Our journey has just begun! We have secured many litter and trash policy victories including: banning expanded polystyrene, banning plastic micro-beads, and passing extended producer responsibility for packaging statewide. With the projected tripling of plastic pollution and the threat of micro-plastics to human health, our work is far more over.

This Giving Tuesday, we would like to share a little more about our Trash Free Team! We are all united by a deep love of nature and a strong focus on Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (EPR), including plastic!

On International Coastal Cleanup Day, our volunteers turned the tide on litter in Baltimore City, Maryland. The data collected during the cleanup on plastic bags and plastic bottles not only validates previous notions on these common littered items but proves and will help pass policy in the state of Maryland.

What does Baltimore City, Maryland’s charming local breweries, trash and litter policy, a cleanup, and healthy communities have in common? Cheers to Clean Water 2023! With statewide momentum building, this year we are focusing on plastic bags and plastic bottles.

Plastic bag bans work. Since the Baltimore City plastic bag ban, we have seen a 3 time decrease in plastic bags in the Baltimore Harbor. This data, from the annual Dumpster Dive Event, comes ahead of legislation being passed across Maryland encouraging the use of reusable bags.

We all love the Trash Wheels here in Maryland but did you know that Toronto, Canada might be getting their very own Trash Wheel soon?

Over 200 Volunteers showed up to the Volunteering Untapped Baltimore and Baltimore Waterfront Partnership Annual Dumpster Dive! The focus, trash data!

Producer Responsibility for Packaging SB222/HB284 passes in the Senate and the House! Learn more about what exactly this packaging reduction bill means for the fight against litter in Maryland. Thanks to all those involved in its passing and that supported! It made all the difference.

Spring is near and we cannot wait for the cleanups to begin! If you are hosting a cleanup or are attending one we encourage you to checkout the best way to collect trash data to help influence trash and pollution policies!

There is a lots of ways to continue to celebrate Black History in Maryland even after Black History Month! We must continue to educate ourselves on the systemic racism that is apparent and pervasive in the trash and litter world, and continue to work toward environmental justice for all.

The legacy of Black people is what has made our environmental culture in Maryland so strong!

Happy Holidays from Trash Free Maryland, here is a recap of this year, what we are grateful for, and our trash free resolutions!