Reduce Your Trash Footprint Substantially With Waste-To-Energy

Managing the waste stream from your facility has become more and more recycling-based. Whatever can be recycled is pulled out of the trash and sent to the appropriate location for recycling or repurposing. But that still leaves a lot of garbage that would normally head to a landfill. If that amount makes you uncomfortable, you have an option: waste-to-energy, or WtE. This is a modern form of trash incineration that creates power. It has some drawbacks, but they are quickly surpassed by the benefits.

CO2 Production

In WtE, trash is mixed and melted, sorted (to remove metals and other reusable materials that couldn't be separated before), and burned, with the heat from the fire going to make steam, which helps produce electrical power. However, the burning also creates carbon dioxide, which can contribute to climate change. This can raise alarm bells -- remember that backyard trash burning in the early and mid 20th century was a major factor in smog formation -- until you find out the whole story.

Methane Reduction

For starters, the amount of carbon dioxide that is produced is equivalent to the carbon dioxide that is trapped in the trash. In other words, there are no chemical reactions creating more of a certain compound.

But what really makes the WtE process worth it is the reduction in methane. If the trash had gone to the landfill, it would have degraded and produced a lot of methane, which would have had a worse effect on the climate. So that little bit of carbon dioxide is a lot better than all that methane.

Even better is the fact that newer plants have more pollution controls that restrict what gets sent out into the air. The people who run these plants are aware of the potential problems with burning trash and are actively trying to reduce them.

Landfill Space

Plus, burning the trash saves landfill space. There's nothing good about having a pile of junk lying around, filling up land. If you can prevent your facility's trash from contributing to the problem of lack of space, so much the better.

So sending trash to a WtE incinerator does have its benefits. If you are not located near an incinerator, the cost of transporting the trash may be high (and there is the added pollution from the truck carrying the trash, too). But new plants are opening up, so keep checking to see if one will be within a reasonable distance from you soon. Contact a company, like H & H Metals Co , for more help.

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