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The Covanta trash incinerator on Chester's waterfront. (Emma Lee/WHYY)
Bilal Motley grew up in Chester, Pennsylvania, where nearly everyone he knew suffered from asthma, a stark reality reflected in the city’s childhood asthma rate of 27%. The rate is over four times the national average, and he and many others attribute this to the massive trash incinerator on the city’s waterfront that burns 3,500 tons of waste daily from several states. As the director of his latest documentary, “Trash & Burn,” which chronicles the community’s fight against the incinerator, Motley aims to highlight local advocates’ efforts to shut down the plant for decades.
Motley will screen the film for free on November 19th at Widener University’s Freedom Hall.