LWV DelCo Environmental Clearinghouse
Delaware County Environmental Clearinghouse
Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL) is asking Delaware County residents to call or email Philadelphia City Council to NOT approve a new contract with Reworld/Covanta incinerator to burn a portion of its trash and to pass the “Stop Trashing Our Air Act.” City Council previously failed to enact the bill to stop doing business with Reworld.
Despite heavy lobbying by Energy Justice Network, Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living and other environmental groups to ban trash burning at the Reworld Incinerator in Chester, the City of Philadelphia will seek another four-year contract with the country’s largest incinerator.
The “Stop Trashing Our Air Act” (Bill 250768) is scheduled to be voted on by Philadelphia City Council next Thursday, April 9 at 10 a.m. This bill would ban Philly from burning their trash in Chester City at Reworld/Covanta, the largest trash incinerator in the U.S. and one of the biggest polluters in our region. CRCQL plans a rally and a “die-in” in Philadelphia ahead of the vote. The current waste contract expires on June 30.
The sponsor of the Stop Trashing Our Air Act tabled the bill after it became clear Thursday that it would not get enough votes to pass in Philadelphia City Council or to withstand a veto by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker who opposes the measure. The legislation would have banned the city from continuing to send trash to the Reworld incinerator in Chester.
A bill introduced in Philadelphia City Council Sept. 18 would prohibit the city from contracting with companies that incinerate its trash and recyclables. Currently about one-third of Philadelphia’s waste is sent to the Reworld (formerly Covanta) incinerator in Chester. Most of Delaware County’s municipal waste is also burned in the incinerator.
