Bacon - yes that's our catchy title. Did it work?
Everyone loves Bacon (unless you are a veggie – even then you can have plant-based bacon!)
Of course, we could write a whole blog about Bacon!
But actually, we are going to continue to encourage incineration as a sustainable solution to aid the world’s landfill and municipal waste problems. It is an ingenious way of turning someone’s rubbish into treasure, and around the world, businesses are cashing in. On average, a single facility can burn up to 300 million tons of garbage every year, converting it into power and, at the same time, reducing the load on coal-fired power plants, which of course, are a disaster for the environment.
In Sweden and Denmark, waste is used as input in district heating schemes and shiploads are imported to supply the fuel. Sweden has even transformed recycling into a multi-million-dollar industry. Sweden is not only saving money by replacing fossil fuel with waste to produce energy; it is generating 100 million USD annually by importing trash and recycling the waste produced by other countries. The United Kingdom, Norway, Ireland and Italy pay 43 USD for every tonne of waste that Sweden imports to this end.
Only 1% of Sweden’s trash is sent to landfills. By burning trash, another 52% is converted into energy and the remaining 47% gets recycled. The amount of energy generated from waste alone provides heating to one million homes and electricity to 250,000. Meanwhile, the UK recycles just 44% of its waste.
And whilst we fully understand that many have concerns about the long-term uses of incineration, and what issues this may have on human health. Research has shown that solid waste incinerators are less likely to pollute the environment than landfills. A study done during a 1994 lawsuit in the US showed that a waste incinerator location was more environment-friendly compared to a landfill. Proving that incineration processes are still the better solution.
To end this week’s blog, we are sending an open invitation to anyone who wants to have a bacon sandwich, coffee and catch up.