By Karen Melton, Member, Southeastern Pennsylvania Group; Sylvanian Volunteer
Americans produce a lot of waste – estimated at 2 tons per year for average households. So where does it all go? In Philadelphia nearly 40% of its solid waste is incinerated, with the largest portion going to an incineration plant in the nearby city of Chester. The Reworld plant, previously named Covanta (still the same company) has been in operation since 1991 and burns more than 2,600 tons of trash every day in a residential neighborhood of Chester, PA. It is the largest incineration plant in the U.S. and the single largest source of air pollution in the Southeast PA region. Residents have been fighting for the right to breathe cleaner air even longer -- the city is the location of multiple polluting industries.
According to the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Excellence in Environmental Toxicology, Chester has the highest infant mortality rate in Pennsylvania and twice the rate of asthma as the PA state level. Chester’s 27% pediatric asthma rate is more than four times the national average.
Burning trash results in significant quantities of toxic ash that still must be disposed of, and pollutes the air with fine particulate matter, volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides, all of which are known to exacerbate respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. The residual ash, as much as 30% of the weight before burning, must still be disposed of. All of this requires a large number of trucks driving in and out of the facility every day.
According to the Clean Air Council, Reworld inspects less than 5% of trash trucks that enter the facility, and even then, no bags are opened during those inspections and air pollution tests for heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and mercury only occur once a year. In addition, it constantly operates in High Priority Violation of the Clean Air Act.
Philadelphia’s contract to incinerate trash in Chester ends in June 2026 and Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, Chair of the Environment Committee, has introduced a bill, the “Stop Trashing Our Air” Act.
Many organizations in the region have joined forces in support of the bill, including the Southeast PA Sierra Club group. There has been a sign-on letter sent to the Mayor and City Council, campaigns to call and write elected officials, a screening of ‘Trash and Burn’, a documentary about the Reworld plant by the filmmaker Bilal Motley who is from Chester, and a large turnout at a recent hearing on the bill before the council committee. Members of the committee heard from health and environmental experts and from residents of Chester describing what it’s like to live in a community where one out of four children has asthma, the air smells bad, cancers are common, and homeowners are unable to sell their houses. Few can afford to move away. The committee voted to advance the bill for consideration by the full council.
Research has shown that incineration is much more environmentally damaging than landfilling trash. Philadelphia has contracts for both and costs are comparable. While the long term solution is to eliminate single use items, plastics particularly, and adopt a circular economy where things are designed for reuse and actual recycling, in the meantime we should stop poisoning the air by incinerating trash.
This blog was included as part of the December 2025 Sylvanian newsletter. Please click here to check out more articles from this edition!