1. Waste
to
Energy

2. Waste in America
The average American
discards 4.34 pounds of
trash everyday.
If all the waste was
collected, put into average
sized garbage trucks, and
positioned in a straight line
across the U.S., it would
extend from New York to
California, more than 100
times. Americans produce
more and more waste
every year.

3. What can we do with our trash?
Of the 4.34 pounds of
trash discarded everyday,
about 1.5 pounds are
recycled or composted.
What happens to the rest
you ask?
It will either be burned or sent
to underdeveloped
countries (for a fee) to sit
in a landfill.
However, these tactics
seem inane since the
development of Waste to
Energy.

4. Where can Waste to Energy be found?
Today trash, often
called municipal
solid waste
(MSW), is burned
in special waste to
energy plants.
About 87 waste to
energy plants can
be found in the
United States
today.

5. EPA Awarded Grant
One plant in
particular, the East
Bay Municipal Utility
District, was awarded
an EPA grant for
research, due to their
innovative methods
in turning food waste
into energy.

6. CO2 Emissions
According to the U.S.
EPA MSW Decision
Support Tool nearly
one ton of CO2
equivalent emissions
are avoided for every
ton of MSW handled
by a waste-to-energy
plant.

7. Benefits of Waste to Energy
Energy produced by
waste can be used to
heat buildings or
generate electricity.
However, the major
advantage of burning
waste is that it
reduces the amount
of material that is
deposited in landfills.

8. For more information on topics like this visit our
Resources page at www.Microempowering.org