Sustainable investment in waste management (from EU)
Sustainable investment in waste management (from EU) Have a look at the attached letter with which GWC agrees wholeheartedly. For several years, I have been telling EU colleagues that they should do everything in their power, so the word "Incineration" is not used by EU, EC etc. broadly to include waste to energy (WTE) plants . [...]
Waste-to-Energy and Renewable Electricity
Waste-to-Energy and Renewable Electricity Pyrolysis is suitable for high calorific value wastes, such as non-recycled plastics (35 MJ/kg). It will not be viable for urban wastes <12 MJ/kg) and certainly not for wastewater biosolids (<5 MJ/kg). You cannot make a silken purse from a sow's ear. Researchers argue pyrolysis for wastewater biosolids not as sustainable as [...]
Minnesota Court: State Can Prioritize WTE Over Landfill Around Twin Cities
Minnesota Court: State Can Prioritize WTE Over Landfill Around Twin Cities A first in the U.S.A.: The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled April 8 that the state's Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) can in fact enforce a disposal hierarchy that prioritizes waste to energy.
New York Times Front Page about WTE
New York Times Front Page about WTE The front page of New York Times, dated March 27, 2019, carries a photograph of Copenhagen "ski slope WTE" with a story how Copenhagen has cut down its carbon emissions. Link to the story is here - https://www.nytimes.com/…/cl…/copenhagen-climate-change.html
Oregon’s Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Report 2018
Oregon's Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Report 2018 Oregon's Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) multi-year report, published in December 2018, questions some of the assumptions made regading environmental impacts of "recyclable" and "compostable" materials. Link to Oregon's Dept. of DEQ 2018 report: https://www.sciencedirect.com/…/artic…/pii/S0956053X15300775
The first WTE in Australia going up at Kwinana (Perth).
The first WTE in Australia going up at Kwinana (Perth) At the invitation of visionary Rob Moltoni of Moltoni Energy, Prof. Themelis spent a good part of April 2010 on a series of lectures in Perth (and Kwinana!) on the potential benefits of WTE for Australia. The gestation period was nearly eight years but hopefully the [...]
Prof. Marco Castaldi, Chair WtERT-US, is organizing the WtERT sessions of this meeting
Prof. Marco Castaldi, Chair WtERT-US, is organizing the WtERT sessions of this meeting. Link to NAWTEC 2019 meeting of SWANA in Reston Virginia (April 2019) https://swana.org/Events/NAWTEC.aspx) Please take a minute to view the program at: solid-waste.org. I hope that you will be able to attend this important meeting. If you need any further information or have specific questions, please [...]
WTE Options of Waste Management
WTE Options of Waste Management A very good and factual comparison of various "WTE Options of Waste Management" (combustion, anaerobic digestion, landfill gas) has been published by the German organization GIZ who has extensive presence and experience in the developing world. Read Full Article
European Commission’s “Circular Economy Action plan”
European Commission's "Circular Economy Action plan" Prof Themelis, of Columbia University has a commeny about the European Commission's "Circular Economy Action plan": On waste management, there is not one word about energy recovery by combustion of post-recycling wastes? By now, according to Eurostat data, 28% of EU MSW is used as fuel in waste-to-energy (WTE) plants [...]
Comment of Prof. Themelis on the broad use of the word “Incineration” and “Incinerators”
Comment of Prof. Themelis on the broad use of the word "Incineration" and "Incinerators" In many parts of the world landfills are set on fire to create landfill space. Even in the U.S., each year there are about three thousand unintended landfill fires (see Dwyer and Themelis, Dioxins study on Google). These events can be called [...]