A major shift for medical waste disposal in Maryland. 

The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) announced October 1 that incinerator operations at Curtis Bay Energy’s South Baltimore facility will come to an end under a settlement between the company and the state. The settlement resolves a complaint involving multiple air pollution violations and includes a $600,000 civil penalty. Under the consent decree, the facility will transition from medical-waste incineration to a waste transfer station with lower limits on the amount of waste it can accept. The company is required to cease all incineration operations within 90 days of the issuance of a modified refuse disposal permit. 

The settlement follows years of documented enforcement activity at the facility, including operational deficiencies that resulted in emissions above permitted standards, visible and unpermitted emissions, and a fire, according to MDE.  

What Could This Mean for Medical Waste Disposal? 

While the facility is located in South Baltimore, Curtis Bay Energy has served a much broader medical-waste market than Baltimore or Maryland alone. Reporting has documented waste arriving at the facility from across the United States and Canada. That means removing this capacity from the market could have local and regional reverberations. 

While the specific impacts are not yet clear, hospitals, healthcare systems and other medical-waste generators that have relied on Curtis Bay Energy may need to evaluate alternative treatment and disposal pathways. 

Potential areas we’ll be watching include: 

• Transportation: Some waste may need to travel farther to reach an appropriate treatment facility, potentially changing transportation logistics and costs. 

• Available capacity: Other medical-waste treatment facilities may see increased demand as generators shift disposal routes. 

• Pricing: Changes in transportation, treatment capacity and market demand could potentially affect disposal costs and contract pricing. 

• Treatment options: Healthcare organizations may need to evaluate alternative treatment technologies and determine which waste streams require incineration versus other treatment methods. 

These are potential impacts we’ll be watching as the transition takes place, rather than confirmed outcomes of the settlement. 

An Important Lesson About Data and Transparency 

There’s also a bigger lesson here about knowing where your waste goes. 

Waste doesn’t simply go away when it leaves your facility. Knowing where your waste goes, how it is treated, and what happens after it leaves your dock is critical to understanding both your environmental footprint and your exposure to changes in the disposal market. 

Good waste data can help healthcare organizations answer questions such as: 

Where is our waste actually going? How is it being treated? How far is it traveling? What treatment facilities are we dependent on? And what happens if that capacity changes? 

This is a powerful reminder that “out of sight, out of mind” isn’t a sound waste management strategy. 

For hospitals and healthcare systems, disposal infrastructure is not static. Permits change. Facilities transition. Markets shift. Understanding your waste streams and disposal pathways can help organizations stay prepared when those changes occur. 

At Reduction In Motion, we’ll be following this story and its potential implications for healthcare waste management in Maryland and the surrounding region as additional information becomes available. 

Learn More: 

• Attorney General Brown and Department of the Environment Reach Agreement with Curtis Bay Energy to End Incinerator Operations at South Baltimore Facility Press Release (10/1/2026)