Session Chairs: Julie Lawson, Trash Free Maryland; Thomas Sprehe, KCI Technologies
As a post-industrial city with a declining population, Baltimore, Maryland, faces numerous challenges. Development of trash removal regulations (TMDL) for the Inner Harbor in 2014 spurred additional investment in preventing and cleaning up trash pollution in the water, but the blight of litter is also a major community concern, diminishing quality of life and contributing to infrastructure issues.
Through extensive partnership and innovation, the city now has a nearly complete system of interventions to address litter and marine debris through behavior change, community engagement, and technology. The approaches the speakers will present can bring new ideas to cities around the world, incorporating themes of environmental justice, public-private-NGO partnership, and regulation/policy.
Julie Lawson of Trash Free Maryland will examine aspects of the Trash Free Baltimore coordinated campaign to change littering behavior. Through formative research, the project team identified recovery as a key motif to any public-facing campaign, and began a partnership with substance abuse treatment centers and health clinics around the city to develop a clinical protocol connecting litter pickup with rehabilitation from heroin/opioid addiction.
Leanna Wetmore of the Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Harbor Initiative will share insights about working with residents in highly distressed neighborhoods to rehabilitate alleys and reconnect neighbors to each other through trash cleanup and public art.
Baltimore’s famed Mr. Trash Wheel, and newly installed Professor Trash Wheel, have made a splash on social media and generated significant attention both locally and globally, educating people about trash pollution while removing more than a million pounds of debris from Baltimore’s rivers. Tom Sprehe of KCI, John Kellett of Clearwater Mills, or Adam Lindquist of the Waterfront Partnership will outline how the water wheels came about, their effectiveness in educating the public, and the potential they have in waterways around the world.
The session will conclude with a panel discussion about how the approaches support each other, the public-private-NGO partnerships that made them successful, and what lies ahead.
PANEL:
- – Julie Lawson, Trash Free Maryland
- – Leanna Wetmore, Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore
Abstracts
From Your Block to the Bay: Innovative Solutions to Trash Pollution in Baltimore
Authors: Julie Lawson (Trash Free Maryland, United States), Leanna Wetmore (Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore)
As a post-industrial city with a declining population, Baltimore, Maryland, faces numerous challenges. Development of trash removal regulations (TMDL) for the Inner Harbor in 2014 spurred additional investment in preventing and cleaning up trash pollution in the water, but the blight of litter is also a major community concern, diminishing quality of life and contributing to infrastructure issues.
Through extensive partnership and innovation, the city now has a nearly complete system of interventions to address litter and marine debris through behavior change, community engagement, and technology. Trash Free Baltimore is a novel, research-based behavior change campaign to change the culture of littering. Through formative research, the project team identified recovery as a key motif to any public-facing campaign, and began a partnership with substance abuse treatment centers and health clinics around the city to develop a clinical protocol connecting litter pickup with rehabilitation from heroin/opioid addiction.
Concurrently, the Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Harbor Initiative organizes residents in highly distressed neighborhoods to rehabilitate alleys and reconnect neighbors to each other through trash cleanup and public art.
Baltimore’s famed Mr. Trash Wheel, and newly installed Professor Trash Wheel, have made a splash on social media and generated significant attention both locally and globally, educating people about trash pollution while removing more than a million pounds of debris from Baltimore’s rivers.