The good always comes with bad. While burning trash for energy is very beneficial to the human race it still manages to do some harm to the environment. 

              

DISADVANTAGES:

EXPENSIVE: Creating the waste to energy plants are very expensive. Setting up new recycling units involves high cost. This huge cost can come up as a part of acquiring different utility vehicles, upgrading the processing facility, educating residents by organizing seminars and other programs, disposing of existing waste and chemicals. The trash has to be pre-sorted as well to make sure only certain trash materials are being burned for energy which means there will have to be more workers. 

HARMFUL TO THE ENVIRONMENT: All of the inorganics contained in the waste come out as ash, which contains char and tars. The amount of inorganics can be as much as 25% by weight which means that landfills will continue to be required to dispose of the ash. The ash has very little use except as a road base because even though it is considered non-hazardous it still has an environmental impact and very few people will use it. Dioxins are produced in the treatment and is a cancer forming chemical.

REQUIRES MORE LAND: Combustion of biomass products require some land where they can easily be burnt. Since, it produces gases like methane in atmosphere; therefore it can be produced in those areas which are quite far from residential homes.

Understanding the impact of recycling is essential on a large-scale. If waste to energy is done effectively it can bring in massive positive results, I think that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. These are all things that have to be carefully considered and weighed when determining if waste to energy is a good alternative energy source.

PhotoCredit: http://protectearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/saveenergy.jpg

WASTE TO ENERGY PROCESS

While many people think its better to have their waste buried I think that we should put it to good use instead by using it to produce reliable renewable energy. Using this energy source to power homes and businesses  takes less stress off of other fossil fuels such as coal oil and gas. This means we can have less mining, less drilling and less reliance on foreign imports.

This week I am going to explain the process of how waste to energy works.
 First, the municipal waste is delivered to facilities where it is stored in a bunker.
The waste is then transferred to a combustion chamber where the trash is burned.  The heat released from burning is used to convert water to steam. The steam drives a turbine that generates the electricity. Once these steps take place the electricity is then distributed to the local grid.

The ash that is made from the combustion is processed to extract metal for recycling. The ash is usually disposed of into a monofill which only recieves this type of waste. All the gases are collected throughout the process where they are cleaned and filtered before they are emitted into the atmosphere. The type of filter that is normally used to control emissions from particulate matter is a baghouse which is a fabric filter. The people who work with waste to energy operations must follow the code compliances to make sure that this type of renewable energy remains suitable for our environment.


                                      

Why Not Burn Our Trash For Energy?

Everyone in the world has trash so it would only make sense to make that waste turn into energy here in the United States. Many other countries such as Sweden and Norway have already started this and seen excellent results. Burning trash for energy will effect the broader environment in a positive way since we are running out of places to bury trash. We would make sure that the trash we are burning is environmentally friendly and wouldn't affect the ozone.