The Big Picture
PCD Credit: Material Disposal Cost Transparency
(1 Point, Reciprocal)
Credit Summary
To provide transparency to the cost of waste materials that are landfilled or treated with burn technology, such as at waste-to-energy facilities, thermal conversion facilities, or Incinerators.
Impact Summary
Submittal Summary
Case Study and Benefits Summary
Intent and Requirements
Intent
To provide transparency to the cost of waste materials that are landfilled or treated with burn technology, such as at waste-to-energy facilities, thermal conversion facilities, or Incinerators.
Local Government and Industry Requirements:
- Calculate the cost per ton of disposal in the landfill or incineration plant of waste materials collected from residential and commercial customers by/through the Local Government’s or the contracted Company’s waste management program
- Mixed waste/black bin waste
- Bulky waste
- Demonstrate how costs are covered.
- Make cost data available through the Local Government or Company website.
Potential Strategy:
Include transportation from the transfer station to the ultimate disposal site in the cost assessment.
Why We Care
Demystifying the costs associated with the disposal of waste at landfills or by using burn technologies like incinerators, waste-to-energy, and thermal conversion can help rebuild the rampant stakeholder mistrust in the solid waste management system in the US. By presenting the public with the true cost of solid waste disposal, both municipalities and the industry partners can bolster stakeholder optimism in not only the disposal of their solid waste, but also in the recycling process, which is at an abysmal low currently. Practicing cost transparency can also be effective in promoting a great sense of community that is free of resentment for an opaque waste management system.
How to Meet the Requirements
To meet the requirement, Local Governments and Industry Leaders must provide documentation proving that they have calculated the cost per ton of disposal in the landfill or incineration plant of waste materials collected from residential and commercial customers by/through the Local Government’s or the contracted Company’s waste management program. They also must provide their cost data through the Local Government or Company website.
Required Documentation
Case Studies & In-Depth Information
Referenced Standards
Definitions
Bulky Waste
EPA Definition: Refers to those items that are large enough to warrant special collection services separate from regular residential curbside collection. Examples include major appliances and furniture.
Incinerator
SWANA Definition: Generic term for an enclosed unit that burns Solid Waste, sometimes without energy recovery.
Thermal Conversion Facilities
CalRecycle Definition: The thermal conversion process is a technology that enables the conversion of waste feedstock into specialty chemicals, oils, gases, carbons and fertilizers. The thermal conversion process, or TCP, mimics the earth’s natural geothermal process by using water, heat and pressure to chemically reform organic and inorganic wastes into useful chemicals and compounds. These materials are supplied in their raw forms and can be delivered as the original materials as in plastics from computer cases, tires or solid waste streams. These materials are first reduced into a manageable homogeneous material that can be fed into the TCP processing system. The TCP process reduces them into the basic molecules as fuel gas, oils and other useful materials. Even heavy metals are transformed into harmless oxides.
Waste to Energy
Student Energy Definition: describes various technologies that convert non-recyclable waste into usable forms of energy including heat, fuels and electricity. WTE can occur through a number of processes such as incineration, gasification, pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion, and landfill gas recovery.