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 The Salisbury Municipal Incinerator 

Overview

The Salisbury Municipal Incinerator was a waste management system built for roadside clutter. It burned trash at high temperatures, releasing toxic gasses into the atmosphere and the community. After its demolition, the city of Salisbury built a landfill, which also poses danger to public health.

History

The Salisbury Municipal Incinerator was a project estimated to be fully completed by September 1950. The Incinerator was a three-story structure that cost an estimated 261,000 dollars to build. The project was commissioned due to the need for the city of Salisbury, MD, to have a method for city-wide waste management. The city incinerator later closed down, and there were initial talks of turning it into a museum. Still, the site was later demolished, and the city of Salisbury Police department was built there. The site is located off Route 50 that was built in later years.

Environmental Factors Caused by Incinerators

After its closure MD state law required 23 counties to conform to a waste management plan to better handle city waste. Salisbury’s solution for this state mandate was to build a landfill to handle city waste. The Environmental Service Commission spearheaded the project. The landfill project, though completed, faced several issues due to heavy rainfall and flooding so it had to be closed until after the inclement weather. In November 1992 the Salisbury City Council was quoted an estimated cost of $16 million - $20 million dollars to build a bigger and more efficient landfill. Waste materials that are dumped onto landfills release toxic gasses such as methane, nitrogen, hydrogen and water vapor, which can have a contribution to climate change. In 1963, the clean air act initiated the development of a national program to reduce air pollution and protect the public health and welfare of people. It wasn't until the clean air act of 1967, where the national program was enforced.

Present Day

The Salisbury Solid Waste Division is now a complex that houses buildings of various functions to enable storage of equipment and a physical workplace for employees. There are 60 employees that work at the landfill to run its day-to-day operations which include: landfill, dredging operations, and recycling. To efficiently manage daily operations the workers utilize 85 pieces of equipment to complete daily tasks. For utmost efficiency some of the work is contracted out when necessary.