Plastics and Green House Gas Emissions from Waste-to-Energy
ARTICLE AND RECORDING OF FULL PANEL
Compatibility Between Recycling and Waste-to-Energy
RELATED EXCERPTS
Why are Recycling Rates Higher in Communities with Waste-to-Energy?
Making the Spittelau Waste-to-Energy Plant Possible
Waste-to-Energy in the Waste Management Hierarchy
Correlation between Recycling Rates and Waste-to-Energy
Thanks to the Earth Engineering Center for making this knowledge sharing possible
CONTRIBUTORS
Managing Director, UV&P Environmental Management and Engineering
Author, Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America
QUESTION 1
What is the comparison between carbon dioxide (CO2) or green house gas emissions from waste-to-energy and landfills with respect to plastics?
Managing Director, UV&P Environmental Management and Engineering
We have done the material and energy balances for waste-to-energy in the city of Vienna. We found that by providing both district heating and electricity, waste-to-energy in Vienna reduces the equivalent of 1.4 tonnes of CO2 emissions compared to landfilling with recovery of some landfill gas for electricity generation. So, 1.4 tonnes of CO2 can be saved by 1 tonne of municipal residual waste going into the waste-to-energy facility in Vienna. That’s significant.
QUESTION 2
Is a waste-to-energy plant an economic disincentive to increasing diversion or recycling programs?
Author, Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America
Managing Director, UV&P Environmental Management and Engineering
People who understand about environmental issues are more likely to be pro waste-to-energy. I’ll give you a recent example.The third largest town in Austria is Linz. Linz is a city which does not have a very good air quality. They have some problems because of industry and poor meteorology. Now, they had an idea to build a waste-to-energy plant for the utility company of Linz in the city of Linz. So, we prepared a list of alternatives to recommend to the State Governor. The responsible head of this deputy department is a Green Party member and he issued the permit for that plant. The municipality in the (down) wind direction of Linz has a Mayor who is also a Green Party member. He did not oppose to the plant either. He accepted it. In the public discussions in the city of Linz, we did not have even one person objecting to the waste-to-energy plant. So, we received the permit with no objection. We have built it and everybody is happy with it. It provides for district heating, and for some electricity production and is in the middle of the city of Linz.
So, you see (that) the argument that environmentalists are against waste-to-energy does not hold. Typically there are other reasons like economic issues or a lack of understanding which create such a background. Or maybe inappropriate technology. I would not exclude that. There are some projects which are not designed well. There are some stupid projects, yes. But, in principle if waste-to-energy is designed properly, it is positive from the perspective of environmental impact.
RESOURCES
Article and Comments Section: Waste-to-energy technology is cleaner and safer than generally believed – Shawn Otto (On Minnesota Post) (Comments Section on Ensia)
Report: Recycling and Waste-to-Energy: Are They Compatible? – Eileen Berenyi (Link to PDF)
White Book: Waste-to-Energy in Austria, Figures, Data and Facts – Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (Link to PDF)
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