Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living is holding an Environmental Justice Day caravan and march on Saturday April 23 at 1 PM to protest the Covanta trash incinerator, the Delaware County city’s largest polluter. The group will convene at Chester City Hall parking lot, 1 E 4th St, Chester, PA 19013.
Chester has a population of about 32,000 people, over 80% of whom are BIPOC, and more than 33% of whom live below the poverty line. The incinerator is the nation’s largest, burning up to 3,500 tons of municipal waste every day. About a third of the trash it burns comes from Philadelphia, and it also takes trash from 14 states outside of Pennsylvania as well as Canada. In most years the facility is Delaware County’s largest single polluter, and it operates without pollution control devices used by other trash burning facilities.
The Delaware County Solid Waste Authority’s contract with Covanta, the company that operates the incinerator, expires on April 30. Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living has been advocating against renewal of the contract and for the county to pursue a zero waste strategy.
Is there any update on this?