rate at 15%.16 In Sandtown-Winchester and Harlem Park the unemployment rate is 20%.17
Calculating these rates in the current tight labor market indicates that residents in these
communities are structurally unemployed and will remain so without intervention. A jobs program
spurred by the creation of Zero Waste infrastructure should be a part of a proactive approach to
structural unemployment. New systems for expanded collections, processing, manufacturing repair,
reuse, recycling, composting, and maintaining vacant lots will create an estimated 1,800 permanent
jobs over the next 5 years.
Baltimore’s Fair Development Plan for Zero Waste
11
