Waste-to-energy covers energy recovery from fractions that cannot be recycled: thermal treatment, refuse-derived fuel (RDF), landfill gas, pyrolysis and gasification.
RSSWaste thermal treatment plants, fuels from waste, landfill gas capture and the place of these technologies in the waste hierarchy.
"Dirty renewables" is a journalistic label, not a legal concept. We explain what it is used for: biomass burning, co-firing with coal and energy from waste, and how it differs from fermentation.
From 1 October 2026 to the end of July 2027 Tramwaje Szczecińskie will buy about 8,395 MWh of energy from EcoGenerator – a municipal waste thermal treatment installation – which will cover about 40% of traction energy demand.
From 12 June to 12 July 2026 the New Zealand environment ministry is consulting on options to reduce emissions from organic waste; of 41 class 1 landfills only 18 have gas capture.
Japan has about 1000 municipal waste incinerators, of which about 40% generate electricity. An analysis of environment ministry data for fiscal years 2022–2024.
What limits apply to waste incineration plants, how are emissions measured and what data is publicly available? We explain the role of the IED, the BAT conclusions and continuous and periodic measurements.
For biowaste digestion is better, for residual waste incineration, for selected fractions RDF, pyrolysis or gasification. We compare the routes by feedstock, product, maturity and legal conditions.
China already incinerates about 79% of urban waste in about 1000 plants, but over 40% of capacity stands idle. Why the expansion of incinerators collided with a shortage of waste and a lack of money.
The “Reducing Methane Emissions from Landfill Gas” method (2025) under the ACCU scheme awards credits only for methane above a baseline capture level that rises by 0.5% per year; it has applied since the end of November 2025.
Since 2024, municipal waste incineration plants have reported emissions in the EU ETS, without an obligation to surrender allowances. The Commission is to assess whether to include them in the system from 2028. We explain the legal position and scenarios.
Poland has several municipal waste thermal treatment installations (ITPOK). We outline their number, their role in the system and the new installation in Gdańsk launched in 2025, with a caveat about differences in the data.
According to the EPA LMOP database, in September 2024, 488 landfills fed 542 operating landfill gas energy projects; the EPA estimates that a further 444 landfills could viably start such a project.
The fee for depositing waste in a landfill is differentiated by waste code and strongly influences whether waste goes to landfill, to RDF or to an incineration plant. We discuss the mechanism and its effects.
Implementing Decision 2019/2010 established BAT conclusions for waste incineration: BAT-associated emission levels and technical requirements. The deadline for adapting installations expired in December 2023.
Tuas Nexus, Singapore's integrated waste and used water management facility, is to process food waste and sludge in co-digestion. The first stage, planned for 2025, is to be commissioned gradually only from mid-2026.
A waste incineration plant is not an activity supported by the EU taxonomy, and the DNSH principle and exclusions in the cohesion funds limit public financing of new capacity. What does this mean for an investor?
On 20 February 2024 the Council and the European Parliament agreed a voluntary framework for certifying carbon dioxide removals. The waste thermal treatment industry saw in it an opportunity for worthwhile "negative emissions".
The regulation of the minister of climate of 17 November 2023 changes the rules for mechanical-biological treatment of municipal waste: a 100 mm screen, biological treatment of the undersize fraction and fuel from biodrying. It enters into force on 7 December.
How to design the use of landfill gas in gas engines: from wells and cleaning, through capacity selection, to renewable energy support and the risk of declining yield after the landfill closes.
The Minister of Climate's regulation of 28 December 2022, published on 9 January 2023, sets requirements for mechanical-biological treatment of mixed municipal waste: fractions, stabilisation, fermentation and alternative fuel.
On 18 December 2022 the EP and the EU Council agreed the ETS reform: a 62% emission reduction by 2030, a new system for buildings and transport from 2027 and monitoring of emissions from municipal waste incinerators from 2024.
We show step by step how to convert the mass of bio-waste into biogas, methane and electricity, and why the original estimates with the figure of 128 TWh were wrong by an order of magnitude.
A municipal waste incineration plant is a recovery installation (R1) if its energy efficiency exceeds 0.60 or 0.65; otherwise it is disposal (D10). We give the formula and a worked example.
At Gyankobaa near Kumasi, according to reports, Ghana's first hybrid waste-to-energy plant of 400 kW (solar, biogas and plastic pyrolysis) has been commissioned. A 2021 study estimates the biogas potential in Accra and Kumasi.
Is a pyrolysis or gasification installation a waste incinerator? It depends on whether the resulting substances are then burned. We discuss definitions, permits, the IED and the status of oil and char.
