What Is Municipal Solid Waste?
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) or more commonly known as trash or garbage—consists of everyday items we use and then throw away, such as product packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food scraps, newspapers, appliances, paint, and batteries. This comes from our homes, schools, hospitals, and businesses*.
*http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/
What Is Included in MSW that can Be Recycled?
Any useful material can be recycled; commonly paper, glass, plastic, and metals are all recycled from Municipal Solid Waste. Organic waste, such as food scraps and yard trimmings can be recovered to produce compost, a natural fertilizer or used to produce a biofuel.
What are some of the Benefits of Recycling?
- Protects and expands US manufacturing jobs and increases US competitiveness
- Reduces the need for landfilling and incineration
- Prevents pollution caused by the manufacturing of products from virgin materials.
- Recycling saves energy
- Decreases emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change
- Conserves natural resources such as timber, water, and minerals
- Helps sustain the environment for future generations.
Why is the Green Power Process Better than Recycling?
No one would argue that we have made great strides, as a society, during the past forty years, when it comes to our efforts to recover certain recyclable products. Unfortunately, almost every recycling program depends on the support of consumers and businesses – all of them – and that has been, and will always be, an unreachable target. So municipalities are ecstatic when their recovery rates hit 40 or 50%, but that still means millions of tons of valuable, recyclable commodities are finding their way to landfills where, instead of creating value, they increase disposal costs and shorten the life expectancy of the landfill. Green Power offers a vastly superior option to traditional recycling products for several reasons:
- Increased recovery rates – virtually complete recovery of all metals, plastics and glass
- Mechanical Heat Treatment of organic material produces a waste-derived biomass
- Selective material separation value and usefulness of recovered commodities
- Separate curb-side collection of recyclables and yard waste/organics has the potential to be eliminated, thereby freeing up equipment and labor and dramatically reducing transportation costs and the production of greenhouse gases from diesel fuel
- Ensures that even the waste that is collected from public areas receives more intensive sorting and processing than was ever performed by the typical household
What is Mechanical Heat Treatment (MHT)?
Mechanical Heat Treatment is a term used to describe configurations of mechanical and thermal, including steam-based technologies. The purpose of these processes is to separate a mixed waste stream into several component parts, to give further options for recycling, recovery and in some instances biological treatment. The processes also sanitize the waste, by destroying bacteria present, and reduce its moisture content. The most common system being promoted for the treatment of MSW using MHT is based around a thermal autoclave.
What Is An Autoclave?
An airtight steel vessel used to heat substances and objects under very high pressures. An autoclave can heat substances above their boiling point; by increasing the pressure within the vessel. Autoclaves have been used for many years to sterilize hospital and surgical equipment using the action of steam and pressure. This device is also commonly used to sanitization certain clinical wastes, and to process/render certain animal wastes, prior to sending to landfill. Its application to MSW is a recent innovation.
How is Biomass made from Municipal Waste?
Two thirds of the municipal waste stream is comprised of organic materials, either yard waste, food waste, waste wood or paper and cardboard. When separated from the rest of the waste stream and then processed in the autoclaves, these organic materials become a virtually homogenous biomass, with chemical characteristics very close to wood biomass.
What are some of the Uses of the Biomass?
All contaminants are removed during the treatment process, so the biomass can be used as a fertilizer, or as ground cover in the rehabilitation of brownfield sites. It can be used as a feedstock for cellulosic ethanol production – meaning that even parts of the country without access to large quantities of wood waste can produce ethanol and related chemical products. For communities facing the loss of coal-power generation as a result of the tougher EPA air emission standards, co-firing the biomass with coal, or, better yet, converting the coal plant to 100% biomass are cost-effective and environmentally-superior ways of producing electricity. Unlike sporadic wind power generation, biomass can produce consistent base-load power.
What Type of Waste can be Processed?
A Green Choice Bio-Recovery facility can accept Residential, Commercial and certain Industrial waste. We can accept separated recyclable material as well as yard/organic waste. We do not accept hazardous waste or liquid waste.
What is Hazardous Waste?
Household products that contain corrosive, toxic, ignitable, or reactive ingredients are considered to be “household hazardous waste” or “HHW.” Products, such as paints, cleaners, oils, batteries, and pesticides that contain potentially hazardous ingredients require special care when you dispose of them.
What does NIMBY mean?
Defined as the opposition to the locating of something considered undesirable (as a prison or incinerator) in one’s neighborhood.
