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D-Waste is a new organization founded by Mr. Antonis Mavropoulos (VP of ISWA) that promotes sustainable waste management, essentially in the developing world.
See: http://www.d-waste.com/index.php/page_viewer/view_page/14
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May 16th, 2012
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter this week to Energy Answers (a WTERT sponsor) saying that the $500 million waste-to-energy plant to be built in Arecibo, Puerto Rico has been granted a preliminary air permit. Click to see more details.
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May 11th, 2012
WTERT sponsor Covanta Energy Corporation has been named among the top 11 U.S. companies in the Maplecroft Climate Innovation Indexes (CIIs), the single most exhaustive study of how U.S.-based multinational corporations manage and adapt to climate change, with a special focus on innovation. Click for more details.
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May 11th, 2012
Read this interview, by Yale Environment, with CEO of Cape Wind and substitute "wind power" by "Waste-to-Energy" to understand why renewable energy sources are opposed to by some influential people despite their varied benefits to humanity. See the article.
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May 3rd, 2012
See WTERT-US people in NAWTEC20, Portland, Maine.
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May 3rd, 2012
Prof. Nickolas Themelis gives comment on an article in The Economist: Difference engine: Talking trash.
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May 3rd, 2012
New book "Garbology" acknowleges that the Earth Engineering Center numbers of U.S. waste generation are credible and EPA's Facts and Figures are not. See the Wall Street Journal.
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April 20th, 2012
Critics Trash City's Waste-to-Energy Plan
Profs. Marco Castaldi and Nickolas Themelis comments to press on NYC's recent RFP for a WTE plant.
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April 19th, 2012
Visit of Chinese delegation from CQUST (Chongqing University of Science and Technology) PR China and Covantaenergy to EEC. For more details see
http://www.seas.columbia.edu/earth/wtert/sofos/CQUST_visit_apr_13.pdf
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April 17th, 2012
Earth Engineering Center (EEC) received a visit from Guangzhou City, China delegation led by the mayor, Chen Jianhua. For more details, see
http://www.seas.columbia.edu/earth/wtert/sofos/Guangzhou_visit_april_12.pdf
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April 17th, 2012
Waste-to-Trash: Step Backward or Forward?
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April 17th, 2012
A new blog by Prof. Nickolas J. Themelis.
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April 16th, 2012
First International Brainstorming Workshop on Waste-to-Energy, Mumbai, India
Date: August 24-25, 2012
Here is the brochure.
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April 13th, 2012
Webinar on Waste-to-Energy and Conversion Technologies Status Report, organized by GBB, a WTERT sponsor, Thursday May 10th. See
http://www.gbbinc.com/email/WTE-CT-Webinar-Infocast-May2012.htm
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April 13th, 2012
Company plans to install AD capacity for U.S. food wastes. See
http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2012/04/12/seeing-value-in-trash-harvest-power-raises-110m/
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April 9th, 2012
Ljupka Arsova, EEC Research Associate and WTERT Fellow, has joined the engineering consulting firm, GBB, one of the WTERT sponsors. See GBB news:
http://www.gbbinc.com/press_releases/arsova.htm
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April 9th, 2012
WTERT sponsor, Covanta, wants a piece of the e-waste stream. See
http://www.wasterecyclingnews.com/arcshow.html?id=11103100301
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April 8th, 2012
Detractors aside, Frederick County officials say to just look at Baltimore and Montgomery counties to see the success of waste-to-energy incinerator plants. The Frederick News-Post recently toured both plants to see up close the similarities and differences between those two sites and the one planned in Frederick to handle trash disposal for Frederick and Carroll counties. The facilities are similar in size, with Montgomery handling 1,800 tons of trash a day, compared with the 1,500 tons per day planned in Frederick. The company brought in to run the operation will be different, however, with Wheelabrator operating the Frederick site and Covanta Energy in place in Montgomery. Covanta Energy's site came online 18 years ago and is owned by the NMWDA on behalf of the county. The authority, which works on behalf of several counties in handling trash disposal, will have the same agreement with Frederick. Frederick County's site will be modeled after the Montgomery plan, said Christopher Skaggs, the authority's executive director. "I think they show a very stable technology, which is a cornerstone of a well-run, integrated solid waste management system," Skaggs said. "It's not only a good way to dispose of trash, but it brings stability to the cost for citizens." The Baltimore plant, which is also operated by Wheelabrator, has been operational for nearly 27 years and is on track to process its 2 billionth ton of trash in May, plant manager David Jones said during a recent tour of the facility. A much larger facility, handling 2,250 tons per day, the Baltimore location is independently owned and operated by Wheelabrator. The article has much more information, and can be read in its entirety at: http://tinyurl.com/bs52duh. The News-Post ran another interesting article describing the ability of personal opinion to change with respect to a proposed waste-to-energy facility: http://tinyurl.com/c5h2tre. (FrederickNewsPost.com 3/25/12)
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April 2nd, 2012
"In the evening of March 22nd, the Earth Engineering Center presented the film "Beijing Besieged by Landfill" at Columbia University. This one-hour documentary masterfully describes the devastating effect of waste disposal on land and the environment. Prof. Nickolas Themelis introduced the film by noting that China is doing more than any other developing nation, and much more than the U.S. government, in trying to reduce landfilling by providing financial incentives for waste-to-energy (WTE). In an epilogue after the film, Ling Qiu of EEC showed that the number of WTE plants in China increased from 36 to 104 during the first decade of the 21st century.
An interview with the creator of this superb documentary, Wang Jiuling is attached to this notice.
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March 23rd, 2012
Sierra Club Two interesting white papers by WTERT sponsor, GBB about Solid Waste Authority. See
http://www.swa.org/pdf/SWAPBC_White_Paper_9-2-09.pdf
http://www.swa.org/pdf/SWAPBC_GBB_Final_Report_050311_w-Atchs.pdf
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March 20th, 2012
"The tragic story of Beijing besieged by landfills (Director: Wang Jiuliang)". An extraordinary film that took two years in making is presented by the Earth Engineering Center at 6 PM Thursday March 22nd in the Davis Auditorium of Schapiro Engineering Research Center ( North of Business School). See the poster:
http://www.seas.columbia.edu/earth/wtert/sofos/March_22_conference_Beijing_Besieged_by_
Waste.pdf
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March 18th, 2012
Sierra Club publishes article recognizing that Columbia/BioCycle national survey (SOG) accurately reports amount of MSW landfilled in U.S., in contrast to EPA "Facts".
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/201203/grapple-trash-bible-126.aspx
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March 18th, 2012
Wondering what dioxin/furan actually is and how to control them? Prof. Nickolas Themelis gives the answer: http://www.seas.columbia.edu/earth/wtert/sofos/dioxin_Furans_and_APC.pdf
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March 1st, 2012
Prof. Nickolas Themelis and Mr. Ted Michaels (President, Energy Recovery Council) testified in Hartford, CT this week on a bill to elevate waste-to-energy from a Class II renewable resource to a Class I renewable resource under the Connecticut RPS. House bill 5188 was subject to a hearing today in the Connecticut legislature before the Committee on Environment. Also testifying in support of the legislation were the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority and representative from several towns that rely upon Connecticut's six waste-to-energy facilities. Nickolas Themelis of WTERT/Columbia University also sumbitted testimony. This legislation is the first step in a long legislative process. While this bill is not expected to pass with the same expediency as the bill in Maryland last year, today's hearing was an excellent opportunity to raise an extremely important topic in the another legislative forum. The Themelis and Michaels testimonies are shown here.
http://www.seas.columbia.edu/earth/wtert/sofos/Connecticut_Testimony_Themelis.pdf
http://www.seas.columbia.edu/earth/wtert/sofos/120302_Michaels_CT_RPS_testimony.pdf
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March 3rd, 2012
THE BURNING QUESTION--See how is the public perception of waste to energy improving through an article from Waste Management World: http://www.waste-management-world.com/index/display/article-display/3502753943/articles/waste-management-world/volume-12/issue-4/features/the-burning-question-how-is-the-public-perception-of-waste-to-energy-improving.html
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March 1st, 2012
Dr. Makoto Katagiri of Taiheiyo Cement, the largest cement company in Japan, visited the Earth Engineering Center on February 23rd to discuss their Eco-Coment process, operating in Tokyo since 2006. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has a 1500-ton/day WTE that produces 300t/d of WTE ash. The ash is mixed (39%) with limestone (52%) and WWTP sludge (8%) to produce 430t/d of Eco-Cement.
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February 27th, 2012
The America Chemistry Council launched a new energy advocacy and awareness campaign this week to focus attention on the benefits shale gas production, waste-to-energy, and energy efficiency to the chemical industry. For more details regarding to their waste-to-energy work, please visit: http://chemistrytoenergy.com/energy-recovery .
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February 10th, 2012
Artical in Waste Management World on MS Thesis of Ranjith Annepu, EEC Research Associate and WTERT-India Co-ordinator of Global WTERT Council (GWC). Waste to Energy for Integrated Waste Management in India.
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January 20th, 2012
Testimony of Rick Brandes, EEC Research Associate, at U.S. Virgin Islands Senate on importance of WTE for islands.
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January 14th, 2012

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