Baltimore oversight hearing finds progress on zero‑waste plans but funding and landfill timelines create urgency

The Baltimore City Council Public Health and Environment Committee held a legislative oversight hearing on the city’s 0 waste efforts, hearing presentations from the Office of Sustainability and the Department of Public Works and pressing city staff for timelines, budgets and clearer resident communications.

City sustainability staff and DPW officials told the committee they have advanced several zero‑waste initiatives — including distribution of free recycling carts, expansion of food‑scrap drop‑offs and design work for a three‑phase compost and transfer project at Bowleys Lane — even as residential diversion fell from about 18% in 2017 to about 16% in 2024 because overall disposed tonnage has risen.

Committee members said the numbers and schedules make the work urgent: the city’s current Quarantine Road landfill has roughly four years of capacity at current disposal rates, DPW said, and a planned expansion would add roughly 3.5 million cubic yards (an estimated 10–14 years of capacity depending on tonnage) at a current budgeted cost of about $100 million. Council members pressed officials for a public, line‑by‑line timeline of actions tied to Less Waste, Better Baltimore so the council and residents can track progress and budget needs through the next several years.

Office of Sustainability director Ava Richardson summarized the city’s planning framework, saying the administration is tracking progress in the 2019 Sustainability Plan, the Climate Action Plan and the Less Waste, Better Baltimore master plan. Richardson noted programs and past wins: the 2021 Comprehensive Bag Reduction Act, Camp Small’s wood reuse work, more than $800,000 invested in earlier food‑waste projects, and a $4 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant to help create a solar‑powered composting facility.

“Many of our climate actions require positive climate behavior change,” Richardson told the committee, and added the office measures 244 actions in the sustainability plan on a five‑point implementation scale. She said about 92% of those actions have advanced to early stages or beyond and roughly 11% have reached implemented and ongoing status.

DPW’s deputy director Matt Garbark and 0‑waste manager Sofia Hussain walked the committee through operational details. DPW data showed single‑stream recycling tonnage rose to about 27,000 tons in 2024 but contamination also rose to roughly 20% (from about 17% in 2023). DPW reported curbside single‑stream recycling, school recycling partnerships (about 77% school participation), expanded food‑scrap drop‑offs and 10 composting workshops in 2024 (74 attendees). DPW also noted Camp Small’s last reported diversion of roughly 9,000 tons of downed trees.

On infrastructure, DPW described a three‑phase Bowleys Lane project: Phase 1 would be a tier‑1, solar‑powered composting facility for yard waste plus renovations to site buildings and the residential recycling center; Phase 2 would expand to accept food scraps; Phase 3 would develop a full transfer station. DPW said phases 1 and 2 are funded through federal and state grants plus capital improvement funds and that design and community engagement should conclude by the end of 2025; construction bidding is planned in 2026 with a goal of facility completion in 2027. With current funds, DPW estimated the initial build at about 50% site capacity (around 12,500 tons/year) with eventual full capacity near 24,000–25,000 tons/year.

Council members repeatedly pressed DPW on timing and funding for expanded yard‑waste and organics diversion. DPW said an enhancement request to fund a yard‑waste collection pilot and related operations was submitted for FY26 but was not funded by the administration; DPW provided a high‑level first‑year one‑time cost estimate for separate yard‑waste collection of about $1.7 million but said separate collection would also require ongoing fleet and staffing funding. Council members asked DPW to provide the enhancement details and a clear timeline; Chairwoman Felicia Porter said she would enter those follow‑ups as official committee requests.

The committee also asked for public‑facing progress tracking. Councilman Mark Conway and others urged a publicly available, line‑by‑line status similar to other long‑term oversight tools so residents can see which actions in Less Waste, Better Baltimore are pending, in progress or complete. Several council members recommended site tours of recyclables processing facilities and the compost site design to help improve public trust and messaging.

Landfill capacity and the city’s reliance on incineration came up repeatedly. Chief of Disposal Services Antoine Byrd told the committee the current Quarantine Road Landfill has about four years of remaining capacity and that the planned expansion—budgeted at roughly $100 million and offering about 3.5 million cubic yards—could extend life to approximately 10–14 years depending on incoming tonnage. Council members flagged two intersecting deadlines: the landfill life and the city’s contract with its incinerator operator, which officials said will be a central scheduling and policy question for the coming decade.

Public testimony reinforced the urgency. Brad Rogers, executive director of the South Baltimore Gateway Partnership, urged the city to develop a long‑haul transfer plan or partner with the private sector to build regional transfer capacity so Baltimore can reduce dependence on incineration and preserve local landfill capacity. Jennifer Kunzey of Clean Water Action and a Baltimore resident urged the council to prioritize yard‑waste and organics funding immediately rather than delay until after the incinerator contract decisions.

DPW and the Office of Sustainability also discussed state policy. Richardson and other officials noted the Maryland General Assembly’s work in producer stewardship and organics diversion and recommended the committee consider engaging the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) on implementation and opportunities to use state law to increase diversion.

Committee members left the hearing with specific follow‑ups: DPW will provide the FY26 enhancement request details, a quantification of tonnage diverted from the incinerator since 2020 (as a result of new diversion streams), and a clearer timeline and public tracking proposal for Less Waste, Better Baltimore actions; the committee expressed interest in a future hearing focused on long‑haul transfer options, and multiple council members requested a site tour of processing facilities and Bowleys Lane planning work.

The hearing produced no formal votes; it served as legislative oversight and produced committee directions and information requests for the administration.