That's certainly better than setting it all out to float in the ocean as new garbage islands.
Sweden Runs Out of Garbage With Waste-to-Energy
31–40 of 193 posts
Re: Sweden Runs Out of Garbage With Waste-to-Energy
#32How is that economically/environmentally sound to import garbage? Garbage should be burned locally to avoid extra pollution.
Not in my backyard! Seriously, that's why it's shipped rather than burned locally. Some people don't want these plants around them no matter what the benefit.
For example: Detroit
http://www.epa.gov/region07/air/title5/petitiondb/petitions/...
Re: Sweden Runs Out of Garbage With Waste-to-Energy
#33For a different perspective I found this older article which ponders the economic impact of forcing 9 million people to spend time and energy sorting their trash: http://mises.org/daily/2855
Thank you! I really think the fact that Sweden is 30 time smaller than the US is a significant aspect of the problem, which ought to be highlighted a bit more when doing a comparison between these two countries on their energy models. How hard would it be for the US to implement such solution (assuming the cost would not be as prohibitive as it is compared with nuclear energy), first in a large city like NY (or LA) a…
Go look up Harrisburg and how their trash->energy plant as worked out.
Re: Sweden Runs Out of Garbage With Waste-to-Energy
#34In the third world, the poor comb through garbage dumps seeking anything that might have value.
Obviously, I'd like to see that end. There are many more productive things humans can do that are far less of a risk to their health.
But imagine robots that are able to do it, either at the source or before the garbage is burned or buried or shipped off elsewhere.
A lot of work still remains before that happens, but one day robots will be carefully examining each item discarded and sending it to the most appropriate place.
Re: Sweden Runs Out of Garbage With Waste-to-Energy
#35For a different perspective I found this older article which ponders the economic impact of forcing 9 million people to spend time and energy sorting their trash: http://mises.org/daily/2855
Last I checked, no one is "forced" to do anything. They are free to let the trash pile up in their homes, so long as they keep it from impacting their neighbors. Instead, the service of trash disposal is being offered with restrictions.
Re: Sweden Runs Out of Garbage With Waste-to-Energy
#36Are there any negative externalities turning garbage into energy? What are the byproducts? Pollution released into the air? Spread to everyone else? Because this is wonderful!
It's certainly a better option than putting it into a landfill, where the organic portion will turn into energy anyway, and the non-organic portion will do nothing but potentially pollute the groundwater.
Re: Sweden Runs Out of Garbage With Waste-to-Energy
#37In the third world, the poor comb through garbage dumps seeking anything that might have value. Obviously, I'd like to see that end. There are many more productive things humans can do that are far less of a risk to their health. But imagine robots that are able to do it, either at the source or before the garbage is burned or buried or shipped off elsewhere. A lot of work still remains before that happens, but one d…
'Robots' do sort garbage, but it doesn't work as well as humans, and it's probably suited only to certain types of garbage.
Re: Sweden Runs Out of Garbage With Waste-to-Energy
#38NYC. Problem solved.
0. NYC, like many big cities, creates a ton of trash (excluding writers and actors).
1. I didn't see anything about CO2/CO/COx emissions. Landfills are semi-sequestration. Burning is definitely not sequestration. It doesn't seem scalable. See also: http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_green_why_we_should_build_wooden_skyscrapers.htmlRe: Sweden Runs Out of Garbage With Waste-to-Energy
#39For a different perspective I found this older article which ponders the economic impact of forcing 9 million people to spend time and energy sorting their trash: http://mises.org/daily/2855
... an article which of course assumes that the costs of the (not spelled out) alternatives are zero... My parents do this and it's not like it's very onerous.
Well, the point he makes is that the same is true for the other statistics. It'd probably be cheaper environmentally for a garbage truck to pick up all your garbage for instance, rather than each person traveling to the recycling center themselves.
Re: Sweden Runs Out of Garbage With Waste-to-Energy
#40For a different perspective I found this older article which ponders the economic impact of forcing 9 million people to spend time and energy sorting their trash: http://mises.org/daily/2855
Thank you! I really think the fact that Sweden is 30 time smaller than the US is a significant aspect of the problem, which ought to be highlighted a bit more when doing a comparison between these two countries on their energy models. How hard would it be for the US to implement such solution (assuming the cost would not be as prohibitive as it is compared with nuclear energy), first in a large city like NY (or LA) a…
Japan has about a third of our population and they do garbage sorting pervasively. I believe it's less onerous than the Swedish scheme, though.