This is an example of what landfills look like across the United States. These landfills release toxic gases into the atmosphere as well as leaching the same toxins into the soil.
This is an example of a waste-to-energy incinerator in Denmark. This incinerator filters out chemicals and harnesses these chemicals for energy in the local homes.
Response to Article: Europe Finds Clean Energy in Trash, U.S. Lags
This article covers how European countries, such as Denmark, have been updating their incinerators. The old incinerators would just burn the trash releasing a high amount of carbon dioxide emissions into the air. Incinerators took the place of landfills that heated up the earth’s surface and leaked methane gas into the air, a green house gas, worse than Carbon dioxide. Now the incinerators in Europe have been updated so not only do they produce less carbon dioxide, they also covert this trash into heat and electricity. The transfer of burned trash into energy has also created Denmark to become less dependent on oil and gas. The U.S. could learn from this situation as we alone have so many people in our world that consume products and produce trash. However, our country is not adapting to these environmental changes. Our country sends over 10,500 tons to rural areas in the states that are buried or now pilled on top of a mountain of trash. The U.S. is against incinerators; however, I disagree with this. From the technological advances in Europe I learned how beneficial incinerators can actually be. When I first heard about the burning of trash, I was appalled, and automatically thought that there would be a large amount of toxic chemicals that would be released into the atmosphere. But after reading this article from the New York Times, and learning about the filter systems built into the new incinerators my mind has been changed.
Denmark's attitude towards waste-to-energy plants is extremely different of the attitudes held by the United States. Many environmentalists believe that these " incinerators are really the devil" however, Denmark promotes these incinerators and the citizens of Denmark are even willing to have them put in their own communities. I personally believe that this a very effective way to get rid of the amount of trash that our world creates and is even more appealing to me since it can turn waste into heat that if harnessed correctly could potentially furnish many homes. I believe that this new idea of turning waste into energy is only a glimpse of what will come in the future. The community of Horsholm also promotes recycling and heavily enforces among its citizens that only the items that are unable to be recycled are allowed to be burned in the incinerator. Although it can be quite expensive to reopen and refit old incinerators, I strongly believe that it is much more useful in the long run than the country constantly spending money on trucks to haul away garbage to far off landfills. The only way however, that I believe this project will work in the Unites States is if the public sector takes it over from the private sector. With government funding, this will allow for the waste-to-energy incinerator program to be reached across the country rather than in just certain wealthy areas. Citizens across the United States are constantly paying money for their trash to be taken away. They have the mindset of "out of sight out of mind" but rather if they spend their money on building an incinerator in their community than can harness the toxic chemicals towards energy that could heat their homes. Normally these chemicals would be released into the atmosphere and have detrimental side effects. This is a sustainable alternative because it is not only beneficial to the environment but will also decrease the homeowners heating bills while raising housing values at the same time, just like Denmark. Although most people often frown upon the use of the word "incinerator" I believe that it can actually be an efficient way of dealing with the amount of trash our society creates.
This is by Leanna Bonds and Danielle Luchetta
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