Health Statistics
It is no surprise that living close to waste facilities and incinerators can be detrimental to an individual’s health. Landfills themselves produce large amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Volatile organic compounds emitted from landfills contribute to 10% of all VOC emissions in the US. These emissions have been linked to problems in the surrounding communities and range from olfactory nuisances to serious health issues such as asthma and spontaneous abortions. Most volatile organic compounds are released by the degradation of organic matter in waste sites.
There is sufficient evidence that living near waste sites is associated with significant health risks. This data was collected from residents living within 5.0 km (3.12 miles) of five waste sites in Finland. Data was also collected from landfill workers in Italy showing severe taste and smell disorders, as well as, an increased risk of cancer developing among the workers. When compared to the US EPA recommended standards for cancer risk, 0.0004, two long term landfill workers showed cancer risks of 1.028795 and 0.813946.
The likely culprit of these increased cancer risk is the VOC, benzene. Unfortunately, the areas closest to waste sites are disproportionately low-income and minority communities, especially in the United States. This creates an environmental justice issue as these communities who are often immobilized by financial restrictions are being exposed to these harmful effects for long periods of time.
Research: The Connections
How does pollution affect communities?
Municipal waste sites, pollution, and health have well-established and longstanding relationships. When incinerators release pollutant aerosols into the local air, they have measurable effects on the community. The same can be said for tainted soil and water runoff from landfills.
Exposure to air pollution has been shown by several studies to lead to increased risk of health outcomes such as congenital birth defects and spontaneous abortions even when isolating for other variables. Other heightened risks appear for asthma and bronchitis, as well as offensive odor. Communities are forced to endure these problems due to financial immobility and low land value. This set of negative health outcomes creates a negative feedback loop of costs imposed on the community. The illnesses associated with pollution lead to resource expenditures in the form of thousands of hospital visits, creating a gigantic drain on the local healthcare infrastructure. In addition, the costs from the hospital visits amount to millions of dollars annually. This devastates already impoverished communities who either don’t have access to quality insurance or cannot afford treatments regardless.
Several studies of other municipal waste sites from England and New Jersey have confirmed these connections, and Baltimore is experiencing the negative outcomes.
The Environmental Integrity Project, alongside the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, has submitted extensive legal testimony regarding emissions from the Wheelabrator Incinerator located outside of Baltimore, Maryland. The Wheelabrator is the tenth-largest incinerator nationally and burns 2,250 tons daily. The Foundation calls for the city of Baltimore to enforce stricter emissions standards from the municipal waste site citing yearly data of emissions and health standards of the citizens residing near the facility. The extensive studies detail the damage, stating that the incinerator caused $55 million annually in health problems, some of which are contributed to death costs. This data and case are critical to our research as it deals directly with the region and issue we are addressing. Complaints and recommendations were brought to the Maryland Department of the Environment, increasing regulations to require the plant to reduce NOx emissions by 200 tons a year. The above infographic details only some of the health consequences resulting from the emissions from the facilitiy.
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Curtis Bay Baltimore Regional Medical
Waste Incinerator
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Curtis Bay Energy, Limited Partnership is part of the Hazardous Waste Services Industry. The partnership owns and operates the largest medical waste incinerator in the United States, the Curtis Bay Baltimore Regional Medical Waste Incinerator. It provides a regional solution to the medical waste management requirements with the goal of building a facility to provide local specialty waste services and eliminating the need for each facility to provide their own incineration services. There are two identical units that are permitted to incinerate a maximum of 150 tons per day total for the entire facility.
In 2016, The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) released an air quality monitoring project in two Baltimore City neighborhoods, Curtis Bay and Brooklyn. The goal of the project was to test the hypothesis that pollution levels in Curtis Bay and Brooklyn are higher than in other parts of Baltimore City. Findings recorded the highest PM2.5 levels during sampling in the Curtis Bay community.
The Quarantine Road Landfill
Located at 6100 Quarantine Rd, Baltimore, MD 21226
The Quarantine Road Sanitary Landfill (QRSL) is a 149-acre municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill that is owned and operated by the City of Baltimore Department of Public Works. The waste is typically 44% ash and 56% MSW. The ash is delivered from the Wheelabrator and stored on-site, increasing the amount of NOx, SOx and mercury released from the facility. A landfill gas collection and control system (GCCS) was installed in 2009 that has greatly decreased the amounts of fugitive HAP, VOC, and NMOC air emissions. However the GCCS system uses combustion to destroy certain emissions and therefore the addition of the flare has added NOx, SOx, PM10, and CO.
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Baltimore City’s Quarantine Road landfill was around 85% full at the end of 2017 and is expected to fill up by 2026. The owners have been in the application process for years in an attempt to expand the landfill to address the increased amount of waste. Air regulatory law affects the demand of the landfill, as stringent legislation limits the use of combustion energy sources and redirects once burned waste to the facility.
Rebecca Gohn Photography
