The nation's leading waste-to-energy association, Integrated Waste Services Association, announced today that it has changed its name to the Energy Recovery Council.  The Energy Recovery Council retains its dedication to promoting the generation of renewable energy from waste as the best means to reducing dependence on fossil fuels and promoting energy independence, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions and provide environmental stewardship through sustainable waste management.

"Modern waste-to-energy facilities produce renewable energy from household trash.  Rather than letting waste go to waste, our members recover valuable energy and materials from post-recycled trash and generate much-needed renewable baseload power.  The mission and the name of the organization highlight the ability of the nation’s waste-to-energy facilities to produce clean, renewable energy,” said Ted Michaels, President of the Energy Recovery Council, whose members include companies and local governments engaged in the waste-to-energy sector.

“During a time in which our nation is thirsty for non-fossil homegrown energy sources, our industry is able to provide climate-friendly, renewable energy.  As Congress grapples with policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gases and promoting renewable energy, waste-to-energy is poised to provide solutions to decision-makers looking to tap into renewable fuel sources,” said Michaels. 

The Energy Recovery Council is the national organization representing the waste-to-energy industry.  The Council’s members are dedicated to recovering energy and materials from waste remaining after recycling in a manner that is protective of the environment.  The nation’s 87 waste-to-energy facilities operate in 25 states and have a baseload electric generating capacity of approximately 2,700 megawatts.  These facilities produce this clean energy by annually processing more than 28 million tons of post-recycling municipal solid waste. 

As progressive environmental policymakers in Europe have learned, waste-to-energy not only reduces a nation’s carbon footprint, it is compatible with high recycling rates and helps to minimize the landfilling of trash. Application of EPA’s lifecycle analysis demonstrates that for every ton of waste processed at a waste-to-energy facility, a nominal one ton of carbon dioxide equivalents is prevented from entering the atmosphere.  Waste-to-energy achieves the reduction of greenhouse gas emission through three separate mechanisms: 1) by generating electrical power or steam, waste-to-energy avoids carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from fossil fuel-based electricity generation, 2) by processing trash in a waste-to-energy facility rather than depositing it in a landfill, the generation of methane as landfill waste decomposes is avoided, and 3) the recovery of ferrous and nonferrous metals from MSW by waste-to-energy is more energy efficient than production from raw materials.

Policymakers for three decades (since the inception of the waste-to-energy industry) have recognized municipal solid waste as a renewable fuel.  The production of clean energy from garbage has been attained through substantial investment by the waste-to-energy industry and its municipal partners. Waste-to-energy facilities achieved compliance with Clean Air Act standards for municipal waste combustors through an investment of more than $1 billion by companies and their municipal partners to upgrade facilities, leading EPA to write that the “upgrading of the emissions control systems of large combustors to exceed the requirements of the Clean Air Act Section 129 standards is an impressive accomplishment.”

Click here for the press release.