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Since its implementation in the spring of 2014, the Inner Harbor’s trash wheel at the bottom of the Jones Falls River has collected 205 tons of trash, receiving national and international attention. Affectionately known as “Mr. Trash Wheel,” a clip of the groundbreaking device in action after a May rain storm last year garnered more than 1.1 million views on YouTube.

Now, a second trash wheel is being planned for Canton, near Pier Park, across the street from the Boston Street Safeway.

Buried Harris Creek, which is completely piped and drains two square miles of Baltimore beginning in Clifton Park, runs beneath Patterson Park and ultimately discharges into the harbor in Canton. It transports over a hundred tons of trash into the water there every year, according to the Waterfront Partnership, which has announced a $550,000 fundraising goal for the Canton water wheel project. To date, more than $175,000 has been raised through the support of the Keith Campbell Foundation, the Clayton Baker Trust, the Rauch Foundation, and local business community.

The new water wheel in Canton will be smaller (but faster) and cost approximately 30 percent less than the Inner Harbor wheel. It will use solar and hydropower to capture litter and debris before they reach the harbor and Chesapeake Bay. If the Canton effort goes as expected, a third trash wheel in South Baltimore could also become a possibility, environmental advocates said at the release of the Waterfront Partnership’s annual Healthy Harbor report earlier this month.

More information on the Canton water wheel project—as well as a link to make donations—can be found here.

And in case you’re wondering what the 205 tons of trash scooped up by Mr. Trash Wheel—who has a great Twitter feed, by the away—would’ve looked like entering harbor, picture this:

• 123, 670 plastic bottles
• 160,919 polystyrene containers
• 93,429 chip bags
• 4,767,000 cigarette butts
• 50,410 grocery bottles
• 2,725 glass bottles
• 534 sport balls

Yup, and at least one tire and one beer keg.

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It’s a
pretty incredible innovation, gathering worldwide attention last spring when it was introduced. In fact, a YouTube clip of the wheel in action following a rainstorm last spring has gathered more than 1.1 million views.

And now, via the trash wheel—which has its own wise-cracking
Twitter handle—Baltimore is believed to be the first city in the world to use reclaimed waterway debris to generate electricity.

Under a new agreement, Baltimore City will pay for the trash to be disposed of by Baltimore Refuse Energy Systems Company at their South Baltimore waste-to-energy plant. Previously, disposal for the collected litter was paid for by private funding and buried in a landfill. (Note: the city’s waste-to-energy plant has been dogged by concerns about
emissions in the past and the hope is that those issues have been fully addressed.)

According to estimates, each ton of trash will generate enough energy to heat 400 homes for an hour.

In January, the EPA and state of Maryland announced a
new agreement on pollution limits for trash in the lower Patapsco waterways, including the Baltimore’s harbor. The water wheel is part of the Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Harbor Initiative, which hopes to make the Inner Harbor swimmable and fishable by 2020.

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The two and a half minute clip shows the wheel in action following a heavy rainstorm this spring and was created by Healthy Harbor Project Manager Adam Lindquist.

Capable of removing up to 50,000 pounds of trash daily, the Water Wheel has removed more than 58 tons of trash—mostly plastic bottles and bags, foam cups and containers, various debris and cigarette butts, but also a car tire—since its installation this May off Pier 6.

“The number of views is really incredible but I’m more excited about the conversations the video has sparked. There are about 1,500 comments on Reddit, more than 400 on YouTube and hundreds on the Healthy Harbor Facebook page,” said Lindquist. “I’m hopeful all of this interest will lead to a more concerted effort by the public to pick up their trash and to do their part to keep our waterways clean.”

Designed by Baltimore-based architecture firm Ziger/Snead, the $800,000 Water Wheel was paid for by Maryland Port Administration and Constellation, the renewable-energy arm of Exelon Corp, according to a press release from the Waterfront Partnership.

Michael Hankin, chairman of the Waterfront Partnership board of directors, noted that Water Wheel’s work points to the need for Baltimore to pass bottle and bag bills.

“The Water Wheel and what it’s doing to clean up the trash and debris from the Inner Harbor is powerful—none of us should ignore what it means for this many people to be paying attention to this issue,” said Michael Hankin, chairman of the Waterfront Partnership board of directors. “The fact that is has ‘gone viral’ is proof that people care. . . People wonder why we advocate for a bottle bill and bag bill—other states and cities have adopted these and reduced the need for projects like the Water Wheel. I encourage those interested in supporting our work towards a swimmable and fishable Baltimore Harbor to do so by supporting these types of laws.”

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