Garbage Heating Systems

Debby

Debby

Well-known Member
Location
East coast of Canada
I don't know if anyone else finds these stories as exciting as I do, but just in case...

Sweden has aced the 3 R's of modern garbage management, Reduce, Recycle and Reuse! As well as the folks there being excellent recyclers, what garbage is left, goes to heating homes instead of to the landfill! They've gotten so good at all aspects of garbage, that they're getting low on garbage and have started taking trash from Norway and England!

So those two countries pay Sweden to take their garbage and Sweden uses it to heat their homes! Isn't that brilliant? I love stuff like this where people figure out better ways to deal with modern day issues that threaten the future.

“There is no end in sight to this trend,” the U.N. agency explains. “Public waste systems in cities cannot keep pace with urban expansion; rapid industrialization is happening in countries that have not yet developed the appropriate systems to deal with hazardous and special wastes.”............The Scandinavian nation is a recycling powerhouse, having implemented a national recycling policy that ensures the energy generated by waste goes into a national heating network to keep Sweden’s homes warm throughout the year.
http://www.collective-evolution.com...e-going-to-import-trash-from-other-countries/

(Just thought I'd share this for those who might be interested.)
 

We have had a garbage burning steam plant in our area for over 20 years. The plant is said to generate approx. $100.00/ton of garbage, $75.00 from tipping fees, $22.00 from the sale of electricity and $3.00 from the sale of reclaimed metal. The plant goes in and out of favor depending on the price of energy, sometimes it makes money and sometimes it loses money so all of the politicians have a chance to bash it or praise it depending on the economy. IMO it is still a good investment even in those years when it is not profitable.
 

Aunt Bea said:
We have had a garbage burning steam plant in our area for over 20 years. The plant is said to generate approx. $100.00/ton of garbage, $75.00 from tipping fees, $22.00 from the sale of electricity and $3.00 from the sale of reclaimed metal. The plant goes in and out of favor depending on the price of energy, sometimes it makes money and sometimes it loses money so all of the politicians have a chance to bash it or praise it depending on the economy. IMO it is still a good investment even in those years when it is not profitable.
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I suspect it is hard to evaluate the true cost of operating that, primarily because how to factor in the cost of not having to use as much landfill space.
 
That is AWESOME!!! Having spent my entire life in environmental engineering... designing and building facilities that provide safe drinking water or reduce pollution of our lakes and streams... the reuse of refuse is one area we've been delinquent in. Hopefully, more folks can follow the lead of using refuse to generate heat for homes and businesses.

I do believe there is one more "R" that could be inserted in the search for wasted energy. In addition to 'Reduce', 'Recycle', and 'Reuse' maybe we need to add 'Republicans'. After all, if one could capture the BTU's of heat from all the "hot air" those folks exhaust......... :>)
 
Hoot N Annie said:
I'm glad they could make it work. I lived in Ohio most of my life and Columbus (capital city) built a trash burning power plant in the 80s. It soon came to be known as the "cash burning" power plant. A link to an old article is attached

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/01/03/daily18.html
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Isn't that too bad they couldn't make it work! And the next time somebody maybe comes across the link to Sweden's method and suggests it, opponents will point to the failed system and try and convince everyone that burning garbage is a baaad idea. And shortsighted folks will just too often accept that 'it didn't work last time'.
 
Grumpy Ol' Man said:
That is AWESOME!!! Having spent my entire life in environmental engineering... designing and building facilities that provide safe drinking water or reduce pollution of our lakes and streams... the reuse of refuse is one area we've been delinquent in. Hopefully, more folks can follow the lead of using refuse to generate heat for homes and businesses.
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I've often thought if I could go back and start my life over, I'd go in the direction of education to be involved in the kinds of things you described above. Unfortunately, I got side tracked by being a stupid teen with issues from childhood, blah, blah, blah and never did anything purposeful with my life as a result. But good for you for being there in that important support of our lives and our environment!
 
My area recycles 75%, by weight, of all garbage - we have to, the EU fines us for each ton of landfill we generate.

The only things I don't recycle are cling film and bubble wrap (not sure if they have the same name in the US). All organic garbage - food and plant waste etc. - is composted and sold to gardeners.

My non-recyclable garbage amounts to a couple of lbs every two weeks.
 
I'm totally inspired by any efforts to 'walk lightly upon the earth'. In our area like yours Laurie, we're required to separate it all. Drives me crazy when someone I know doesn't separate compostables.
 
Debby said:
I've often thought if I could go back and start my life over, I'd go in the direction of education to be involved in the kinds of things you described above. Unfortunately, I got side tracked by being a stupid teen with issues from childhood, blah, blah, blah and never did anything purposeful with my life as a result. But good for you for being there in that important support of our lives and our environment!
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"Happened into it"... Sent by a construction company owner to a small town to repair brush aerators in an oxidation ditch. Huh??!!! I had no idea what either was. When I found it was at a sewage treatment plant... well, we needed to put food on the table for wife and baby. "Borrowed" books from the operator's office at night to read in the hotel room. Began learning what various wastewater treatment processes were. Went from their to assist in constructing an entire wastewater plant. Once on line, saw raw sewage coming in the headworks and clean, clear water leaving the plant. I was hooked. 20 years constructing water/wastewater treatment plants. 10 years in design and marketing of water/wastewater treatment equipment. Just retired... finally... after 15 years with an engineering firm as their field representative building large water/wastewater treatment systems. IOW, I've spent over 40 years "playing in other peoples' poop"!!!! Poop has provided a good living for my wife and the three children we raised. Have walked the halls of many of the Country's largest engineering firms. Have been associated for 15 years with one of the Midwest's largest firms. And, one of those who never gained a college degree. My two years of college were in a field totally and completely different than engineering.
 
Back door way to get into a great and timely career! I think the fact that you were 'hooked' when you saw the results maybe suggests that you'd found your calling and aren't you lucky for that! I'm still looking for a calling, any calling.....'Calling, where are you?'
 
Recycling our garbage and waste is going to become an increasing "Must" as time passes. Just the Methane gas being released from the landfills is a major contributor to atmospheric pollution. We throw away enough food in the U.S., every year, to feed millions of people. Our Hi Tech, "throwaway" consumer goods...TV's, computers, etc., are creating huge problems with all the hazardous compounds contained in them. More than one "futurist" has proclaimed that clean fresh water is going to be the "new gold" in another few decades. It seems, to me, that there is a great potential in recycling that is not currently being utilized.
 
We also need to get ahead of recycling and stop generating so much waste to begin with.

We need to cut back on our buying and eliminate as much waste from our own lives as possible.

Cut back on the energy used to heat and cool our homes, the energy for personal transportation, etc...

We have an obsession with packaging that generates huge amounts of trash. Do we really need a plastic foam tray and cling film over every orange, pepper and mushroom in the store.

The list could go on and on, we're just spoiled.

Much of what needs to be done can and should be done by individuals, we don't need to wait for the government.
 
On Prince Edward Island and in Nova Scotia where we lived before this, they are very intense about garbage sorting and such. Even in our apartment building, we are required to have a separate biodegradable counter top bag in a tiny lidded bin for any compostables and those are disposed of separately and then composted by the city. And gardeners can buy it back then for in their gardens or the parks board might use it too for flower beds that are at the street corners.

And before we moved, we took years of old computers, receivers, wires, and remotes to the electronic recycler in town.

The apartment that we're renting is brand new and it is heated with a heat pump so it uses considerably less electricity than any other methods.

I have no problem 'complying' with the rules, love them and wish everyone was as cooperative. The one area I do fall down on is taking a bag for just regular shopping although I always use my reusable bags for groceries. (note to self: do better!)
 
I watched a series on tv called Trashopolis and it looked at how some of the great cities of Europe managed and manage their garbage over the centuries. Who knew garbage management could be such an interesting story?

Apparently Paris was a disgusting city back in the day! In the years before the great cholera epidemic that killed so many, not only were they throwing everything out in the street, but in a large square where their city water source was, there was a huge 3 tiered scaffolding with 12 spaces on each side erected right beside it and overtop of a large pit. That was where they used to hang criminals, only as a warning to other criminals, they'd leave the bodies hanging there until they just fell apart and dropped into the pit below. Right beside their water!!!! And the stench will have been indescribable I would think.

We've certainly got garbage issues, but fortunately we've also advanced a lot in that regard.
 
Back in the 70's my dad was a hospital engineer. He had this idea for a refuse burning incinerator. It was designed for larger facilities where there was an abundance of refuse. It took all trash, wood, paper, light metals, glass etc and crushed them and mixed it with water, made into a slurry and squeezed thru a form to make presto log type pellets that were then fed into the incinerator, which created heat in the form of steam and also drove steam turbines to generate electricity. Unfortunately he mentioned this idea to some fellow engineers and one of them took that idea and turned it into reality. oh well such is luck..
 
I imagine that many people have had an idea and someone else was quick to take it, patent it and make a fortune on it. Such a drag for the originator of the idea. Wasn't there a movie about the guy who invented intermittent windshield wipers who had the same thing happen? Or was that movie about him inventing them and then selling the idea???? Teasing around the edges of my brain and I'm sure I'll remember the details in about three days but by then, the conversation will be 'long' in the past (sort of like the 24 hour news cycle eh;)).

Too bad your dad didn't get to patent his idea. Was he very disheartened by how that happened? I know I would be.
 

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