Healthy Harbor News

Artificial wetlands to grow in Inner Harbor

From the Baltimore Sun

Baltimore's Inner Harbor is about to dramatically enlarge one of its newest attractions — one meant to draw crabs and fish as well as tourists.

For weeks now, teams of young and adult volunteers have been assembling what promoters say will be Maryland's largest floating wetland, to be anchored along the bulkhead off the World Trade Center.

It's a 10-fold enlargement of a tiny, checkerboard array of grassy floats tethered by the trade center tower since summer 2010. Those initial wetlands, plus one launched at the same time by the National Aquarium, marked the mostly symbolic beginning of an ambitious campaign to clean up Baltimore's degraded harbor and make it swimmable and fishable by the end of the decade.

Now, the Waterfront Partnership, a nonprofit group...

How a bottle deposit program would help clean up waterways and communities throughout Maryland

A new study released today by the Abell Foundation and the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore finds that beverage container deposit programs have proven to be the most effective legislative tool for reducing litter.  States with bottle deposit laws have an estimated 66 to 88 percent less beverage container litter, the study reports. 

The report was authored by the University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center, in partnership with the Center for Integrative Environmental Research and ECONorthwest. 

Click here to download the complete report.

Click here to download the condensed version found in the March 2012 Abell Report.

Beverage container deposit programs currently exist in 10 states across the county and are under consideration in several others.  These...

Action Alert! Support the Community Cleanup and Greening Act Now!

Act now to support a Statewide Bag Fee!

The Community Cleanup and Greening Act of 2012 will create a five-cent fee on disposable singleuse plastic and paper bags. 

Click here to send a message to your elected officials

Tell them to support the Community Cleanup and Greening Act, and take a major step forward in reducing litter in your neighborhood and communities around Maryland!

This legislation will

• Reduce litter in Maryland’s neighborhoods and waterways. Plastic bag use could drop 60% or more.
• Save retailers money by not having to buy as many bags to give away. A single shop owner could save upwards of $1,000 per year.
• Save consumers money when they avoid the hidden cost of “free” bags in higher prices. The average Maryland consumer spends up to...