TRASH ALTERNATIVES

Best Management Practices to Properly

Contain and Dispose of Waste

Reduce Waste. In addition to the suggestions offered in the balance of this Guidebook, consider the following recommendations to further reduce waste.

Keep in mind that less waste means lower disposal costs.

 Avoid having leftover materials by sizing up a job, evaluating what your actual needs are, and buying just enough product for the job. Encourage boaters to do the same.

 Minimize office waste: make double-sided copies, use scrap paper for notes and messages, purchase recycled office paper, and reuse polystyrene peanuts or give them to companies that will reuse them, e.g., small scale packing and shipping companies.

 Request alternative packing material from vendors, e.g., paper, potato starch peanuts, popcorn, etc.

 Discourage the use of plastic and styrofoam cups, food containers, utensils, and other non-biodegradable products.

 Encourage boaters to exchange excess paints, thinners, varnishes, etc. To facilitate this type of activity, provide a bulletin board where boaters can post notices that they are seeking particular materials or have an excess of a substance.

 Post the names of local schools or theater groups that are willing to accept excess, non-toxic paints.

Despite being home for 5% of the world's population, the United States consumes 15.7% of world's fossil fuel energy.

30-40% of food is wasted through combination of on-farm loss, transportation, store overstocking, and lack of at-home planning.
The average American emits 14.9 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, more than triple of global average of 4.7.
Despite having all they "want" Americans aren't very happy.
Only 25% are satisfied with their life. - General Social Survey.
The decepincy is povery. 42.4 million qualify and use food stamps, SNAP today..
More than 650,000 are shelter/home challenged.
Essentially, we have it all - just not well distrbuted.

- "The Real Trap of Consumerism" - Our Changing Climate (May 31, 2024)

#100: "LIVE Plastic Extraction from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch" The Ocean Cleanup (May 29th, 2024)

Little Loop: Shared Wardrobe for Kids - "Dragon's Den (2021/2)

"Can Bamboo Replace Paper And Plastic? And Should It?" "World Wide Waste" - Business Insider (Apr 19, 2024)

Is Bamboo toilet paper the answer? [PAHS are not covered in this report, so yes, Bamboo is best, provided that the water does not contain PAHS.]

Maryland Department of Environment - Notice of Public Hearing Comment Period - COMAR 26.11.08 Control of Incinerators (2018)

Sheila Dixon - May 15, 2020

Trash, Composting, and "Greening", less cars into the city

TODAY - 2024 Nothing has changed. Trash, Recycling, Compost and some trees. That's addressing climate change. Apparently, no flooding in Hunting Ridge.

- "Baltimore City Mayoral Candidates Lay Out Environmental Plans, Including Promises to End Contracts with Wheelabrator" - WYPR (February 28, 2024)

"Incineration: For the third time since 2021, lawmakers refused to strip subsidies for trash incineration operations, such as Wheelabrator's BRESCO plant in South Baltimore. (These polluting, trash-burning, waste-to-energy operations receive the subsidies because the state continues to classify them as a form of renewable energy.)"

- "Environmental Losses this Year in Annapolis Include Bill to End Baltimore Incinerator Subsidy: Despite Some Victories, Setbacks in the Just Concluded 2024 Maryland General Assembly Have Some Environmental Advocates Taking Legislative Leaders and Governor Wes Moore to Task" - Baltimore Brew (

"To community groups and climate-focused organizations, Maryland’s policy on trash incineration is a glaring environmental injustice. To the companies that own and operate incinerators, it's a windfall.

The state classes trash-to-energy plants, like Wheelabrator's BRESCO incinerator in South Baltimore, as a form of renewable energy – making them eligible for millions of dollars in subsidies despite the carbon emissions and air pollution they release."

- "Advocates Call on Moore, Ferguson and Jones to Support an End to Incineration Subsidy: There's Broad Support for Ditching Maryland's Renewable Energy Subsidy for Trash-Burning Incinerators like Baltimores Wheelabrator, but legislative Leaders Arent Bringing the Bill to a Vote" - Baltimore Brew (March 29TH, 2024)

So let me start by explaining briefly why the next two years are so essential in saving our planet.

1- First, we know the stakes. You’ve heard me talk before about record shattering heat and massive damage to economies, and how there’s no room for half measures. Let’s take all that as a given.

2 - Second, we are at the start of a race which will determine the biggest winners in a new clean energy economy. And with the global index of living standards in constant flux, each country’s climate responses will be key to whether they rise up the ladder or fall. Whether they thrive or barely survive.

3- Third, for many countries, they will only be able to implement strong new climate plans if we see a quantum leap in climate finance this year.

4 - Fourth, it’s about how the Paris Agreement works. As of today, national climate plans - called Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs - in aggregate will barely cut emissions at all by 2030. We still have a chance to make greenhouse gas emissions tumble, with a new generation of national climate plans. But we need these stronger plans, now. And while every country must submit a new plan, the reality is G20 emissions are around 80% of global emissions. So G20 leadership must be at the core of the solution, as it was during the great financial crisis. That’s when the G20 came of age and showed major developed and developing economies can work together to avert global economic catastrophes.

5 - Fifth and finally, every citizen of every country has an opportunity to be part of this transition. Every voice makes a difference. This year and next, we will need every voice more than ever."

- "Two Years to Save the World: Simon Stiell at Chatham House" - United Nations (April 19, 2024)

"Copernicus: March 2024 is the Tenth Month in a Row to Be the Hottest on Record" - European Commission (April 9th, 2024)

We looked for lead and other heavy metals; phthalates, chemicals used to make plastic more flexible and durable, and increasingly linked to health concerns; and sodium, which can raise blood pressure, a concern even among young people. We also compared the nutrition info for the two school lunch versions of Lunchables with their store-bought versions.

pfas epa 2 hazardous chemicals conservation recreation and

"Some contaminants, like lead and cadmium, are naturally found in the environment, which can partly account for their presence in food. But processing can also introduce heavy metals and chemicals found in plastic. In CR’s tests, our experts found lead, cadmium, or both in all the kits. Even in small amounts, these heavy metals can cause developmental problems in children, as well as hypertension, kidney damage, and other health problems in adults. The risks of heavy metals are cumulative and come from regular exposure over time. The less you consume, the better. "

- "Should You Pack Lunchables for Your Kid's School Lunch?" - Consumer Report (April 2024)

"CR's tests found the lunch kits and some similar ones from Armour, Oscar Mayer, and others contained lead and other contaminants, and most were high in sodium."

"New Energy Efficiency Standards for Lightbulbs: What You Need to Know" - Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, United States Department of Energy (April 26, 2022)

Updated: "Department of Energy Finalizes Efficiency Standards for Lightbulbs to Save Americans Billions on Household Energy Bills"- April 12, 2024

"The Danger of Coal Ash, the Toxic Dust the Fossil Fuel Leaves Behind" - PBS News Hour (2019)

Baltimore MUST move from "Single Stream" to Multi-Stream" Process (containers for each). "According to the EPA, at least 75% of what we put in our trash cans is reusable recyclable, or compostable. But Baltimore’s residential recycling rate is a measly 14.7%."

- "Recycling in Baltimore Baltimore is... Not Great at Recycling." - Clean Air Baltimore

"Curtis Bay Energy Fined $1.75M, Pleads Guilty to Improperly Incinerating Medical Waste" - Waste Dive (October 2023)

"37,000 trucks a year taking the waste out of the city to a landfill," says Wheelabrator. That does not include regional contracted counties, like Baltimore County, and companies. What would be exact amount?

- "Scrap Collector: Baltimore and Detroit incinerators Gettin Burnt" - Waste Dive (2019)

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS #1 TRASH PRODUCING COUNTRY IN THE WORLD

"Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits." - Mark Twain

"Me Ol' Bamboo" - "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

"Second Hand Rose" - Fanny Brice

"Second Hand Rose" - Barbra Streisand

"Second Hand Rose" - "Funny Girl"

"Second Hand Rose" Medley - Barbra Streisand - "My Name is Barbra" (1965)

Cardboard sign says yard sale
Real estate sign says sold
Family picnic table, holds all that it can hold
On the grass and on the sidewalk
Well, there must be half the town
Ain't it funny how a broken heart
Can bring the prices down? ....

For each golden memory
Oh, I never thought I'd ever live to see
The way they're sortin' through
What's left of you and me

"Yard Sale" - Sammy Kershaw

This page focuses on innovative rubbish solutions - some quite old, as well as some improvements and inventions regarding collection. There needs to be product usage changes that reduce waste and cost, and some necessary ones are listed and shown.

For Baltimore City to be "Zero Waste" - Baltimore City, Informational Hearing, Zero Waste (2017) [Now it is 6 Years Later. Where is it????]

"Zero Waste" - Managing and Transforming Waste Streams: A Tool for Communities - United States of America Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)