NATIONAL REPORT—The amount of waste we’re
producing globally is growing at an exponential rate. By 2025 we’re expected to
be generating 2.2
billion tons of municipal solid waste annually—a
prediction that stresses the need to develop and adopt new waste management
strategies.
When you combine this with the rising importance of switching to alternative
energy sources in order to limit the effects of climate change, the
waste-to-energy industry stands out as being at the forefront of addressing
both challenges.
While it remains under-utilized in a world still relying on landfill and fossil
fuels, we are likely to see the sector grow stronger in the near future.
How Do Waste-to-Energy Plants Work?
Waste-to-energy is the process of converting non-recycling waste in order
to generate energy in the form of electricity and/or heat. The method recovers
energy from waste that would otherwise add to already overflowing landfill sites.
Waste-to-energy is typically done through combustion or producing a combustible
fuel such as methane and ethanol. Two tons of waste equals one ton of coal,
while four tons of waste equals one ton of oil, making waste-to-energy plants a
viable option for better managing our waste.
What Are the Benefits of Waste-to-Energy
Plants?
As well as providing more highly-skilled jobs, modern waste-to-energy
plants offer a wealth of benefits.
Primarily, the process is proven to reduce greenhouse emissions by reducing the
volume of waste sent to landfill and replacing the use of fossil fuel. For
years countries have dealt with their waste by burying it or dumping it at sea—both
of which are incredibly harmful to our environment.
While our seas face well-known pollution problems, landfill sites generate
methane and other harmful greenhouse gases. Reducing our reliance on landfill
not only reduces these gases but also protects precious natural land.
Waste-to-energy plants located in communities have also been shown to reduce
the need for transporting waste over long distances by truck, resulting in less
air pollution and less traffic. Landfill sites on
the other hand are often located far from the communities contributing
to them.
There has been a concern that waste-to-energy adoption will lessen the impetus
on recycling, however the European countries
that are making use of these facilities boast the highest recycling rates in
the continent.
Advancing Technology
Burning waste has not
always been 100 percent efficient, but in a rapidly developing industry of
growing importance, technological advances are putting advanced conversion
facilities at the heart of the sustainable power revolution.
With the help of engineering experts organizations are
constantly improving and upgrading the safety, performance and reliability
levels of their waste-to-energy plants. The progress made in the sector in the
past decade only stands to further position waste-to-energy as a viable
waste-management and alternative energy solution.