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Baltimore's Plastic Bag Reduction Bill: public hearings and work sessions
On Tuesday, August 6, the Baltimore City Council's Judiciary Committee held its first public hearing on the Plastic Bag Reduction Bill. This important legislation bans plastic bags in stores in Baltimore, with exceptions for bags used for products like fresh meats, unpackaged fruits, or ice, and locations like farmers' markets and pharmacies. It also puts a 5-cent fee on paper bags - part of which will help the store meet the extra cost of buying and storing paper bags, and part of which can help the city distribute free reusable bags. (Purchases made with SNAP, WIC, and similar programs will
Benefits of Banning Plastic Bags in Baltimore City
As environmental awareness has continued to increase, the debate of banning distribution of plastic bags has been brought to the table. Implementing policy regarding this issue in Baltimore City would lead to numerous benefits for its residents, its economy, and its surrounding ecosystems. A plastic bag ban in Baltimore City may reap a large positive economic impact by decreasing the demand for disposable bags and increasing the demand for reusable bags. This will create a market for manufacturers to produce more sustainable alternatives to plastic bags, as well as increased employment
Municipal compost in Baltimore and beyond
This morning, the Baltimore City Council's Judiciary and Legislative Investigations Committee held a public hearing on Resolution "for the purpose of inviting the Director of the Department of Public Works, the Head of the Bureau of Solid Waste, the Director of the Office of Sustainability, the Coordinator of the Office of Sustainability, and the City Arborist to update the City Council on the City’s progress toward creating a municipal composting program, to provide a fiscal impact statement on creating the program, and to estimate a time line for Citywide implementation of municipal
Burning Trash is Not Clean Energy!
People all across Maryland - especially in Baltimore, Frederick, and Montgomery County where communities have fought or are fighting against trash incinerators in their neighborhoods - have been working to make sure that any increase in the renewable portfolio standard not increase subsidies for trash incineration. Today, on the last day of the legislative session, the current version of the Clean Energy Jobs Act maintains burning trash as a tier 1 renewable energy source, keeping it eligible for the maximum amount of subsidy available.
Trash incineration is highly polluting, a problem for the
Septic Legislation in 2019
Septic systems are a decentralized way to treat human waste. In most cases, an individual home has its own septic system and drain field.
Waste from a home is sent to a box, which holds it for awhile, then it slowly trickles out into the yard in a drain field, where the microbes in the soil further break down the waste. In a conventional system, a functioning septic system does a good job at breaking down bacterial and viral harms from the waste, but it does not address nitrogen pollution. In an advanced treatment unit (or Best Available Technology aka BAT), there is an additional step of