Is Waste a Good Source
of Energy?
Dr. Jeffrey Morris
Sound Resource Management Group, Inc.
Olympia, WA 98502
jeff.morris@zerowaste.com
Tel 360.867.1033
Earth, Wind & Fire Energy Summit -- Oct 4, 2014
Energy Savings from Recycling vs. Energy Generated
from Combustion/Gasification of MSW Materials
Million Btus per Ton
250
Virgin-Content Production
Recycled-Content Production
200
Recycling Energy Conservation
150
WTE Electricity Generation
WTE = Waste-to-Energy
MSW = Municipal Solid Waste
100
50
0
Alum Cans
PET Bottles
HDPE Bottles
Newspapers
Cardboard
Tin Cans
Glass Bottles
MSW WTE Facility, Spokane, WA
MSW WTE Pollution Control Equipment
GHG Emissions (pounds CO2e) per kWh
Carbon Footprints for Electricity Generation
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Solar
Natural
Gas
Coal
MSW WTE
Film
Plastic
WTE
Wood WTE
Sources: Kim, H. C.; Fthenakis, V.; Choi J-K.; Turney, D. E., 2012. Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Thin-film Photovoltaic Electricity
Generation – Systematic Review and Harmonization. Journal of Industrial Ecology 16 (S1): S110-S121; Morris, J., 2010. Bury or burn North
American MSW? LCAs provide answers for climate impacts & carbon neutral power potential. Environmental Science & Technology 44 (20): 79447949; Morris, J., 2014. Recycle, Bury, or Burn Wood Waste Biomass? Journal of Industrial Ecology, in peer review; and Whitaker, M. B.; Heath, G.
A.; Burkhardt, III, J. J.; Turchi, C. S., 2013. Life Cycle Assessment of a Power Tower Concentrating Solar Plant and the Impacts of Key Design
Alternatives. Environmental Science & Technology 47 ( ): 5896-5903.
Motivations for Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)

Provide environmental performance assessments
for competing products or services

Evaluate environmental impacts that are otherwise
not counted or are discounted in making choices

Provide assessments of multidimensional
environmental impacts in monetary units in order
to compare against the economic bottom line

Connect the dots in complex systems
Schematic of a Product’s Life Cycle
Energy
Raw
Materials
Acquisition
Energy
Materials
Manufacture
Energy
Product
Manufacture
Energy
Energy
Product Use
or
Consumption
Recovery,
Recycle, Landfill,
WTE Conversion
Reuse
Energy
Environmental
Pollution
Environmental
Pollution
Environmental
Pollution
Environmental Environmental
Pollution
Pollution
Product Reuse
Material Recycling
WTE vs. Recycling Climate Impacts
Paper & Cardboard
WTE vs. Recycling Climate Impacts
Film Plastic (LDPE)
Wood Chip Piles, 49 MW Biomass Plant
Anderson, CA
Source: Dr. Mary Booth, Partnership for Policy Integrity, www.pfpi.net
Life Cycle Environmental Impacts for
Clean Wood Waste – Recycle, Bury or Burn
Number of Std. Dev. Above/(Below) Mean
3.0
Reconstituted
Wood
Paper Pulp
Fuel (NGas Sub)
Fuel (Coal Sub)
0.0
LFGTE (75%)
LF Flare (75%)
LF Vent (0%)
WTE
-3.0
Climate Change
Acidification
Eutrophication
Respiratory
Diseases
Non-Cancers
Cancers
Ecotoxicity
Monetized
Overall Score
Monetization Estimates
• Climate Change – eCO2 @ $50 per ton
• Acidification – eSO2 @ $290 per ton
• Eutrophication – eN @ $4 per ton
• Human Health-Respiratory – ePM2.5 @ $10,000 per ton
• Human Health-Non-Cancers – eToluene @ $30 per ton
• Human Health-Cancers – eBenzene @ $3,030 per ton
• Ecotoxicity – e2,4-D @ $3,280 per ton
Source Separated Recycling Rates (Seattle 2012)
vs.
Multi-Family Mixed Waste Processing Recovery Rates
SingleFamily
Newspaper
Cardboard
Mixed Paper
Plastics
Glass
Metals
Wood
Yard Debris
Food Waste
Total
MultiCommercial Self-Haul
Family
Total
Multi-Family
Dirty MRF
96%
92
87
29
92
55
0
99
62
83%
80
67
14
76
22
0
56
9
79%
88
74
15
77
72
0
93
55
18
34
5
1
20
57
0
79
0
86%
86
72
16
82
62
0
94
51
35
75
35
50
30
75
?
?
?
71%
32%
61%
11%
55%
25% + ?%
Source Separated Recycling & Composting
Trends for Seattle, WA
What Do We Do with Residual Wastes as They
Decline – MRBT, LFGTE or WTE?
Monetized Overall Environmental Impact
(Standard deviations above(+)/below(-) the average impact for all options)
3.00
2.06
2.00
1.00
0.38
0.00
-0.23
-0.50
-1.00
-1.02
-2.00
MRBT HI
MRBT LO
LFGTE 80%
Report available at ww.ecocycle.org/specialreports/leftovers
LFGTE 40%
WTE
Sources





Morris, J., 1996. Recycling versus incineration: An energy
conservation analysis, Journal of Hazardous Materials, 47
(1-3 Special Issue on Energy-from-Waste): 277-293.
Morris, J., 2005. Comparative LCAs for curbside recycling
versus either landfilling or incineration with energy recovery.
International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 10(4): 273284.
Morris, J., 2010. Bury or burn North American MSW? LCAs
provide answers for climate impacts & carbon neutral power
potential. Environmental Science & Technology 44(20):
7944-7949.
Morris, J., Matthews, H.S., Morawski, C., 2013. Review and
meta-analysis of 82 studies on end-of-life management
methods for source separated organics. Waste
Management 33: 545-551.
Morris, J., 2014. Recycle, bury or burn clean wood waste.
Journal of Industrial Ecology, in peer review.
Thank you.
Dr. Jeffrey Morris
Sound Resource Management
Group, Inc.
Olympia, WA 98502
jeff.morris@zerowaste.com
Tel 360.867.1033