Hello, everyone, Philipp here. We’re hearing a lot about income inequality these days, and I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the economics of landfills, and the companies that operate them. The results might surprise you – or make you angry. In 1984, about 17% of…
While we favor a circular economy without landfilling or WTE/Incineration the nature of society (and consuming) does create waste that cannot be avoided or recycled. In that case waste should first be made inert, toxics destroyed, and materials and energy recovered so that landfilling, the worst option for dealing with…
On Wednesday evening, April 27th 2022, the King County Solid Waste Division (SWD) held a virtual meeting to provide an update on the expansion and operation of the Cedar Hills landfill, an exercise that can best be described as attempting to put lipstick on a pig. The landfill, originally slated…
February 17th 2022 In December of 2021, after months of questioning the King County Solid Waste Division (KCSWD) about their plans to expand the Cedar Hill Landfill, the Institute for Energy, Waste and Resource Management sent a challenge to the Director of the SWD. In it we took issue with their decision to expand, their claim of a recycling rate of better than 50%, their plans to improve that rate, their failure to take action on recommendations for improvement provided by consultant reports that they commissioned, and, last but most important, their claim that they capture more than 90% of the methane generated by the solid waste in the landfill. You can read the letter exchange here. For years we have heard from experts that capture of more than 50% is just not possible. The USEPA recently announced that methane from landfills is underestimated by a factor of two, and that methods for estimating emissions via computer models are outdated and based on faulty assumptions. And so, we issued a challenge: measure the methane escaping from the landfill, using proven, peer-reviewed technology, and see the results. We pointed out that this could be done for a very modest cost (less than $50,000) and in a very short time (less than amonth). And it would show the County government, and the citizens and taxpayers, what is really happening. The letter we received in reply was non-responsive and condescending. It merely restated the claims that we had questioned, noted that the most recent Comprehensive Plan included goals for improvement (although not the improvements their consultants had recommended), and declined our challenge to measure, rather than estimate, the methane emissions, saying that the KCSWD was “following the procedures.” In other words, they didn’t care that recycling rates can’t be proven, that their collection methods decrease the amount of material fit for recycling, and that methane emissions are probably much higher than they claim. But they’re “following the procedures,” so everything is okay. Our response to this letter pointed out its errors and called out the SWD for its failures, particularly its failure to take the advice of its consultants to begin moving away from landfilling. Why is this important? For three reasons: 1.) The Environment. Municipal Solid Waste includes toxic materials and chemicals such…
An Interview with Philipp Schmidt-Pathmann President and CEO of IeRM ((Note: We asked Mr. Schmidt-Pathmann for his views on climate change, global efforts to mitigate the problem, and what he thought would be most effective. This is the first segment of his remarks, which have been edited for continuity.)) Over the past summer, we’ve seen ample evidence of climate change: excessive heat and drought, wildfires out of control, tropical storms more powerful and more damaging than ever before, flooding, loss of beach front – the list goes on. And while people seem to be waking up to the problem, there are very few if any proposals for action now. Some want to switch to renewable energy – 50% by 2050. Some look around for someone or something to blame – big coal, big oil. And some just throw up their hands and say, “what can we do, when China and India won’t cooperate.” The honest and sad truth is that we’ve dug ourselves a pretty deep hole, and we can’t wait for the world’s leaders to get together at their next summit and argue about reduction targets and revised timetables. We also have to recognize that we, as individuals, need to accept some responsibility for both the problem and the solutions. That means, to put it bluntly, changing our behavior. One area where we, as individuals, can have an impact pretty quickly is waste management. But wait, you say, that’s a government…