Many of us generate a lot of waste, but do we really know what happens to it once it’s thrown away? This is the fourth article in a series that looks at what happens to the tons of materials we discard.
In the U.S., garbage disposal predominantly involves landfilling and incineration. Let’s take a closer look at how incineration works in America.
While landfilling is more common, incineration sparks a lot of debate. However, incineration can be the best choice for a community under the right circumstances, despite its environmental impacts.
According to the latest EPA data, only 23.6% of municipal solid waste (MSW) is recycled in the United States. Another 8.5% is composted and 6.1% is managed as food waste through other methods. The remaining 61.8% is either disposed of in landfills or incinerated. Currently, there are 72 incinerators in the country, handling only 11.8% of the garbage, with the rest going to landfills.
Over time, incineration has evolved. The technology is now often referred to as “waste-to-energy” or WTE, emphasizing the energy recovery aspect where the heat released from burning waste is used to produce electricity. While it is less efficient than recycling, “waste-to-energy” ranks above disposal on the EPA’s waste management hierarchy.
However, concerns about environmental impacts persist. Incineration emits carbon dioxide and trace amounts of toxic substances like dioxins, acids, and heavy metals, which many consider unsafe and unacceptable.
The Waste Incineration Process
Every incinerator follows a unique process, but the most common technique is “mass burn,” encompassing five steps involving waste preparation, combustion, energy recovery, environmental control, and environmental release.
Although incineration can destroy pathogens and some toxic materials, concerns about byproducts, such as fly ash and the leftover waste that needs to be disposed of in landfills, remain.
Ultimately, whether landfilling or incineration makes more sense for a community depends on various factors, such as resources and eco-vulnerabilities.
Read part five of this five-part series, How Curbside Recycling Works. Originally published on November 5, 2019, this article was updated in February 2024.
