WTE Statistics and Facts
- Minnesota's resource recovery facilities annually process into energy enough garbage to fill Target Field nine times.
- By avoiding methane from landfills, offsetting the use of fossil fuels, and recovering metals for recycling, WTE waste management reduces greenhouse gas emissions by nearly one ton.
- A ton of waste processed at a resource recovery facility generates 9 times more energy than the same ton processed in a landfill with gas recovery.
- EPA data concludes that municipal solid waste landfills are net emitters of greenhouse gases, even with active landfill gas-to-energy systems in place. Resource recovery facilities are net reducers of greenhouse gases.
Sources and Additional Information:
- EPA; https://www.epa.gov/environmental-topics/land-waste-and-cleanup-topics
- EPA; Solid Waste Management and Greenhouse Gases: A Life-Cycle Assessment of Emissions and Sinks
- Covanta Energy Corporation; Jeffrey L. Hahn letter to California Air Resources Board
- Energy Recovery Council
- Minnesota Statue 115A.02
- Babcock & Wilcox Waste to Energy Overview: https://www.babcock.com/home/renewable/waste-to-energy/waste-to-energy-technology
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