Editable-Baltimore's Fair Development Plan for Zero Waste - Flipbook - Page 58
Priority Actions to Create Less Waste include:
Short-Term (2020-2021)
1. Effectively implement plastic bag ban. Work with all major businesses that have been providing plastic bags
to develop clear and consistent messages everywhere in the city about what the law says, and how residents
and visitors are expected to cope with this change.
2. Support State legislation and policies to reduce waste and increase recycling and composting such as:
a. Bottle bill – to add a deposit on the sale of beverage containers that encourages people not to litter
them and for others to collect those that are littered
b. Reduce single use plastics – support for statewide bans of plastic bags and expanded polystyrene
containers like Baltimore has already adopted
c. Connect the cap - like aluminum cans were redesigned for pull tab lids to stay connected to the can,
technology is now available to keep caps connected to plastic bottles, to reduce caps being littered and
choking wildlife
d. Bans of materials going to landfills and incinerators – like Massachusetts has adopted about 15
different materials that are banned, which stimulates new recycling businesses to collect, process and
market those materials
e. Minimum recycled content for paper and plastic products – this requires the use of recycled products
by businesses, which greatly stimulates the demand for the collection of those materials
f. Product stewardship for hard-to-recycle items – including requirements that retailers that sell hard to
recycle items collect and recycle them (e.g. paint, rechargeable batteries and cell phones are often the
focus for specific legislation)
g. Fees on materials that go to landfills and incinerators – many local and state programs charge fees per
ton for trash disposed in landfills and/or incinerators, often used to help fund reuse, recycling and
composting infrastructure)
Baltimore’s Fair Development Plan for Zero Waste
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