Mr. Trash Wheel needs your help and cannot keep it bottled up inside any longer!
He asks residents ages 18 and older to join him at the Baltimore Community ToolBank for the annual Mr. Trash Wheel Dumpster Dive on Saturday, Nov. 15 from 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
Every year, Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Harbor Initiative partners with Baltimore Community ToolBank to gather volunteers and analyze the contents of Mr. Trash Wheel’s dumpster. Though it may seem embarrassing to put Mr. Trash Wheel in the vulnerable position of going through his intercepted litter, he gamely participates for good reason: the data collected is used to advocate for a Maryland Bottle Bill.
Sifting through the contents gathered by Mr. Trash Wheel lets Healthy Harbor Initiative know what types of trash are making it into Baltimore’s waterways most often. Previous data collection shows that plastic bottles are in heavy rotation on his menu. In his lifetime, Mr. Trash Wheel has collected over 1.8 million plastic bottles from Baltimore Harbor. The goal is to reduce those numbers and decrease plastic pollution in the water.
Baltimore is home to four trash wheels: Mr. Trash Wheel, Professor Trash Wheel, Captain Trash Wheel and Gwynnda the Good Wheel of the West. Last year, the entire trash wheel family collected over 1 million pounds of litter and debris from the Baltimore Harbor. Yum, and Burp!
Photos and data from the event will be shared with elected officials to support a Maryland Bottle Bill during the upcoming legislative session. Volunteers help Waterfront Partnership make their case for stronger statewide recycling incentives, so mark your calendars, dress to get dirty, and register here.
Baltimore Community ToolBank is located at 1224 Wicomico St., Baltimore, MD.
