All tagged Chester
I’m ready to be part of a long-term plan to improve air quality in Chester, to ensure that the Delaware County landfill Delco is used equitably and ethically, and to put us all on the road to zero waste. It’s a LONG road. I’ve started. I hope you will too.
As we embark on this week of Juneteenth 2021, I cannot help but reflect on the progress we’ve made for my community in Chester City. Several friends from Swarthmore have stepped up during — and prior — to the pandemic and civil unrest due to the murder of George Floyd. Thanks to many of you, our nonprofit, Making A Change Group, was able to transition from our primarily school-based youth mentor programs to meeting the needs of youth and families while developing a robust community outreach program. As of this year, I began another advocacy journey in the quest for political reform in Chester.
The idea of somehow achieving zero waste is utter fantasy. It is about as realistic as loading all the trash onto rocket ships and dumping it in space.
Covanta is indeed “well within breathing distance of many people, including – on a calm day – Swarthmore residents.” But by far the worst pollution fallout is right here in Chester, as Covanta burns other people’s trash.
A 2019 study by the New School concluded that so-called “waste-to-energy” plants emit mercury, lead, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide, and carbon monoxide. Research indicates that Chester’s residents suffer from heart disease, asthma, and other chronic illnesses at levels far higher than the national average.
I am troubled by an attitude I see too often: that somehow, because there is already some pollution in Chester, it can have even more! What is a little more pollution, after all? In response, I would ask: Where does YOUR trash go, and what will you do to help decrease the pollution it causes?
If the Covanta incinerator is shut down, the immediate effect would be to increase solid waste, not decrease it. There would be more trucks rumbling through Chester and speeding up and down the Blue Route, going to and from the landfills upstate. It seems to me that, if the problem is dirty air, then what you need to do is clean up the smokestack to remove the pollutants that are coming out.
On March 8, Swarthmore Borough Council made a decision that could dramatically change the way our community handles its waste. Resolution 2021-04 requests Delaware County Council to ensure that the Delaware County Solid Waste Authority not extend its contract with the Covanta waste incinerator in Chester.
I would like to thank Swarthmore College, and professors John Caskey and Hansjakob Werlen in particular, for inviting the Making A Change Group to contribute to the college’s current Lifelong Learning series, “Towards an Economy of Distributive Justice.” The classes in this free, online series focus on different forces that perpetuate economic disparities, especially along racial and ethnic lines. The series also offers resources for participants interested in activism and volunteerism.
Regarding Stefan Roots’ opinion piece of January 3: a perspective from our neighboring town to the south is refreshing, but criticism of a proposed sale of the Chester Water Authority to help alleviate financial problems is unfair. Chester has many ills rooted in multiple causes going back decades under both Republican and Democratic administrations. While I agree that extended one-party rule is unhealthy for democracy, this is not the cause of Chester’s problems.
