Municipal waste to energy is a fantastic way to turn the garbage we discard into a renewable energy source that can help heat and power our homes. Municipal solid waste, also called MSW, can be a big renewable energy source that has other environmental benefits as well. When our garbage is turned into municipal waste energy, the benefits are numerous. There is less garbage to clutter and fill our landfills, so that fewer landfills are needed and less trash is thrown out. Municipal waste to energy programs also lessen the demand for oil and other fossil fuels, because the energy converted from the MSW is used instead of oil or other fossil fuels. There are already many municipal waste to energy facilities located in the United States, and the state of Kentucky generates enough energy from waste to energy facilities to power hundreds of thousands of homes each year.

Municipal waste to energy facilities operate in one of two ways. These facilities can burn the MSW and use the energy released to create heat and steam, which can be converted to electricity. The second way to convert waste to energy is by collecting the methane gas that is released when MSW decomposes. For every ton of municipal waste that is converted into energy, there is one barrel less of oil or about a quarter of a ton of coal that is not needed. In America alone, even with the waste to energy facilities that are already in operation, almost three hundred million tons of municipal waste is sent to the landfills in the country every year. This means that there is an enormous potential to increase the municipal waste energy substantially. If all municipal solid waste was converted into energy instead of simply discarded, we could end up reducing our dependence on oil and coal by at least three or four percent, which translates into hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil and thousands of tons of coal.

Municipal waste is a renewable energy source that shows great promise, and all waste to energy facilities follow almost the same procedures when the waste is first received. The waste is sorted, with recyclable materials being set aside. Even tires and many plastics can be turned into energy, but metal cans and other items that can be reused are removed and set aside. At this point, a waste to energy facility that burns the waste will put the materials into the incinerator to burn, so the released energy can be captured in the form of steam. This steam is then used to create electricity.

The most efficient and effective way to convert municipal waste to energy is to use landfills created for this purpose. These landfills are designed to maximize the production and recovery of the methane gas that is created by decomposing waste in the landfill. Methane gas can be dangerous when it builds up, and some landfills will simply burn off the gas safely, to remove it and keep it from building to dangerous levels. In a waste to energy landfill however, this gas is collected, purified, and then either used or sold to utilities and other businesses. These landfills are designed to make it easier to recover the gas, and encourages the municipal waste to decompose more quickly, producing more methane gas as a result.

Municipal waste is an alternative energy source that is renewable, sustainable, and eco-friendly, and this renewable energy source may be the answer to an energy crisis. Your garbage leaves your home as rash and comes back in the form of electricity, while protecting the environment and eliminating the need for oil and other fossil fuels. Metals are removed before municipal waste is converted to energy, and this means mining for metals will be reduced because of recycling and lower demand.