aChester has long been a city plagued by inequities on many levels, but none more crucial to the health and safety of its residents than the ongoing environmental issue presented by Covanta.
This issue came to the forefront during the mayoral primary in the spring of 2022 when former mayoral candidate Jeff Brown responded, “The trash has to go somewhere,” upon being asked about Philadelphia shipping its trash to the City of Chester. This comment received wide-ranging criticism as the City of Philadelphia continued to truck 400,000 tons of its trash a year into the Chester plant.
Philadelphia Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson chaired a hearing on Wednesday, October 25, in the Committee on the Environment to hear testimony on Resolution No. 230328. The resolution was sponsored and introduced by Gilmore Richardson, adopted by Philadelphia City Council on May 27, 2023., authorizing hearings in committee to evaluate the environmental justice impacts of the city’s waste management practices and potential alternatives to the city’s contract with Covanta Delaware Valley LP.
Covanta is one the largest trash-to-stream plants in our country and is the major source of pollution, though they claim to protect the environment and the health of the community. Covanta expels particulate matter, acid gases, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen, also causing high rates of environmental cancers, heart disease, lung issues, increased risk of death from COVID-19, and asthma in a vast majority of Chester residents. Dozens of Chester residents added their testimonies at a Philadelphia city council hearing on Wednesday, October 25, pleading with officials for the ending of Covanta’s contract for processing waste at the company’s incinerator in Chester. Many cited diminishing qualities of health and life as a result of activities at Covanta.
According to hearing testimonies, Covanta is a trash-to-steam plant whose primary purpose is to burn trash to produce electricity, recover metals from the waste stream for recycling, and provide other waste management services. However, there appears to be little benefit to the City of Chester. It should be noted that of the daily 80 megawatts of electricity that Covanta produces, very little is used to power homes in the City of Chester.
Zulene Mayfield, Chester native and Chairperson of Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL), a community-led non-profit group that organizes and educates on issues of environmental justice, clean air, and health in Chester and surrounding regions, stated, “CRCQL formed in 1992 in direct response to the self-proclaimed trash to steam plant.
Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL) were eager to participate in the hearings being held by the City of Philadelphia Committee on the Environment to gather testimony from those directly impacted by Philadelphia’s contract to send trash to Covanta’s incinerator in Chester. For decades, Chester residents have been suffering health-wise, socially, and economically from the burning of trash in our community. Roughly 1/3 of the trash burned at Covanta, some 400,000 tons per year, comes from the City of Philadelphia, the rest from other areas. We estimate that the 33,000 residents of Chester bear the burden of 2 million people’s trash. We believe that the Covanta incinerator in Chester is a major hindrance to the economic growth and revitalization of the community.”
“Philadelphia Council, please commit to real solutions concerning your trash. Our life expectancy is being reduced by years, and members of our community are really suffering and dying. None of us has our own air supply. Therefore, we should all care. Chester gets the pollution first, but Philadelphians breathe it eventually,” said Mayfield.
Mayfield further stated, “This is climate destruction and environmental genocide, and it must end! We strongly encourage Philadelphians to advocate for Mayor Kenney and members of Philadelphia’s City Council to NOT renew their contract with Covanta. The City of Philadelphia closed all its incinerators in the best interest of the public. Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, must decide if Chester is your neighbor or your dumping ground!
Covanta’s Environmental manager, Kim Bradford, acknowledged that Chester has been overburdened by environmental hazards but defended the plant, saying emissions were under the limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials. We are sensitive to these burdens and continually strive to do better,” she said. Councilmember Kathy Gilmore Richardson, who called the hearing, noted the EPA lists the plant as in violation of the Clean Air and Water Acts. She said she will be watching until the contract comes up for renewal in 2026.
Covanta touts its successful delivery of reliable, environmentally friendly disposal services at competitive prices–but residents of Chester are wondering if the price they’re paying is far too high and not at all worth it.
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