'Trash Treaty' Kicks Off Partnership to Clean Up Back River

A single plastic bottle that falls into a storm drain doesn’t do much damage to the environment.

Multiply that by 100,000, though, and you have an ecological nightmare. That is the issue facing the Back River Watershed. The watershed has become a dumping ground for all types of trash in Baltimore County and Baltimore City, which starts in a storm drain and eventually makes its way into the Back River.

“People don’t see the impact because they don’t live near the water,” said Brian Schlipp, project manager of the Back River Restoration Committee. “They think that if trash starts in a storm drain, it ends up in a treatment plant. That is not the case. We’re dealing with an issue of lack of education and sheer volume of trash making its way into the storm drain system.”

Members of the Back River Restoration Committee, along with local and state elected officials from Baltimore County, hope to change that mindset. With the Back River as a backdrop, the elected officials signed a “Trash Treaty” on Tuesday off of Diamond Point Road in Essex.

The initiative by the Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability is a commitment to work with regional leaders, schools, businesses, government agencies, nonprofit organizations and communities to focus on litter reduction strategies, increased education, and awareness of littering and trash issues throughout the Back River Watershed. The treaty's ultimate goal is to make the Back River trash-free by 2020.

“We are committed and have committed significant resources toward protecting our environment,” Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said. “However, we have not used every tool at our disposal for the environment, and that ends today.

“This is an important step forward in protecting and maintaining this vital part of Baltimore County’s environment. The point is the elected officials who will sign this treaty today and the students, teachers and elected officials who will sign in the days ahead are making a very important pledge, and that is to work for the achievement of a trash-free Back River by 2020.”

In addition to the “Trash Treaty,” Kamenetz announced the county is providing a $70,000 grant to the Back River Restoration Committee (BRRC) to assume responsibility to operate and maintain a trash boom the county installed last April.

The county is also allowing the BRRC to use the county’s ATV amphibious vehicle to remove trash and debris from the mud flats of Back River. Also, the county will provide a $30,000 grant to the BRRC for public outreach about the Back River Watershed and environmental stewardship.

In just a year, the trash boom has collected more than 105,000 plastic bottles and 92 cubic yards of debris such as shopping carts, highway barrels, toys, balls, shoes, food wrappings and other trash. In addition, the boom has collected 90 cubic yards of wood debris.

Over the past two years, the county and the BRRC have conducted several successful community cleanups, which yielded 350,000 pounds of debris and more than 3,000 tires from the Back River.

Baltimore County Council Chairman John Olszewski Sr. is a BRRC board member and represents the district containing the Back River Watershed. He believes the treaty, along with the BRRC's continued hard work and outreach, will help make a trash-free Back River a reality one day.

“It may need a little tender loving care, but it’s a valuable resource that our children will be able to treasure for years to come,” Olszewski said.