About Wheelabrator Baltimore

Wheelabrator Baltimore is an environmental services company that provides sustainable waste management and converts 2,250 tons of post-recycled residential and business waste every day from the Baltimore region into 65 MW of clean, renewable energy – enough to power 40,290 Maryland homes.

Wheelabrator Baltimore uses local waste as fuel to create a local-energy ecosystem that recycles metals, provides power, reduces the need for landfilling and lowers CO2 emissions.

Waste-to-Energy is the only alternative to landfills

For every 100 tons of waste processed by Wheelabrator Baltimore, 75 tons of waste is not landfilled. In 2017, Wheelabrator Baltimore processed 709,904 tons of waste. This equates to keeping nearly 532,428 tons of waste out of landfills last year alone.

Because of this, the facility significantly reduces/avoids carbon emissions as compared to the out-of-city landfill alternative. Without Wheelabrator Baltimore, the environmental impacts of landfilling and long-haul transporting of waste, in addition to the loss of offsets to coal and oil emissions, would cost the city environmentally and economically. 

Offsetting Air Pollution in Baltimore City

Wheelabrator Baltimore and Veolia, through their generation and delivery of “green steam” to 225 Baltimore businesses, are reducing Baltimore’s total greenhouse gas by approximately 47,000 tons per year – the equivalent of removing 8,400 cars from the road.

The facility far exceeds Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions standards and is the choice of Baltimore corporations seeking solutions for sustainable waste management.

Recent studies by TRC Solutions and the US EPA found that Wheelabrator Baltimore’s impacts, when combined with local background air quality data, are all well below the National Ambient Air.

In 2017, Wheelabrator Baltimore’s renewable energy generation offset the need for:

  • 834,000 barrels of oil
  • 250,000 tons of coal
  • 3,800,000 cubic ft of natural gas

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A Necessary Source of Baseload Energy

Wheelabrator Baltimore provides Baltimore City with a baseload renewable energy resource that is cleaner than coal or oil – and reduces our reliance on and the impacts of oil, coal and natural gas.

As we move toward a more universal clean energy generation, the need for baseload renewable energy from Wheelabrator Baltimore to fill the gap is necessary because wind and solar cannot provide power all the time.

Important Economic Partner

Between 2012 and 2017, Wheelabrator Baltimore provided new revenue of $5,675,848 to Baltimore City.

The facility provides 65 well-paid, full time jobs to local residents, economic stimulus through the purchase of goods and services, routine annual facility maintenance and capital investments/upgrades. We are also one of Baltimore City’s top 10 property tax payers and support various community causes and programs.

For more information about Wheelabrator Baltimore, visit wtienergy.com.

A project of Wheelabrator Baltimore.