My roommate, who’s a Community, Environment, and Development Major at Penn State, told me about Sweden’s waste to energy plants that have all but eliminated the use of landfills. Large industrial incinerators burn the trash, which produces steam that helps turn generator turbines. This practice provides electricity and heat to almost a million homes in Sweden, not to mention has reduced the amount of waste that ends up in landfills significantly. I did a little research and it seems that although there have been plenty of proposals for these types of plants in the US, there has been a large amount of resistance because the plants are emitting their own portion of hazardous gases and because people lack understanding. Another argument seems to be that the WTE plants don’t produce enough energy for them to be worthwhile. This brings up the question which evil is more evil: the endless landfills which are currently seeping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere or a WTE plant which might eliminate landfills but comes with problems of it’s own?
According to the energy recovery council, WTE plants reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A study they did in Massachusetts determined that “about 270,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions are avoided annually because of this one plant’s operations.” This number is based off a 1500-ton-per-day waste-to-energy.
By this logic, 1500 tons x 365 days = 547,500 tons of waste per year would not be entering our landfills because of a single WTE plant. Even more, regardless of the amount of energy this WTE plant is producing, a single plant is saving nearly 300k tons of CO2 emissions as compared to traditional landfill disposal. To me, it seems like the benefits of the WTE plants will outweigh the drawbacks of a landfill despite the preconceived opinions about the incinerators and other factors.
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I thought this post was very interesintg because I’ve always wondered how Sweden was so environmentally friendly and forward thinking. I always hear about it but I’ve never done any research. Their ability to eliminate landfills is very appealing but the fact that they turn it into energy to be used by citizens is amazing.
When you wrote, “Even more, regardless of the amount of energy this WTE plant is producing, a single plant is saving nearly 300k tons of CO2 emissions as compared to traditional landfill disposal,” doesn’t it depend on the amount of energy the plant is producing since the end result of more energy means that there was more disposed waste? Basically, the WTE plant is not effective if it doesn’t produce energy because the energy it produces is a result of the waste it eliminates from landfills.
Hi Carmen, good topic. It looks as though your links are broken though. Check to make sure that they work when clicked… Also,a post on this subject in PA probably should mention the Harrisburg WTE plant which ended up driving the city into bankruptcy… just a thought…
It’s truly an interesting topic and your use of math is appropriate. I, personally, have never heard about any environmental issues in Sweden. It is always good to learn something interesting and new.
Great article carina good use of math and sources it seems to me like sweden may be ahead of the game when it comes to waste management