Recycling, Climate Change & Green Energy: Your Waste Makes a Difference!

Presenter: Jeremy Abramowitz

What are we talking about today?

• Garbage: when you throw something “away,” what happens to it?

• Recycling: how can we use our waste as a resource instead of throwing it out?

• Energy: Where does it come from, how do we use it?

• Climate Change: Why what we do with our waste and where we get our energy matters

Key Terms: What do you know about these concepts?

• Renewable Energy

• Greenhouse Gas

• Recycling

• Biodegradable Material

Garbage: Where does it go?• Most garbage in the U.S.

goes to landfills. • A landfill is a specially

designed site that must hold lots of garbage without letting solid material, liquids, or odors seep into nearby air, water, and soil

• What might be some ways to reuse a landfill once it is capped and closed?

Landfills Have Gas!As garbage slowly breaks down inside a landfill, a gas called methane is released. Below: An engine powered by landfill gas

generates renewable energy

Methane facts:

-Strong greenhouse gas (20x CO2 strength)

-Can be used for energy (same gas found in natural gas)

-Unlike natural gas, landfill gas is renewable and not a fossil fuel

Greenhouse Gas Basics:Waste Sector

Other Sectors Impacted by Changes in Waste Management Practices

Puente Hills 50 Megawatt Boiler, Los AngelesLargest Landfill Gas Power Plant in U.S.

Innovative Use for Landfill Gas:Green Vehicle Fuel

Liquid carbon dioxide wash for pre-compression cleanup

Fueling station for CNG-powered cars & trucks,

Franklin County, OH landfill

Innovative Use for Landfill Gas:Fuel Cells

Solid Oxide Fuel Cell powered by landfill gas, Finland

Landfill Operations

Daily Production & Compaction

Gas Treatment

Gas Flaring

Leachate Treatment

Daily Cover

Gas/Condensate Monitoring & Collection

Landfill Compactors: Heavy Duty

Did you know? A landfill compactor can weigh up to 120,000 pounds! Imagine 1,000 of today’s presenter jumping up and down on a pile of trash…

Landfill Reuse:Turning a Liability into an Asset

Park Ridge Golf Course, Palm Beach, FL, formerly Lantana Road Landfill

Landfill Reuse: Renewable EnergyWind power installed at

a landfill in China

Solar Energy Cover replaces traditional closed landfill cover, Tessman Road Landfill outside San Antonio, TX

Waste-to-Energy: An Alternative to Landfills

A waste-to-energy power plant located in Westchester County

Advantages and Challenges of Energy from Waste

58 megawatt Waste-to-Energy power plant, expanded in 2007 (FL)

1.4 gigawatt coal power plant, closed in 2005 (NV)Vs.

WTE Operations: Receiving Pit & Crane

WTE Operations:Sorting Refuse Derived Fuel

WTE Operations:Combustion Grates

WTE Operations:Boiler System

WTE Operations:Turbine & Electrical Generator

WTE Operations: District Energy

Did you know? 70% of the buildings in downtown Detroit, MI are heated and cooled by the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Facility

WTE Operations:Air Pollution Controls

Scrubbers

Continuous Emissions Monitoring System

Fabric FilterBaghouses

WTE Operations: Controls & Emissions Monitoring

WTE Operations:Ash Management

WTE Operations:Ferrous Metal Recycling

WTE Operations:Non-Ferrous Metal Recycling

Emerging Technology: Waste Conversion

100 ton-per-day Ottawa plasma arc gasification demonstration facility:Cleaner, Better, More Efficient…perhaps

450 Ton per Day Mechanical Biological Waste Treatment Facility, Germany

Litter: Uncollected Garbage• Litter is garbage that

accumulates outdoors• Where can litter come

from?- Pedestrians- Vehicles- Garbage trucks/carts- Yards, parks, public spaces- Others?

• Where does most of it end up?

…where does most litter end up? The ocean!!!

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch or Pacific Garbage Vortex is the world’s largest collection of waterborne plastic.

Not-so-fun facts about ocean plastic:-The Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of Texas!-Plastic does NOT biodegrade and harms seabirds and ocean life when it accumulates in the water-There is 5x as much plastic in the patch as plankton (natural debris) by weight

Above: Harvesting plastic from the oceanBelow: The ocean currents that deposit plastic into the Pacific Garbage Patch

Recycling: It doesn’t have to be garbage!

• Collection• Sorting• Marketing

What are the important parts of a city or county recycling program?

Make sure you know which materials go in which bins!

The Bottom Line: Recycling saves energy and natural resources

The Three Rs of RecyclingPlus One! Reduce

Recy

cle Reu

seRECOVER

What can be recycled? Metal

• Aluminum cans• Steel cans• Automobiles• Scrap metal• Precious metals (gold,

silver, platinum, etc.)• Recycling metal is a high

priority because almost all metals have strong market value!

Recycling metal saves energy and reduces the need for future mining!

What can be recycled: Paper

• Office Paper• Cardboard• Paper bags• Packaging• Newspaper• Magazines

Recycling paper saves trees and energy!

Recycling Operations:Sorting & Baling Paper

What can be recycled: Some Plastics…

Many recyclers do not take plastic bags, styrofoam, and certain other plastics.Find out if your recycler accepts it before you toss it in the bin

Recycling Operations:Sorting & Baling Plastic Containers

Composting: Recycling Biological Material to Soil

What is composting?

A natural process in which organic material such as yard waste and food scraps are turned into a rich, soil-like material that can be used as a fertilizer

It’s organic, it’s biodegradable, but is it compostable?!

Building Materials: Recycling Old to New

• Wood• Concrete• Brick• Asphalt• Ceramics• Steel• Glass• Flooring• Roofing• Insulation• Interior

From demolition…to construction!

Recycled Asphalt Pavement Millings

Toilet Bowls Crushed into Construction Aggregate

Household Hazardous Waste (HHW):Not Safe for Landfills or Curbside Collection

What kinds of waste present hazards?- Electronics (contain toxics)- Paint- Medical waste, including biomedical sharps (needles)- Pharmaceuticals- Batteries- Light bulbs- Mercury, other heavy metals (old thermometers, thermostats)- Household chemicals & cleaners: drain cleaner, detergent, antifreeze, motor oil, etc.

What is the best way to recycle or safely dispose of these wastes?

Making Connections in Our Lives…Can you name 3 things you use every day that can be recycled?

How many ways can you think of that you use energy every day? Can you think of 3 ways to save energy in your home?

What we do with our waste affects the availability of energy and other natural resources. How so?

There’s only so much we can do to manage waste effectively! What are some ways we can reduce the amount of waste we produce in the first place?

There are lots of different careers available in waste management. What are some of the things you see people doing in these pictures?

Disposal is just the last step in the life cycle of a product. What are some of the other stages and what kinds of environmental impacts do those have?

Making Connections:

A Brief History of Waste Management in and around

New York City

Fresh Kills Municipal Landfill, Staten Island

Picture of Fresh Kills taken c.1990, operated 1948-2001

Fresh Kills Municipal Landfill c. 2008Site Remediation in Progress

Fresh Kills Gas Recovery Since 1999

Methane from the closed landfill is sold as heating fuel and used to heat up to 22,000 homes

Planned: Fresh Kills Park

Smaller Landfills in NYC Closed 1970-2000

Closed landfill in the Bronx, planned as future golf course

Jamaica Bay Landfill Superfund site, Queens

Article Published 1919

WTE plants operate inNYC1908-1993

Today: Remote Disposal

Modern landfill in New Jersey overlooking Manhattan

Essex County Resource Recovery Facility Newark, NJ 2800 tons per day WTE

Wheelabrator Bridgeport, CT2250 TPD WTE

Brooklyn Wastewater Digester Opened 2008

New York City Recycles

More info: New York City Department of Sanitation

www.nyc.gov/dsny

Electronics Recycling in NYC

Protecting People, Protecting the Environment: It’s All Connected

• Managing waste is all about protecting the environment: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, creating renewable energy, protecting our air and water, and recovering resources from waste to ensure a cleaner, healthier world for our children, our children’s children…

…Because this is the only home we’ve got!

Questions???