Waterfront Partnership and the Ravens collaborate on a $3.75 million healthy harbor project.
On Tuesday (Earth Day), the Baltimore Ravens, The Stephen and Renee Bisciotti Foundation and Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore announced a five-year, $3.75 million partnership that will support the Healthy Harbor Initiative, which the Waterfront Partnership oversees.
“We’re honored to support the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore and its important Healthy Harbor Initiative alongside the Bisciotti family,” said Baltimore Ravens President Sashi Brown in a statement. “The Partnership’s efforts are vital to sustaining and improving the ecosystems that are unique to our city, state and region. Together, we are committed to making our community waterways cleaner and safer than ever before.”
Over the next five years, the Waterfront Partnership and the Baltimore Ravens will work to improve the health of the Baltimore Harbor and the Chesapeake Bay. Goals during that period include: removing 5 million pounds of litter and debris from the Baltimore Harbor; growing 5 million oysters to help clean and restore the Baltimore Harbor and Chesapeake Bay; improving water quality and increasing the diversity and abundance of wildlife in Baltimore’s waterways; and engaging volunteers and Ravens fans in community-driven conservation efforts.
“We are incredibly grateful to The Bisciotti Foundation and the Ravens for investing in Baltimore’s waterfront and joining us in the fight for cleaner, healthier waterways,” said Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore President Laurie Schwartz in a statement. “This partnership is about more than just removing trash – it’s about restoring the harbor, creating a thriving ecosystem and making a lasting impact on our city. With the Ravens by our side, we’re tackling one of Baltimore’s biggest environmental challenges and proving that teamwork can make a real difference.”
To celebrate the new partnership, Mr. Trash Wheel will don Ravens apparel, including a trash wheel-sized Ravens jersey with his name and the number 1.
Mr. Trash Wheel, the googly-eyed water wheel that gobbles garbage from the Inner Harbor, became Baltimore’s first trash wheel in 2014 after being invented by environmentalist and shipwright John Kellett. Since then, the city has added three other trash wheels – Professor Trash Wheel, Captain Trash Wheel, and Gwynnda the Good Wheel of the West – and a fifth is being planned.
The four current trash wheels collect about 500 tons of trash and debris from the Baltimore Harbor each year, and have removed nearly 2,500 tons of trash to date. They’ve collected many of the usual suspects – thousands of plastic bags, cigarette butts, plastic bottles, and foam containers – as well as some unique items, like a guitar, a keg, a mattress, and a python snake (the latter was alive and well).
Together, the trash wheels have made the Inner Harbor swimmable under the right circumstances, allowing events like the Harbor Splash public swim and marathon swimmer Katie Pumphrey’s 24-mile Bay to Baltimore endeavor, both of which will return this year.
The Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore will celebrate Mr. Trash Wheel’s 11th birthday on April 26 at 3 p.m. at The Public Works Experience, located at 751 Eastern Ave.
Party-goers can enjoy snowballs and beer; make an upcycled terrarium; help paint a mural on Mr. Trash Wheel’s dumpster; and more. Tickets are available for purchase here.
