The Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) has released the 90% draft of the 10-Year Solid Waste Management Plan, a future focused strategy for managing the City’s waste streams. DPW is asking residents and stakeholders to help guide the plan’s development by providing written comments by mail, on the Department’s website or at public meetings.

 What is the Solid Waste Management Plan?
The plan identifies the sustainable avenues for managing the City’s solid waste stream, assesses the existing solid waste collection systems and future disposal capacity needs, and outlines plans for the management of solid waste for the next 10 years, including illegal dumping, landfill management, convenience centers, composting, and trash and recycling collections. Each chapter of this plan is defined by regulation, and therefore, is not intended for visionary goal setting. The five chapters are:

Chapter 1: “Goals and Regulatory Background” provides an overview of the laws, regulations, and government agencies that are a part of this Comprehensive Solid Waste Plan, including City goals and objectives; 

Chapter 2: “Background Information” describes relevant demographic and land use information in Baltimore that impact present and future solid waste management considerations; 

Chapter 3: “Existing Solid Waste Management System” provides detailed data on waste generation and descriptions of waste collection and acceptance facilities; 

Chapter 4: “Assessment of Needs and Constraints” assesses solid waste management needs to address waste generation issues and acceptance facility constraints; and 

Chapter 5: “Plan of Action,” establishes a plan to address solid waste generation issues, materials management, and solid waste acceptance facility needs to meet the City’s existing goals over the ensuing 10-year period.

How to participate:
Residents and stakeholders will have the opportunity to provide written comments by posting them directly on the Konveio Platform (a digital outreach program that turns regular PDFs into social documents where users can directly comment their feedback), by emailing them to   SolidWastePlan@baltimorecity.gov, or mailing them to Solid Waste Management Plan, 200 Holliday St., 10th Floor, Baltimore, Md. 21202.

Stakeholders will also have the opportunity to give comments in public meetings. The second virtual public meeting is on March 13 from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Webex. Register for the Webex meeting here: City of Baltimore - Register Meeting (webex.com).

The virtual meeting scheduled for March 27, will present an overview of plan drafts at the 99% benchmark. In April, there will be two hybrid in-person and virtual public meetings to present the final draft. Register for March and April virtual meetings here.

For more information about the plan, visit https://publicworks.baltimorecity.gov/pw-bureaus/solid-waste/plan. For specific questions and concerns, please email SolidWastePlan@baltimorecity.gov.