Conference on Waste-to-Energy to Be Held

For Immediate Release
Contact: John Varrasi 212-705-8158 [email protected]

CONFERENCE ON WASTE-TO-ENERGY TO BE HELD April 22-25, 1997. Research Triangle Park, N.C.

New York, March 13, 1997 -- Professionals involved in the research, design, operation and regulation of America's 114 waste-to-energy plants and more than 400 facilities around the world, will meet at the Fifth Annual North American Waste-to-Energy Conference (NAWTEC V) this April 22-25, at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Convention Center in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Other solid waste management topics including landfill disposal, materials recovery and recycling will also be discussed at the 3-day international trade event, which combines the technical and administrative resources of seven organizations.

The $10 billion waste-to-energy (WTE) industry generates electricity and steam by using solid waste as fuel.

As NAWTEC V commences, those who work in the waste-to-energy field are experiencing success in controlling plant emissions and finding beneficial uses for the ash residue. Engineers report that WTE facilities today operate more cleanly than ever before; new Clean Air Act standards will ensure waste-to-energy as one of America's cleanest sources of power.

The industry has made strides in reducing pollutants from WTE facilities. In 1994, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that waste combustors accounted for nearly 95 percent of EPA's national inventory of dioxin sources. One year later, the agency revised that estimate, announcing new Clean Air Act standards stating WTE facilities represented less that one percent of all known dioxin sources.

EPA has also cited waste-to-energy for sharp reductions in mercury emissions. Improved pollution control coupled with increased battery recycling has enabled the WTE industry to decrease mercury emissions by more than 90 percent since 1990.

Beneficial re-use of the ash residue from WTE plants is gaining favor in communities which had been disposing ash into landfills and paying the associated high costs. After testing ash for the last three years, it is considered nonhazardous and safe for use as building material, road aggregate, and cover for landfills.

Engineers at NAWTEC V will make presentations on emissions monitoring and measurement, plant retrofits enabling efficient pollution control, and ash utilization. Joining engineers and scientists at the conference will be speakers from the EPA, which regulates the WTE industry. The regulators will discuss, among other subjects, the issue of flow control and current Clean Air Act standards requiring maximum available control technology (MACT) on existing WTE facilities.

Other presentations will cover refuse-derived fuel, recycling, emerging technology, worker safety at WTE facilities, and crisis communications. Several presentations will be by speakers in European and Asian countries, where the industry's challenges, technical and regulatory, are different than in the United States.

NAWTEC V also features an exposition of products and services used by waste management professionals. On Friday, April 25, the EPA will host a tour of its Combustion Research Facilities in Research Triangle Park.

In addition to the EPA, the other sponsors of the Fifth Annual North American Waste-to-Energy Conference are the Solid Waste Association of North America, U.S. Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Integrated Waste Services Association, Air & Waste Management Association, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Solid Waste Processing Division.