By: SirJames Weaver, Marvin Hayes, and Carlos Sanchez-Gonzalez, as told to the Maryland League of Conservation Voters Education Fund
The opinions shared in this piece are those of the speaker and/or the person being featured in the story. They do not necessarily reflect those of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters Education Fund.
Image by Jennifer Kunze (June 25, 2024). https://cleanwater.org/2024/06/25/why-baltimore-city-burning-our-yard-waste
WIN Waste Incineration and the Renewable Standard Portfolio
The WIN Waste incinerator is a notorious landmark in South Baltimore, with its smokestack towering over surrounding communities and being visible from miles away. Built in 1985, the incinerator burns as much as 700,000 tons of trash annually, and is one of the 70 stationary sources of air pollution just in South Baltimore.
Over the past forty years, the WIN Waste Incinerator has emitted significant amounts of formaldehyde, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide—pollutants associated with an increased risk of cancer, asthma, and heart disease. It’s also estimated to have released large amounts of lead (388 lbs in 2020) and mercury (87 lbs in 2020), both of which have no safe level of exposure.
Representative image of annualized average air pollution dispersion from the WIN Waste Baltimore incinerator, scale indicates increased pollution concentration as a result of the incinerator in µg/m3 (NOx 2017). https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.27.25330313v2
A study conducted by the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins estimated that the incinerator has caused over 50 million dollars in health damages for Maryland and D.C. residents annually. The study also concluded that Black and Brown communities surrounding the incinerator have been forced to shoulder much of the burden of its health impacts, including asthma, heart disease, cancer, and other conditions.
The incinerator also produces significant emissions that accelerate climate change, including over 282,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2023. These pollutants emitted into the air often settle in waterways, polluting the Chesapeake Bay and other water streams.
Even though it emits considerable pollution, trash incineration was included in Maryland’s Renewable Portfolio Standard in 2011, a program meant to support renewable energy projects. From 2020 to 2023, utility ratepayers paid $15.5 million in subsidies to a facility that pollutes surrounding communities and emits greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Since 2011, when trash incineration was added to the RPS, the South Baltimore community has been fighting that decision. As one example, in 2022, Progressive Maryland began organizing with community members from Cherry Hill, Westport, and Brooklyn to end subsidies to the incinerator. As part of this campaign, SirJames Weaver, a former Progressive Maryland environmental justice organizer, went door-to-door speaking with residents about the incinerator.
“Most people in the neighborhood were oblivious that their utilities were maintaining the wealth of the incinerator.”
–SirJames Weaver, former Progressive Maryland Environmental Justice Organizer
The Reclaim Renewable Energy Act Rally at Lawyers Mall was organized by Progressive Maryland, Clean Water Action, and the South Baltimore Community Land Trust. Image by Izzy Younger (February 20, 2025). https://cleanwater.org/2025/02/20/78-organizations-support-marylands-reclaim-renewable-energy-act
He heard stories from residents, especially those who have lived there their whole lives and who suffer from asthma attacks and hospitalizations. Mary Randall, a lifelong resident of Westport and a member of Progressive Maryland offered a deeply emotional testimony about her experience with cancer, which she attributes to living in close proximity to the Win Waste Incinerator. She recounted the tragic loss of friends to cancer, which like her own ailments, she directly attributed to the pollution from the incinerator. She called upon legislators to support the Reclaim Renewable Energy Act, which would remove green energy subsidies for incineration.
Through phone banking, letter writing, rallies, and public events, South Baltimore residents have consistently made their voices heard. Residents testified during the 2023, 2024, and 2025 legislative sessions for the Reclaim Renewable Energy Act, and trash incineration was finally removed from the Renewable Portfolio Standard in 2025.
South Baltimore Zero-Waste Plan and DPW’s 10-year Solid Waste Plan
Although removing trash incineration from the Renewable Portfolio Standard was a significant win, community members have made it clear that much more needs to be done to achieve a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable Baltimore.
The South Baltimore Community Land Trust, in partnership with community leaders, elected officials, and Baltimore institutions, has spent over a decade developing a comprehensive zero-waste strategy designed to divert waste from incineration while centering equitable community development.
Their Fair Development Plan for Zero Waste, adopted by the Baltimore City Council in March 2020, underscores that investments in composting and recycling infrastructure could reduce the city’s reliance on landfilling and incineration by up to 90% by 2040, create over 1,700 green jobs, and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Not only would reducing waste save the city money, but it would also address the public health and environmental justice issues stemming from trash incineration.
In 2023, the Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) had the opportunity to integrate this community-led research and zero-waste approach into its 10-Year Solid Waste Management Plan. But, the plan failed to do so, even after residents submitted over 700 supporting comments. This led the South Baltimore Land Trust, alongside the Environmental Integrity Project and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, to file a civil rights complaint with the EPA, stating that “DPW failed to adequately plan a transition away from reliance on the highly polluting municipal waste incinerator,” disproportionately impacting the Black and Brown communities living nearest to it.
A year later, the Baltimore City Fiscal Year 2026 Budget still inadequately addresses zero -waste investments. Although the budget includes some zero-waste provisions, such as funding for a composting facility and raising landfill fees, Carlos Sanchez-Gonzalez with the South Baltimore Community Land Trust says it still does not do enough to get the City on track to meet its Zero Waste goals. Community leaders and environmental advocates are urging the City Council to increase funding for proven Zero Waste programs and fulfill Mayor Brandon Scott’s pledge to phase out incineration and close the environmental justice gap. Without such changes, the budget only reflects a broken promise to Baltimore’s underserved communities and a retreat from the City’s stated goals of equity, health, and sustainability.
Community-led initiatives in the face of government neglect
In the face of municipal neglect, community members and local programs continue to take the lead on zero-waste initiatives and environmental justice.
Marvin Hayes leading a compost education event. Courtesy of Compost Collective. https://baltimorecompostcollective.org/
One such community member is Marvin Hayes, director of the Baltimore Compost Collective, who kick-started a youth-led curbside food scrap collection program that now reaches over 40 neighborhoods and includes more than 400 participants across the greater Baltimore area.
The collective not only provides educational and hands-on experience in composting, environmental justice, community gardening, and youth workforce development, but it also serves as a replicable model that the city could adopt systemically.
“My goal is to inspire the next generation about compost, environmental justice, and food apartheid so even if I don’t see the stop of incineration in my lifetime, it’s enough to know that inspired the next generation so they will have the tools to starve this multibillionaire industry by not giving it the material, especially food scraps, it feeds off.”
–Marvin Hayes, Director of the Baltimore Compost Collective
Youth organizers with the South Baltimore Land Trust have also been conducting crucial, on-the-ground research for their community, using data monitors to provide evidence for what residents have long experienced firsthand. After capturing multiple instances of black smoke and other pollutants emitted from the Curtis Bay medical waste incinerator in South Baltimore, youth organizers have supported legal action as a remedy. They have also worked with neighboring institutions like the Johns Hopkins University to cut ties with the medical waste incinerator.
Carlos Sanchez-Gonzalez, youth leader with South Baltimore Land Trust. Image found at https://www.sbclt.org/our-team/
Carlos Sanchez-Gonzalez with South Baltimore Community Land Trust underscores the invaluable role youth organizing plays in his organization’s work and in local environmental justice efforts as a whole. “[Youth] are on the ground. They see things in a way that most people wouldn’t—they see the possibilities of a healthier, more just future through the work that they do.”
As they wait for answers from the city, residents are proving that the people lead Baltimore’s fight for justice and sustainability and that, through community leadership, a cleaner and more equitable future is already taking shape.