ENERGY-COST SAVINGS ASSOCIATED WITH MUNICIPAL SOLID-WASTE RECYCLING

Energy recovery from municipal solid waste (MSW) is attractive to stat e and local governments due to the economic value of the recycled mate rials, the energy cost savings from recycling, and the cost savings de rived from reduced landfill volumes. The energy cost savings included in the study are both avoided costs from the recycling and reuse of ma terials and recovered energy through waste-to-energy conversion of MSW . This study compiles information from several sources in order to def ine the avoided energy costs and recovered waste-to-energy. The scenar ios outlined in this report illustrate the projected energy savings fr om different programs designed to: (1) Recycle 100% of certain MSW; (2 ) recycle 25% of certain MSW; (3) recycle MSW to achieve maximum energ y recovery; (4) recycle MSW to minimize landfill disposal and; (5) min imize landfill volumes utilized and maximize energy recovery by incine ration of plastic waste. It was concluded that waste-to-energy convers ion is necessary if energy recovery and volume minimization are to be optimized simultaneously.