According to the Energy Information Administration, the average American throws away about 4.5 pounds of trash daily, and nearly 1,600 pounds per year. Finding smart, innovative ways to deal with this waste is one of many major environmental challenges facing our society. Surprisingly, the garbage we throw away may actually be part of the solution to diversifying our nation’s energy mix.
Waste, it turns out, is one of our leading energy alternatives.
Our garbage, called municipal solid waste, or MSW, is recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency as a renewable fuel. In fact, trash has been a source of alternative energy for at least a century. In 1898, New York City began recovering energy from its garbage through incineration techniques. Today, with our nation burning 14 percent of its solid waste, incineration is the most common form of waste-to-energy (WtE) processing.