Recycling Cart Rollout '21

The Department of Public Works (DPW) collects waste and recycling from approximately two hundred thousand residences across the City of Baltimore. This summer, DPW and our partners are pleased to provide a new recycling cart to all residents currently receiving routine trash and recycling services.

This interactive Story Map paints a picture of our current recycling habits, explores DPW's plan for equitably distributing recycling carts this summer, and shows how DPW will keep track of any changes made to recycling services.

The old adage "another persons trash is another person's treasure" holds up! Recycling captures valuable materials that are then transformed into new products and packaging, using fewer natural resources, helping create a stronger, healthier and more circular community. Recycling carts will help the City to divert 90% of traditional recyclables from waste stream ( Less Waste, Better Baltimore ). That's about 84,200 tons of recyclables within the next 10 years or about a half ton of recycling per household in Baltimore City!

Recycling also creates value by diverting waste from going to our landfill because it reduces the amount of space we need to bury our refuse. Burying recyclable materials is the equivalent of burying money, and while some of this refuse may be trash, a great deal of is recyclable material. Also, having an attached lid on the cart will help to decrease litter blowing around on windy days and can even help prevents  rats and other pests .

The slideshow below highlights some of the data used by DPW to better understand current residential recycling habits and the potential effect these new recycling carts will have on Solid Waste operations in the City of Baltimore.

Hint: Be sure to click on the maps and graphics throughout this Story Map to learn more!

Please Note: These data only provide a partial glimpse into how residents of Baltimore recycle, how residents use the cities  311 Service Request System , and their relationship with the services provided by DPW.

Our Recycling Distribution plan was built considering the  Urban Institute 's six-dimensional framework for defining and measuring equity.

• Historical Legacies
• Detailed Awareness of Demographic/Geographic Patterns
• Inclusiveness
• Accessibility
• Differences in service output
• Disparate impacts

Recycling carts will help us to meet our goal of diverting recyclables from the waste stream and reducing litter and illegal dumping. ​The  Maryland Recycling Act (MRA)  requires Baltimore City to recycle 35% of the waste generated. As of June 2021, the data we have collected so far shows that our residential recycling program is trailing behind this requirement.

According to the  EPA , nearly 80% of aquatic trash come from land-based waste and recyclables. Your new recycling cart has a lid which will help to keep litter and valuable materials from entering the harbor and streets.

Providing a cart to all residents is an important first step to ensuring equitable access to residential recycling services.

This Story Map is one of several efforts to make our decision-making process more accessible and transparent to our residents. We have also created an interactive  Waste Diversion Dashboard .

These tools will help our partners and residents of Baltimore to stay up to date on the recycling cart rollout and the effects theses carts are having in our City.

The recycling cart rollout is just the first step in our ongoing efforts to divert waste and litter in the City of Baltimore. Iterative monitoring of our Recycling Cart and Anti-Contamination initiatives, is at the core of our future planning efforts. As we proceed, we must assess and reassess whether the baseline variables we choose for the Recycling Opportunity Index are valid predictors of future recycling outcomes and impacts. We believe that this dashboard will help us to ensure that City services and resources, such as residential recycling, are being distributed equitably and efficiently across the City of Baltimore. 

Our approach to an equitable distribution is based on the hypothesis that current and historical data patterns within a community will greatly determine that community’s level of opportunity for recycling activity growth. This data includes both the recycling and demographic-based patterns mentioned in the prior section.  Our data driven approach provides a foundation for city and community leaders to build upon by enabling them to understand and address the specific needs of each community. Together, this data driven and community focused approach put us on the path towards a truly equitable distribution of the cities resources.

Submit a 311 Request:

Other Resources:

This initiative is made possible through a collaboration of nonprofit and public sector organizations. Grants, a 0% interest loan, and a fiscal sponsorship have provided residents with a more accessible way to participate in waste diversion and contribute to the cleaner and greener initiatives of the City and Department of Public Works.

• Department of Public Works – Program and implementation lead.
• Baltimore Civic Fund – Partner and Fiscal Sponsor.
• The Recycling Partnership – National nonprofit that provides grants to localities to improve recycling services and recycling rates. 
• Closed Loop Fund – Investment firm focused on venture capital and project finance investing in advanced recycling technologies. 
• Rehrig Pacific – Plastic residential cart manufacturer working with the Recycling Partnership to manufacture and distribute carts.