Thanks for the link. I have pulled a few passages to highlight some telling
points, pasted in and bolded below.
I understand the reluctance to embrace waste to energy here in the US. The
argument has focused on the undermining of recycling and the pollutants
produced. I think these issues are well addressed by the Danish approach.
Joel
Many countries that are expanding waste-to-energy capacity, like Denmark
and Germany, typically also have the highest recycling rates; only the
material that cannot be recycled is burned.
>
While new, state-of-the-art landfills do collect the methane that emanates
from rotting garbage to make electricity, they churn out roughly twice as
much climate-warming gas as waste-to-energy plants do for the units of
power they produce, the 2009 E.P.A. study found. Methane, the primary
warming gas emitted by landfills, is about 20 times more potent than carbon
dioxide, the gas released by burning garbage.
'
In Horsholm only 4 percent of waste now goes to landfills, and 1 percent
(chemicals, paints and some electronic equipment) is consigned to special
disposalin places like secure storage vaults in an abandoned salt mine in
Germany. Sixty-one percent of the towns waste is recycled and 34 percent is
incinerated at waste-to-energy plants.
c
At the end of the incineration process, the extracted acids, heavy metals
and gypsum are sold for use in manufacturing or construction. Small amounts
of highly concentrated toxic substances, forming a paste, are shipped to
one of two warehouses for highly hazardous materials, in the Norwegian
fjords and in a used salt mine in Germany.
The hazardous elements are concentrated and handled with care rather than
dispersed as they would be in a landfill,said Ivar Green-Paulsen, general
manager of the Vestforbraending plant in Copenhagen, the countrys largest.
In Denmark, local governments run trash collection as well as the
incinerators and recycling centers, and laws and financial incentives
ensure that recyclable materials are not burned. (In the United States most
waste-to-energy plants are private ventures.) Communities may drop
recyclable waste at recycling centers free of charge, but must pay to have
garbage incinerated.
oo
At 10:32 PM 4/13/10 -0400, you wrote:
Apropos the Danish message brought to Ithaca last year-
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/science/earth/13trash.html?src=me&ref=general
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