A Happy Marriage: EfW and Recycling

The excellent recycling record of communities can be attributed to several factors, including onsite recycling efforts at Energy-from-Waste plants, the importance a community places on recycling as part of a comprehensive solid waste management plan, and the economics of recycling.

The average American produces more than 1,600 pounds of waste a year. If all this waste were landfilled, it would take more than two cubic yards of landfill space. Currently, over 50% of our nation’s waste is buried in landfills annually, which poses a number of problems. Land is a precious commodity and at the present rate 3,500 acres (13.7 square kilometers, equivalent to four NYC Central Parks) are lost annually to landfills. This number will continue to rise to keep pace with our ever-increasing production of trash.

Covanta: Taking trash to the next level

Waste is a problem that will not go away, and will only grow over time as the world population continues to increase. As a nation, we should be committed to finding the most effective solution for dealing with our municipal solid waste (MSW) in ways that limit and reduce environmental and human impact.

So what should be done with the 280 million tons of waste after recycling? EfW facilities provide communities with a clean source of power generation, minimal disturbance to surrounding neighborhoods, and a safe and effective solution for managing local trash generation.

How much waste does Covanta dispose of in a year?

Last year alone, Covanta-operated facilities converted more than 17 million tons of trash into 8 million megawatt-hours of electricity and 10 billion pounds of steam sold to a variety of industries. The amount of waste we handled would fill a line of garbage trucks stretching from New York City to Los Angeles and back again — then back once more to L.A.

What’s in our garbage—and where does it go?

In 2003, the United States produced an estimated 236 million tons of municipal solid waste – the stuff we call garbage. That’s about 4.5 pounds per person per day.

About one third of that waste consisted of packaging and containers. Food, yard waste, and other organic throwaways accounted for another 25%. Newspapers, magazines, and other nondurable goods made up 26% of the total, while durable goods such as kitchen appliances and tires accounted for 17%.

Most of the garbage – approximately 55% -- wound up in landfills. Another 31% was recycled, and just 14% was converted to energy.