14. Stop the Burning of Waste in Baltimore

Steph Compton is a Baltimore Organizer for Energy Justice Network, she has been working on Environmental justice issues since 2012 and she is currently working on all things pertaining to zero waste.

Baltimore currently has a large waste incinerator in the middle of the city that burns not only Baltimore’s trash but surrounding states and counties trash. This makes for some of the most dangerous air to breathe in the nation. MIT researchers showed that Baltimore City had the deadliest air in the nation in 2005. According to the EPA, in 2014, Baltimore was the 81st most air polluted locality in the nation (out of over 9,000) and is the most polluted city in Maryland. In 2018, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America ranked Baltimore as the 33rd worst asthma capital in the nation. This law we’ve been working on would force the city’s largest air polluter (the Wheelabrator Baltimore trash incinerator) and the nation’s largest medical waste incinerator (Curtis Bay Energy) to abide by the nation’s strictest standards or shut down.

With Steph we talk about how she’s going about tackling this incinerator, zero waste and recycling, organizing in Baltimore, politics of the city, deconstruction, and what she’s looking forward to in the future.

Contact and connect with Steph: Steph@energyjustice.net

Clean Air Baltimore: https://www.cleanairbmore.org/

Baltimore Waste Incinerator: http://www.energyjustice.net/md/moco