Implementing the SDGs in Maryland

On October 10, 2023, Global Goals at Home team members Olivia Meade and Shayna Vayser hosted sustainability coordinators from the Maryland cities of Bowie, College Park, and Laurel to discuss current sustainability initiatives and share best practices. Shayna opened up the discussion by asking the coordinators how they defined sustainability through their role, and on the individual level if it was different. Michel Blair from Laurel City defined sustainability as something that encourages communities to make decisions based on economic, environmental, and social impacts for the long term rather than the short term. Ashleigh Diaz from Bowie City added that it was important to remember the human component of sustainability, when we often just think of sustainability through the environmental lens. Janet McCaslin from the City of College Park brought a unique perspective to the conversation, discussing how being a college town has the city viewing sustainability in a different light, contending with brokers renting housing to students and degrading the community.

In the spirit of sharing best practices, Shayna asked the coordinators about their successes from the last few years in their cities. In College Park, Janet shared that bulk trash has been an issue they have been working to decrease for almost five years. They were able to pass a bulk trash ordinance to restrict the amount of bulk trash that residents can dispose of, and as a result, the city has seen their bulk trash reduced by almost 60 percent. The city also passed the Better Bag bill that prohibits plastic bags at the point of sale earlier this year. Lastly, Janet shared that the city was able to pass a tree canopy ordinance to require residents to apply for a permit to request to take down any trees in the city.

Michele shared that composting legislation passed that will require residents to divert food waste from what goes to the landfill beginning January 1, 2025. She emphasized that the city of Laurel has shared the legislation with other jurisdictions, in hopes that other cities will follow a similar template. Michele pointed out that if one were to look at legislation such as the plastic bag legislation, you will see that the language is very consistent across municipalities, which in turn puts pressure on the county to adopt similar language or a hybrid version of legislation that supports similar goals.

Although Janet, Michele, and Ashleigh share information about their city’s work on a regular basis through small working groups and other gatherings, Ashleigh demonstrated just how important discussions like this are to have when she told the group that this was the first time she was hearing about the tree ordinance in College Park. In Bowie, Ashleigh shared about their curbside food scrap program, with over 300 houses involved. In addition, they have sold almost 1000 compost bins to members of their community.

In the Q&A portion of the discussion, an audience member asked how the Global Goals at Home program has been helpful in amplifying the sustainability work for coordinators. Michele answered that the GGH platform has been a helpful tool for quickly learning information, with the capability of digging in further to a specific sustainability issue should you need to. The city was also able to pull data from the dashboard to assist in their sustainability plans. “This dashboard gives Laurel that springboard for our Phase 2 of sustainability planning,” said Michele.

Interested in learning more about the sustainability work in Maryland cities? Click on the links below to check out more programs and progress in College Park, Laurel, and Bowie!

Unable to join the roundtable? Watch the recording here.