Digging back through emails piled up in my inbox, I want to share some "good news" - this recent announcement of the winners of the 10th annual "Rethink Recycling" contest sponsored by the Maryland Department of the Environment. 

The grand prize this year went to Amber Robinson from Digital Harbor High School in Baltimore for her portrait of Lady Gaga, made from soda bottle caps, utensils, and compact discs.  Pictured above with her work, she won an iPad 2, one of several prizes donated by sponsoring businesses and institutions.

Twenty-nine different high schools across the state displayed 65 entries in the contest, which challenges Maryland students to use recycled materials in creating sculptures. 

Environment Secretary Robert M. Summers praised the students and teachers for doing their part to promote recycling by "turning everyday trash into beautiful works of art."

"If not for the creativity and energy of these students, the materials used to make these sculptures would have ended up as trash that pollutes our air, land and water," he said.  According to MDE, current recycling efforts have reduced waste going into landfills and to incinerators by 40 percent.

Other winners in various contest categories included:

Crystal Blackwood, South Carroll High School, Carroll County, for building a towering giraffe  from records, compact discs, PVC pipe, and cardboard.

Margaret McGill, C. Milton Wright High School, Harford County, for creating an anglerfish out of compact discs, nails, and light bulbs.

Olivia Borum, South Carroll High School, Carroll County, for designing a miniature dress made of reused puzzle pieces and buttons.

Lauren Johnson, Smithsburg High School, Washington County, for crafting a great blue heron from chicken wire and zip ties.

To see more photos of the prize-winning recycled art, go here.

I'll be thinking of the sculptures crafted by these creative high schoolers every time I haul my recycling bin to the curb!

(Photo Amber Robinson and grand-prize winning Gaga sculpture, courtesy MD Dept of the Environment)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Today is America Recycles Day, promoting reduction and reuse of waste rather than landfilling or burning it. 

There are events planned locally and across the country - a Severn school, for instance, is staging a contest  to see who can build the biggest tower with catalogs and magazines collected for recycling.

While Maryland's counties and municipalities are recycling 39 percent of their solid waste, according to the state Department of the Environment, there's still room to do more.  Howard County, for instance, recently launched a pilot program to compost food scraps, one of the first localities on the East Coast to do it, though it's established in some West Coast communities already.  The county estimates that nearly a quarter of its waste now consists of food scraps.

Baltimore city's not ready to go there yet, but it did kick off a new foam recycling effort just this month, targeting another big waste component, by volume if not weight. City residents are invited to collect clean #6 polystyrene foam plates, cups, egg cartons and the like and bring them to the dropoff center at 2840 Sisson St. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. 

(Howard County family saves food scraps for composting.  Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Hurricane Irene toppled or took limbs from more than 2,900 trees when it blew through Baltimore a few weeks ago. But the city's Recreation and Parks Department has turned that ecological tragedy into gardening gold.

Crews have ground up the fallen giants, amassing huge mounds of wood chips.  Now the city's making it available for free to any resident who wants to mulch around house or garden. 

Starting Saturday (Sept. 17), the mulch can be picked up at nine locations, which are open from dawn to dusk, seven days a week.  The chips are coarse, of the type commonly used for flower beds, underneath shrubs, around the base of trees and for walking paths.

The locations:

- Camp Small: immediately west of Jones Falls Expressway and north of Coldspring Lane.

- Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park: parking lot at Eagle Drive and Windsor Mill Road

- Carroll Park: parking lot inside Carroll Park. Enter from Washington Boulevard and drive straight to back off park.

- Middle Branch Park: end of parking lot in front of Rowing Club. Enter from Waterview Avenue.

- Cimaglia Park (Fort Holabird): parking lot. Enter from Pine Avenue off Dundalk Avenue.

- Clifton Park: west side of St. Lo Drive, 250 yards north of Sinclair Lane, north of railroad viaduct.

- Herring Run Park: Parkside Drive just southeast of Sinclair Lane.

- Mount Pleasant Ice Arena: Northern Parkway and Hillen Road at back of parking lot.

- Northwest Park: in parking lot between old gym and red house. Enter off West Rodgers Avenue at South Bend Road.

There's no limit on how much you can take, but no commercial vehicles or uses are allowed. Residents should bring their own boxes, bags or other containers for hauling it away. 

As they say in the late-night TV commercials, act now, while supplies last!

(Photo courtesy Baltimore Department of Recreation and Parks)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 5:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

What's a little rain and wind when you have toxic wastes eating a hole in your basement?

A tropical storm may be bearing down on us, but Baltimore city is NOT canceling its drop-off of household hazardous wastes Saturday (8/27) from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute parking lot at Falls Road and Cold Spring Lane.  The event is run by the Department of Public Works Bureau of Solid Waste.

City residents can drop off oil-based paints, pesticides, herbicides, car and household batteries, drain cleaners, gasoline, pool chemicals and many other items. Latex paint can be dried up and the cans put out for regular trash collection.

Do NOT bring trash, acids, asbestos, ammunition, fire extinguishers, industrial or medical wastes, or radioactive materials, including smoke alarms with a radioactive symbol.

Residents must show proof of city residency - a driver's license, telephone bill or tax bill - and are asked to use the Cold Spring Lane entrance to the school parking lot. For more, go here.

(Baltimore Sun file photo)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Some B'moreans are about to get a chance to take their recycling to a new level, as Howard County is set to begin collecting food scraps that until now had to be trashed, such as banana peels, egg shells and even old pizza boxes.

Almost 5,000 residents of Elkridge and Ellicott City are being asked to participate in the pilot, which begins in September, The Baltimore Sun's Jessica Anderson reports. If it takes hold and spreads, the county hopes to turn more than 20 percent of its landfill waste into re-usable lawn and garden compost, and save a bundle on disposal costs.

Nationwide, less than 3 percent of the 34 million tons of food waste generated each year is recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Food waste makes up about 14 percent of the nation's trash and is second only to paper, which is far more commonly recycled.

County officials claim - and independent experts seem to agree - that Howard will be one of the first communities on the East Coast to recycle food scraps.

They'll be following in the footsteps of crunchy West Coast places like San Francisco and Seattle, of course. But the residents of B'more's western suburb may soon have a legitimate reason to brag - about their recycling, rather than their civility - on the green bumper stickers so many sport on their cars and vans.

And if it catches on in Howard, why not the rest of the metro area and Maryland? 

(Page family in Ellicott City composts food scraps at home now. Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

If you're like me, you probably have a few old or broken cell phones lying around your house - maybe even a 1980s dinosaur like the one pictured here. 

I could never bring myself to throw them away, figuring they'd just wind up in a landfill or even incinerated. So they're sitting on a shelf or in a box somewhere.

Now, here's a chance to get those unwanted phones recycled, and make a little cash in the process. From Friday (6/10) through Sunday (6/12), everyone who brings two old cell phones to Mondawmin Mall will be given a $10 gift card.  You can go green and get some green in exchange.

The event is sponsored by General Growth Properties, owner of Mondawmin and other area malls, in partnership with Cathy Allen, a West Baltimore resident who dubs herself the "Green Ambassador."  Among her efforts to green the urban environment, she's campaigning to plant trees in every public elementary school in the city.

Remember, you need to turn in TWO old cell phones to get a gift card. The swap will be taking place at Center Court at Mondawmin, 2401 Liberty Heights Ave. from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and from noon to 6 .m. Sunday.

For more, go here.

(Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Montgomery County's leaders have now done what Baltimore city's and Maryland's have balked at doing - impose a nickel tax on throwaway retail bags to fight litter. 

On Wednesday (May 11) County Executive Ike Leggett signed the bag-charge bill passed recently by the County Council, saying he hoped the new law would make shoppers more environmentally conscious rather than raise a lot of revenue.

It's modeled on the nickel-bag tax that took effect in 2010 in the District of Columbia, which has been credited with substantially reducing disposable bag use and litter there.

The Montgomery law, which takes effect Jan. 1, would levy a five-cent tax on almost every paper or plastic carryout bag provided by retail establishments in the county. Exceptions include bags for prescription drugs, newspapers, goods sold at farmers markets and other seasonal vendors' stands and prepared foods or drinks taken from restaurants. Merchants would get a penny back on every bag to help cover their administrative costs.

Officials estimate the bag tax will raise about $1.5 million in revenues its first year, which would be dedicated to help pay for controlling storm-water polllution, restoring streams and cleaning up litter. Plastic bags are one of the top four items found littering stream banks and clogging storm drains in the county.  Officials figure they spent about $3 million in 2009 on litter prevention and cleanup.

"This is good for the environment, and I expect many people who are not already doing this to adjust," Leggett said in a news release. “ As I have said before, we do not see this as a source of revenue. The more people who use reusable bags, the less revenue to the County and that is just fine.”

In Baltimore, where tons of floating trash and debris wash into the Inner Harbor every month, City Council mulled a heftier 25-cent bag tax or even banning disposable sacks altogether, as San Francisco did. But retailers and bag manufacturers protested, and after a protracted debate the council opted instead to require retailers just to promote recycling of plastic bags, or switch to paper.

Legislation that would tax non-reusable bags statewide has gone nowhere in Annapolis the past two years, despite support from environmental groups.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Montgomery County Executive Isiah "Ike" Leggett announced today he'll seek legislation to levy a nickel fee on every paper or plastic carryout bag dispensed by county retailers in a bid to reduce litter in the Washington suburb and encourage consumers to shop with their own reusable bags.

If approved by the County Council, Montgomery would follow the lead of the District of Columbia and not Baltimore in tacking a small fee on throwaway bags to discourage their use. Here in Charm City, after protests from grocers and bag manufacturers the City Council backed away from bills to ban or tax plastic bags and opted instead to encourage recycling them.  

Baltimore may still see the nickel bag fee, though, and Montgomery wouldn't need to act if lawmakers in Annapolis adopt legislation that would apply a nickel-a-bag fee statewide. Tomorrow, (March 8), the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee is scheduled to review SB602, the "Clean the Streams and Beautify the Bay Act of 2011." 

Like the District law, the Senate bill and its House compansion, HB1034, would require stores to charge a nickel for every disposable carryout bag provided to customers.  Stores could keep a penny of every nickel to cover their costs, and could keep a second cent if they also offer their customers credit for bringing their own reusable bags for carrying away merchandise.

Environmentalists argue a throwaway bag fee is needed to reduce the litter that's choking urban waters like Baltimore's harbor and the Anacostia River in the Washington area.  The Environmental Protection Agency has declared both watersheds impaired by trash, and city and county governments are on the hook to figure out how to stop the torrents of trash washed into and down streams after every rain. 

The Anacostia Watershed Society says its trash surveys have found plastic bags the third most frequent litter item fished from the river and the most common type of detritus in the streams that feed into the river.

DC started charging 5 cents on every disposable shopping bag given customers there in January 2010. The fee raised about $2 million in revenue in its first year, earmarked for helping clean up the Anacoastia River. That's less than had been projected, but sponsors say what they really wanted was behavior change, and in that regard, estimates are that the number of bags consumed has dropped by 50 to 80 percent.

The state legislation could raise a lot more money.  Legislative analysts cite Census estimates that there were 19,100 retail establishments in Maryland three years ago, and suggests that if each dispensed 10,000 bags annually, they'd raise $7.6 million in total revenue - with $1.9 million of it kept by the stores.  The bulk of the fees collected by the state would go to the Chesapeake Bay Trust, a nonprofit organization that doles out grants to promote public awareness and participation in the bay cleanup effort.

Retailers and bag manufacaturers successfully fought off a similar measure last year, and can be expected to oppose it again this year. Retailers argue that the fee hurts their business by raising prices at a time when many Marylanders are still struggling economically. Plastic bag manufacturers have argued that voluntary recycling programs are the way to go.

But environmentalists point out that the disposable carryout bags handed out by stores aren't free.  Retailers usually pay 2 to 5 cents per bag, they note, and based on bag use estimates developed elsewhere, the Anacostia Watershed Society figures the average Marylander gets 750 carryout bags a year, for which they're likely paying $15 to $37.50 a year.  Reusable bags, by comparison, usually cost $1 to $3 each, and last up to two years.

If the statewide legislation fails again, that leaves the "plastic or paper" - or neither - issue to be hashed out locality by locality.  Besides the bill introduced in Montgomery, there's legislation pending in Annapolis (HB661/SB721) that would enable Prince George's County - which like Montgomery shares responsibility for the Anacostia watershed - to impose a fee on disposable plastic bags in its borders.

(Baltimore Sun photos. Top: Reusable bag display in DC Safeway, 2010, by Barbara Haddock Taylor; Above: yellow plastic bag and fast-food cup litter Baltimore's Gwynns Falls, 2008, by Jed Kirschbaum)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

If it's bad for the Chesapeake Bay to spread poultry manure and other feritilizer on farm fields in winter, why is it okay to do the same with sewage sludge?

That's the question being posed by Del. Anthony J. O'Donnell, the House minority leader, with a bill he's introduced in Annapolis.  His bill, HB24, would require the Maryland Department of Agriculture to limit the application of sewage sludge in winter in the same way the spreading of animal manure is curtailed in cold-weather months.

The bill, which O'Donnell has put in before, has the backing of agricultural interests, who contend it's unfair to make farmers store their animals' manure in winter while allowing sewage sludge to be spread without the same restrictions.

But it's run into the usual buzzsaw of opposition from the county and municipal agencies that operate wastewater treatment plants.  They argue that they have no place to store the accumulating sludge during winter, and that building storage faciilities or else putting the stuff in landfills for 3 1/2 months would jack up utility customers' water and sewer bills.

"The opposition seems to be concerned with costs of the landfill alternative, and therefore would rather apply it to potentially frozen ground," O'Donnell wrote in an email. "This is akin to potentially dumping this stuff directly into the bay."

O'Donnell, who represents Calvert and St. Mary's County, is not known as a green legislator.  He has just an 18 percent lifetime score (out of 100) with the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, though his votes last year earned him a 38 percent rating.

On this issue, though, he's managed to get at least one environmental group - the Chesapeake Bay Foundation - on his side.  

"This practice does not protect water quality," the Annapolis-based group said in its printed testimony submitted during the hearing on O'Donnell's bill earlier this month.  While cities, towns and counties might have to invest in building sludge storage facilities, CBF says it's necessary to keep excess nutrients from treated sewage out of ground water, streams and the bay.

Continue reading "Rural lawmaker tilts at metro areas' sewage sludge" »

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

By now, it seems, a lot of workplaces have gotten into recycling, at least of paper. One office in West Baltimore, though, has taken the plunge into composting - turning coffee grounds, food scraps, paper and other biodegradable refuse into plant food.

A handfull of workers at the Bon Secours of Maryland Foundation started this summer by collecting office paper and old grounds from their West Fulton Street building and combining them with grass clippings and leaves in a compost bin at a nearby community garden run by Operation Reachout-Southwest, a resident-led grassroots organization.

But before long, the initiative of the "Clean and Green" crew spread.  Other staffers began bringing in scraps from the previous night's dinner, old produce and paper and other refuse from home.   Some say they're now composting at home as well.

"Co-workers who at first thought we were crazy started saying, 'I didn't know it was that easy,'" says Erika McClammy, the foundation's director of housing and neighborhood revitalization and head of the effort to raise employees' green awareness.

"I was surprised at how man things we use can go back to the earth,'' says Latera Wallace, a Bon Secours employee.  "I spend so much money every year buying topsoil and mulch for my mother who gardens, when I could have saved money by creating compost just from things around the house."

Continue reading "Composting takes root in West B'more" »

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Baltimore's new "plastic bag reduction" ordinance finally kicked in this week, almost without a peep. But clearly not everyone's on board yet.

Since Tuesday, all merchants in the city have been barred from putting customers' purchases in plastic bags unless they first ask if the flimsy sacks are wanted.

Supermarkets, restaurants and other places that sell food also are required to provide recycling bins on premises for any plastic bags they do give out.  And as an alternative, they must offer to sell customers re-usable shopping bags.

As of Wednesday, 1,058 food dealers had registered online to keep using plastic bags under the conditions set by the new ordinance.  That's less than a third of the 3,500 establishments licensed by the city health department to sell food.

Still it's an improvement over the snafus that botched the law's original start three months ago. City officials didn't get the online registration system set up until shortly before the ordinance was to take effect on Sept. 1, and many merchants complained they hadn't been able to log in so they could legally keep giving out plastic bags.  Others said they simply didn't know anything about what they were supposed to do.   An embarrassed City Council was forced to delay the law's startup.

Since then, City Hall has set up registration and even posted online the signs merchants are supposed to download and post in their stores and eateries advising customers that plastic bags are available only on request.  And the response has been smoother, if still not entirely happy.

"We're up and running," says City Councilman James B. Kraft, one of the chief architects of the plastic bag law.  Kraft, who represents Southeast Baltimore, says it's taken effect mostly "under the radar" - without much fanfare or fuss.

Continue reading "Plastic or paper? Soft start for B'more's new bag law" »

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

Residents in Harford, Washington and several Eastern Shore counties will be able to properly dispose of old and unwanted medications Saturday during the American Medicine Chest Challenge.

We've written before about the damage flushing drugs down the toilet causes to waterways. The folks behind the Medicine Chest Challenge are also concerned about prescription drug misuse and overdoses. Unsupervised medicine ingestions result in almost 60,000 children under age 5 going to the emergency room a year, according to otcsafety.org. Reducing the amount of drugs you keep in the house can help safeguard against such incidents.

Challenge hours are 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Go to americanmedicinechest.com to search for drop-off locations.

Photo by PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

Posted by Kim Walker at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Events, Recycling
        

It's been illegal since the beginning of this month for Baltimore supermarkets, corner grocers and convenience stores to simply give out disposable plastic bags for carrying away merchandise. But don't bother calling 911 on any violators you see out there.

The ordinance, which took effect Sept. 1, isn't being enforced because City Hall botched the startup.   City officials were supposed to create a bag "reduction" program that would've allowed merchants to keep handing out the flimsy sacks, as long as customers asked for them.  Stores also had to offer to recycle plastic bags and encourage customers to buy or bring in their own reusable sacks.

Councilman Jim Kraft, who'd long sought a bag ban as a way to fight the litter in Baltimore's streets, streams and harbor, said city officials were late setting up the bag reduction program, so there was no way for businesses to register to avoid the ban. An online link for businesses to register was posted on the website of the city's Office of Sustainability on Aug. 27, just four days before the ban was to take effect.

"It was really a sort of snafu, where there were some misunderstandings," Kraft said, and city officials "didn't understand what they had to do....I was getting calls from these guys (retailers) saying I want to register and I can't."

As a result, he noted, "Technically, everyone is in violation. As of Sept. 1, if they're not in the program, they can't use (plastic) bags."

Merchants are still allowed to sign up for the bag reduction program and keep using plastic bags, but under the ordinance they have to pay a $500 fee now to do so. Up until Sept. 1, it was free to register, an arrangement Kraft and others had hope would provide businesses an incentive to get on board quickly.

Now, to give food dealers more time to register without paying the fee, Kraft is rushing a "corrective bill" through City Council that delays the effective date of the program to Dec. 1 and extends the free signup to Nov. 30.  Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has agreed to sign the fixup legislation, Kraft said.

"I think it's going to be fine," he concluded.

(Tip of the proverbial hat to Investigative Voice for first reporting this!)

(Washington Giant supermarket before nickel fee imposed there on nonrecyclable bags. 2009 AP Photo)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 2:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Speaking of environmental education, turns out a lot of schoolkids are already learning about recycling - by doing it in their classrooms.

TerraCycle, a New Jersey company that converts waste into eco-friendly products, reports that it has recruited 46,000 "Drink Pouch Brigades" across the US, nearly 30,000 of them schools (60 in Baltimore), to divert the non-recyclable plastic juice containers from landfills and incinerators.

Here's how it works: Youngsters collect their empty uice pouches, rather than toss them in the trash. The company pays participating schools and nonprofits 2 cents for each one and "upcycles" them into backpacks, homework folders, lunchboxes and pencil cases - which it markets, naturally enough, to schoolkids and their parents.

So far, TerraCycle says, it's paid out $1.3 million in all for 64 million pouches, funds that schools badly need these days to cover supplies and activities taxpayers don't pay for. 

It takes a lot of pouches to raise much money, though. Kids at one school, McCormick Elementary, in Rosedale (seen above), rounded up 3,200 pouches last year, a company spokesman informed me - which by my calculation earned them a grand total of $64.  That won't buy all that much. But then, what price do you put on the educational benefit of learning that "waste" still has value?

To learn more, go here.

(Photo courtesy TerraCycle)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Baltimoreans have recycled 50 million pounds of waste since weekly collection began last July, city officials report.

Despite some hiccups as the city shifted twice-weekly trash collection to once a week, the weekly recycling pickups under One Plus One have boosted the city's recycling volume by more than 50 percent.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was to celebrate the milestone this morning in Edmondson Village, where she was to be joined by community leaders.

"We thought the easier we could make recycling, the better participation would be. It actually exceeded our estimates," said Celeste Amato, spokeswoman for the city Department of Public Works.

More than half of the city's residents didn't even use trashcans before One Plus One began, Amato says, so city officials expected a hard sell in a lot of neighborhoods.  But community leaders got behind the effort. 

It helped that Cleaner Greener Baltimore, a city program, and the Baltimore Community Foundation handed out $17,000 in recycling grants for block parties, workshops and distribution of more than 1,000 recycling bins.

Besides reducing the flow of waste to incinerators and landfills, recycling earns the cash-strapped city a little money. Waste Management Recycle America, which contracts to take the city's recyclables, has paid $190,000 so far this year, officials report.

There's still work to do. Amato says city inspectors are "strategically enforcing" sanitation violations in about 40 neighborhoods where trash and recyclables still get left out in bags or dumped in alleys.

Baltimore Sun file photo of Waste Management Recycle America in Elkridge

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Floating wetlands, green roofs, porous pavement and "living" retaining walls.  Those are just some of the environmentally beneficial things engineers and scientists trotted out this week at "Technologies That Can Save the Bay," a one-day seminar in Annapolis put on by the Maryland Technology Development Corp. and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.   The Daily Record published a story about it you can read here.

Several of the ideas presented are already in use or being tried out.  The Inner Harbor, for instance, is getting a pair of small floating wetlands.  It's hoped they'll soak up at least a little of the nutrients that fuel algae blooms there and restore a bit of the long-lost wildlife habitat along the water's walled edge.  In an ironic twist, one of the islands (a piece of which is pictured above) gets its buoyancy from some of the trash that's littering the harbor - discarded plastic bottles that have been collected from a storm drain outfall.

Such ideas alone won't cure what ails the bay - a choking surplus of nutrients and sediment from (treated) sewage discharges, from farm and urban and suburban runoff, and from the fallout of air pollution from power plants and vehicle exhaust.  But they can help, and the bay needs all of that it can get. 

Do you have any bright ideas you think can give the bay a lift?  Here's your chance to exercise your inner inventor.  Send them in, we'll air them here, and let you vote on which you think shine the brightest.  

(Baltimore Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Is Perdue's chicken manure recycling operation a fig leaf for the mountains of poultry waste its birds leave behind for the company's contract growers to take care of?

Or is it a start to toward dealing with the farm runoff on the Eastern Shore that is contributing to the Chesapeake Bay's woes?

A story I wrote for The Baltimore Sun about Perdue's manure recycling sidelight carried those opposing views.  The fig leaf charge, in so many words, came from an environmentalist suing the nation's third largest poultry company, trying to hold it legally responsible for water pollution the group claims came from a farm raising Cornish game hens under contract for Perdue.

The "it's a start" came from a farm pollution expert at the University of Maryland, who said it's a help but more will be needed. 

Continue reading "Perdue manure recycling: a fig leaf, or a start? " »

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 3:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Harford County officials are joining the pack. They will begin single-stream recycling in September, my coworker Mary Gail Hale reports in The Sun today.

Like other surrounding jurisdictions, residents there will be able to stuff all their bottles, cans, paper and newspapers in one curbside container.

And like in other places, officials expect the recycling rate to rise and the costs to drop.

Baltimore County's rate went up by a third since single-stream began there in February, Mary Gail reports. Trash generation is down by more than 4 percent, saving some $600,000 annually.

Items that can be recycled: books, aluminum foil, plastic containers and rigid plastic items such as outdoor furniture, coolers, garbage cans, flower pots and toys. But please no plastic bags, which muck up the processing equipment.

If you live in Harford, expect a mailing prior to launch Sept. 12. For more information, call 410-638-3417.

Baltimore Sun file photo of recyling bin in Baltimore City/Jed Kirschbaum

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Recycling
        

The Loading Dock is offering some free classes to help people learn about such things as greening the home and remodeling.

The next class is May 22 and is about kitchen design. In June, there will be classes on installing and refinishing hardwood floors. All classes run from 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m.

Find out about registering here.

If you don't know about the Loading Dock, at 2 N. Kresson St., it's a nonprofit organization that's been around since 1983 and collects surplus building supplies to keep them out of the landfill. Since 1984, the facility has saved low-income housing and community projects over $16.5 million and has rescued over 33,000 tons of building materials from landfills.

They have all sorts of cabinets, lighting fixtures, appliances and other unique finds. Unlike Second Chance, which specializes largely in architectural salvage, the Loading Dock takes all sorts of stuff. Anyone can donate (and get a tax deduction).

While they originally aimed to help support construction and rehab of low-income housing, now anyone can become a member and shop there for cheap stuff, too.

Photo courtesy of the Loading Dock

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Recycling
        

Some researchers have found a good use for those billions of cigarette butts that line our streets and generally foul our environment.

They can be recycled into an anti-corrosive agent for steel, according to the researchers in the American Chemical Society's March issue of Industrial & Engineering Chemisty Research.

"Cigarette butts, one of the most ubiquitous forms of garbage in the world, have been found to be toxic to saltwater and freshwater fish," the researchers write. "Still, humans are inadvertently carpeting the planet in cigarette butts. That is billions of cigarettes flicked, one at a time, on our sidewalks, beaches, nature trails, gardens, and other public places every single day."

The article says one estimate is that 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are cast off into the environment every year. And while some states and cities have moved to ban smoking on beaches, there doesn't seem to be much impact and there havn't been reports about how to reuse them.

The researchers took discarded butts from cigarettes made in Virginia, ran some water through them and mixed what was extracted with hydrochloric acid in different concentrations until the found the best anti-corrosive agent.

With all the smoking bans in effect, including in Maryland, the would need only go outside any bar to find a ready supply of material.

Baltimore Sun file photo/Karl Merton Ferron

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Recycling
        

The years-long debate in Baltimore over whether to tax or ban disposable plastic bags to reduce waste and litter appears headed for resolution - with half a ban, if that.

A council committee revamped the bag ban it had been considering for two years to give supermarkets, convenience stores and restaurants a choice: use only paper bags at checkout or encourage customers to reduce or recycle the plastic ones.  The measure now goes to the full 14-member council on Monday, March 22.

The original ban proposal got watered down to win over merchants and plastic bag manufacturers, who have been sparring with city and state lawmakers around the country to keep their products from being outlawed or taxed.  The new council measure lets Baltimore food sellers keep using flimsy plastic bags at checkout counters if they enroll in a city "plastic bag reduction program."  The program requires them to tout recycling and offer to sell customers sturdy reusable shopping bags.

That's exactly what a lot of large supermarket and chain retailers already are doing.  And recycling of plastic bags and film (such as dry cleaner bags) has increased by 28 percent nationwide since 2005, according to a new report released by the American Chemistry Council, which represents plastic bag makers.  A council exec calls plastic "a valuable resource - too valuable to waste."  The industry has launched a campaign to boost the recycling rate to 40 percent in the next five years.

Though the industry proclaims bag recycling is at an all-time high and rising, its own release indicates how far it has to go.  The same report cites the Environmental Protection Agency's estimate that just 13 percent of the bags and film dispensed nationally gets recycled.  

Council members who originally backed a bag ban or fee (aka tax) say they're willing to try this softer approach if it means they can get something on the books, finally after years of study and debate.  And they're hopeful it will lead to at least some decline in plastic bag use, which they believe should reduce opportunities for the flimsy sacks to wind up festooning trees or floating in the Inner Harbor.  

Continue reading "Paper or plastic? Baltimore eyes half-ban" »

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Baltimore City Council members who had been pressing to ban or levy a fee on disposable merchandise bags appear ready to embrace a more limited voluntary campaign instead to reduce the plastic sacks that frequently wind up as litter in trees, streams and the harbor.

A bill that would have banned plastic bags from being given out at groceries and other stores in the city has been recast as a "plastic bag reduction" ordinance. The council's Judiciary and Legislative Investigations Committee is scheduled to take up the new measure this morning, and chairman James B. Kraft said in an email he hopes to have it approved by the panel and sent to the full council for its consideration. (Update, the committee approved the bill. Read more here.)

The new bill would forbid food retailers only from giving out plastic bags at checkout unless they join a citywide public education campaign to get shoppers to switch to reusable bags or recycle the disposable ones. Participating merchants would have to post signs prominently saying they give out plastic bags on request only.  They would also have to collect them for recycling and offer reusable bags for sale as an option.

Kraft originally had proposed a broader ban on all merchants giving out disposable bags at checkout.  But he decided at a committee work session a couple weeks ago to abandon it in favor of a voluntary effort to reduce bag litter.  Proposals to ban or impose fees on disposable bags faced determined opposition from retailers and bag manufacturers, as well as from Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. 

Councilman Bill Henry, who had pushed an alternate bill to levy a 25-cent fee on disposable checkout bags, said he's dropping it now in favor of the voluntary measure, which he helped craft, though he's still skeptical about its success at curbing litter.

"I think this is probably the best compromise we're going to work out for the short term," Henry said. The information retailers would be required to report to the city under Kraft's bill should show whether voluntary measures are reducing disposable bag use.  The new measure would require retailers to report semi-annually on how many plastic bags they've given out, how many taken back in for recycling, and how many shoppers go for reusable bags instead.

"Either we will be happily surprised that there's less trash than we thought we had," he said, "or we will be able to show to the more skeptical among us that voluntary measures don't work."  In that case, Henry said, he would hope to win more support for his belief that the only way effective way to get people to change their shopping-bag habits is to make them "plunk down some actual, cold hard cash" for a disposable sack at checkout.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay, News, Recycling, Shopping, Urban Issues
        

The chief sponsor of the bill to ban plastic retail bags in Baltimore has backed off in favor of trying a "mandatory-voluntary" recycling campaign to reduce the litter blanketing the city's trees, streams and harbor.

Councilman James B. Kraft, a Democrat representing Canton, outlined his new approach at a City Council committee work session on Thursday, where he explained that he wanted to revise the ban he'd proposed and work with retailers to discourage the free distribution of disposable plastic and paper bags at the checkout counter.

He suggested a public education campaign, in which retailers tell their customers they'll only get a bag at checkout if they ask for one. Meanwhile, the city, retailers and community groups would promote shoppers' use of reusable bags or recycling of any bags given out at stores - much like the sign photographed above as it appeared in a Whole Foods market in Annapolis in 2007.

"I don't think we're ready to move forward with a ban," Kraft said after the session.  He added that a "lot of legitimate concerns have been raised" by retailers about the ban he had proposed last year. The idea, Kraft explained, is "so we could show with cooperation and participation by everyone that we're reducing the number of bags out there on the streets and in the harbor." Kraft asked council members Bill Henry and Mary Pat Clarke to work with representatives of the city's retailers, bag manufacturers and advocates for sustainability on crafting a new bill. The revamped measure is scheduled now to be presented on March 16.

 Left on the council committee table, for now at least, is the alternative bill sponsored by Henry, a North Baltimore Democrat. It would levy a 25 cent fee on all carryout plastic and paper bags. Henry said he was still mulling whether to push it with a reduction or change in the proposed fee.  One option under consideration is dropping the fee to as little as 5 cents a bag, not unlike the litter reduction ordinance that I wrote about in the District of Columbia.

Clarke, a Democrat representing north central Baltimore, indicated she'd prefer to hold retailers' feet to the fire by setting goals for the voluntary bag reduction campaign and then having a fee or ban automatically kick in if those goals are not met after a suitable time, such as a year or two. Kraft, though, who is chairman of the council committee considering the bills, said he could not support any measure that would automatically trigger a fee or ban.

Continue reading "Bag the bag ban in B'more" »

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: News, Recycling, Shopping, Urban Issues
        

Baltimore City Council is scheduled to take another run Tuesday at reducing the proliferation of plastic bag litter around the city.

The council will have a hearing and work session on bills aimed at banning plastic carryout bags altogether or imposing a 25-cent fee on each.  The hearing begins at 10 a.m. before the Judiciary and Legislative Investigations Committee, 4th floor of City H all.

One bill, introduced by Council members James B. Kraft, Mary Pat Clarke and Bill Henry, would bar grocery stores and "formula retail establishments" (aka convenience stores and fast-food chains) from giving customers their merchandise in plastic bags.

Merchants would only be able to put merchandise in recyclable paper bags or reusable bags. Violators would be fined $250 for a first offense up to $1,000 for three or more offenses in a six-month period.

The other bill, inroduced by Council members Henry, William H. Cole IV, Kraft and Clarke, would require merchants to levy a 25-cent fee on every plastic bag dispensed at carryout. Exceptions would be granted for bagging up fresh fish and meat, candy, cooked foods, dairy products, fruits and nuts and ice.

This isn't the council's first attempt to cut down on plastic bag litter, but supporters note the city is facing a state and federal mandate to do something about the trash littering the harbor, and plastic grocery and takenout bags are a big part of the mess.

How big, no one knows for sure. A separate resolution getting a hearing would commission the city's Department of Public Works to study how much of the city's litter is made up of plastic bags.

In comments submitted prior to the hearing, the city's Commission on Sustainability says disposable plastic and paper bags add to Baltimore's litter and water quality woes. But it says that both banning and slapping a fee on disposable bags would be inconsistent. It supports a fee only if it applies to both disposable plastic and paper bags. A separate bill being reviewed Tuesday would impose the same 25-cent fee on paper bags used for carryout merchandise.

Some other big cities have similarly attacked plastic bag litter, notably San Francisco (ban) and the District of Columbia (fee). DC's was similarly aimed at cleaning up debris fouling the Anacostia River. Legislation has been introduced in Annapolis to regulate and levy a fee on plastic carryout bags statewide. See it here.

What do you think? Should the city or state ban or charge a fee for using disposable plastic or paper bags? Would it hurt businesses that much, or would consumers get used to either bringing their own bags or paying a small fee? Would it help cut down on the litter and floating debris in the harbor?

(2009 AP photo of Giant grocery bagger in Washington D.C.) 

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)
Categories: Products, Recycling, Shopping, Urban Issues
        

If you're truly green, it isn't something you trot out just for Earth Day. So with the card-makers' and florists' favorite holiday bearing down on us, here are a few tips we've seen recently for showing your love for Mother Nature as well as your sweetheart on Valentine's Day.

Make a fancy dinner at home. Instead of dining out, cook your own Valentine's feast, suggests Jessica Harlan at RecycleBank. Or break with tradition, she says, and give your true love a potted plant instead of a dozen red roses, with all the environmental baggage they may carry.

Rather than rush to the store for a big heart-shaped box of sweets for your sweet, Harlan advises, why not make your own truffles? She links to a few recipes here. If you're cooking-challenged (guys), she strongly suggests you shop for organic, fair-trade chocolates. Here's a rundown of brands, courtesy of Mother Earth News.

In the DIY tradition, Harlan also urges the truly green make their own jewelry and cards, rather than buy them. And if you simply must say it with diamonds, she instructs you to insist on conflict-free stones. For those more inclined to fashion gifts, she also advises where to find eco-friendly lingerie, made of bamboo (!), organic cotton, hemp and silk.

Finally, the truly committed earth lover could always skip the conventional gift- and card-giving altogether and make a green statement in his or her true love's honor. One heart-fluttering option - adopt a fin or humpback whale.

For as little as $40 per whale ($50 for a mother and calf pair), your adoption would support the College of the Atlantic's research on cetaceans. Your intended wouldn't be empty-handed, either. He or she would get a photograph of "an individually identfied whale", a personalized adoption certificate and a handy waterproof field guide to whales.

Sadly, the opportunity for this unusually green expression of love has already past - orders had to be placed by Feb. 10. But if you think it's neat anyway, here's the link.

Of course, many of these green alternatives for Valentine's Day take a little extra time and effort.  If you don't have any of those to spare, you can always take comfort as you crowd the card and candy counters in thinking about how you're stimulating our lagging economy.   And remember, it's the thought that counts.

For more to do (and buy) on Valentine's Day, check out this site at baltimoresun.com

(Valentine: AP Photo/The Rawlins Daily Times, Kathy Johnson; Whale: 2006 AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 4:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Six months ago, Baltimore City's Department of Public Works began its One Plus One program where they began picking up trash and recycling once a week each.

This didn’t go entirely smoothly because all of the drivers got new schedules and routes and weren’t picking up all the trash and recycling left outside in alleys and on curbs. Not all the residents knew their assigned pickup days, either, despite a wide-scale effort by city officials.

Certainly, not everyone was happy to lose a day a week of trash pick-up even if they got a recycling pick-up every week instead of every other week.

And on top of it all, the city began aggressively ticketing residents for not using proper trash cans with lids – even though that has been a law, if un-enforced, for years – or dumping trash on corners or in public receptacles.

Well, the city is now saying all that effort is paying off. 

Public Works officials say recycling is up more than 50 percent. Crews, freed to go clean allies, have reduced the number of overdue responses to resident calls to about zero. A response is overdue after 14 days. (Stay tuned because I have a larger story on single-stream recycling coming Monday.)

And the Housing folks that are in charge of citations, say all those tickets are changing behaviors and making the city cleaner.

Chief Inspector Eric D. Booker says in the first half of fiscal 2010, his team has handed out 32,248 tickets for trash/recycling related offenses. That’s ahead of the 22,911 tickets given out in all of fiscal 2009 for similar offenses.

The ticket people get out early morning and find those who are putting out bags of trash sans cans. They actually open the bags and find evidence they can use to identify the perps.

Booker said he’s even caught some county residents dumping their trash in the city. They probably don’t want to pay for pick-up. The city has actually prosecuted 10 people for dumping, which includes some contractors.

Booker won’t promise to ease up, either because the citations are effective. Baltimore had 80 trash  “challenged” neighborhoods, and now it has 46.

So, have you gotten a citation? Is your neighborhood cleaner since One Plus One started? You still miss twice-a-week trash pick-up?

Baltimore Sun file photo

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Recycling
        

In the meeting today with The Sun's editorial board, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was asked about the city’s new recycling program, and an editor in the meeting told me that she said the city was moving in the right direction.

“We can’t go backwards,” she said, while noting that city officials would be reviewing the program soon, to “address kinks in the process.”

She must have looked at the data. In September, the city's Department of Public works said recycling was up by 50 percent since the new program began in July. I think that means residents who like having their recycling picked up once a week, along with once-a-week trash pickup, can rest assured the program will continue.

She wasn't specific about the "kinks." But she's said in the past that she's gotten complaints about the reduced trash pick up from residents. And she worried about an increase in illegal dumping. City officials have issued a bunch of tickets for that. Also, officials report that the jump in use of  municipal cans has died down.

Rawlings-Blake has also said that she planned to hold hearings on the subject. She won't be council president long enough to do that, but as mayor she could really have an even bigger say in changing the program. So, stay tuned.

On another green-related issue, she said she was happy that the city was in a position to seek federal funds for the Red Line light rail project. She does not want a project that would create dead zones in neighborhoods, but noted that rail technology continues to advance, so there is likely to be less impact on neighborhoods by the time the line is built.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Recycling