With all the talk lately in Arnprior News of landfill lifespans and the inherent pollution and runoff I’m reminded of a proposal 20 years ago led by Arnpriors Tommy Sullivan to install a county wide garbage incinerator to be supported by the various Townships. At that time the proposed cost was $10 million and while it was an “unknown” to most people in Canada it may be time to revisit this idea. Not only will it pay for itself in the production of electricity to business’s and homes  it also provides a clean alternative fuel.

Europe Finds Clean Energy in Trash, but U.S. Lags

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

Published: April 12, 2010

HORSHOLM, Denmark —…..Far cleaner than conventional incinerators, this new type of plant converts local trash into heat and electricity. Dozens of filters catch pollutants, from mercury to dioxin, that would have emerged from its smokestack only a decade ago.

.. such plants have become both the mainstay of garbage disposal and a crucial fuel source across Denmark,…. Their use has not only reduced the country’s energy costs and reliance on oil and gas, but also benefited the environment, diminishing the use of landfills ….. The plants run so cleanly that many times more dioxin is now released from home fireplaces and backyard barbecues than from incineration.

With all these innovations, Denmark now regards garbage as a clean alternative fuel rather than a smelly, unsightly problem. And the incinerators, are known as waste-to-energy plants,…

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A plant in Horsholm, Denmark, uses new technology to convert trash into energy more cleanly.

Denmark now has 29 such plants, serving 98 municipalities in a country of 5.5 million people, and 10 more are planned or under construction…..

….Nickolas J. Themelis, a professor of engineering at Columbia University and a waste-to-energy proponent, said America’s resistance to constructing the new plants was economically and environmentally “irresponsible.”……