Wheelabrator, Saugus - The First Waste-to-Energy Plant in the United States

Wheelabrator Waste-to-Energy Plant, Saugus, Massachusetts

Bear Creek Wildlife Sanctuary - caps the Wheelabrator Monofill

There are over 2,200 waste-to-energy plants around the world.  The first waste-to-energy plants started up in Europe where there are over 500 plants operating today.  China currently has the world'd largest waste-to-energy plant but Dubai is now building an even larger one.  The very first waste-to-energy plant in the United States started up in 1975, right over the border from Lynn on the marsh in Saugus, Massachusetts.  There are 71 plants operating today in the United States. 

These plants are called waste-to-energy plants because they burn solid waste (trash) and capture the energy produced in the process to create electricity.  The Saugus plant produces 37 megawatts of electricity per day, enough to power 38,000 homes. The waste is reduced to ash, which looks like concrete blocks when it is landfilled.  The waste to energy process reduces what gets landfilled by 90%.  Ash landfills are called monofills, because it is the only material in the landfill.  

The waste-to energy plants also recapture metals from the process and put those metals back in the market, effectively recycling them.

One byproduct of burning waste is dioxin, a very toxic chemical to humans.  Up until the 1990s, waste-to-energy plants released dioxin into the atmosphere.  Environmentalists fought for greater air and water regulations and waste-to-energy plants were required to equip their plants with expensive "scrubbers", which clean the smoke of dioxin and other toxic chemicals.  The ash on the other hand, holds those pollutants. The ash is formed into concrete blocks--not a powder that the word "ash" might evoke.  Still, environmentalists are still concerned about ground water being contaminated by dioxin and other pollutants if the ash comes into contact with ground water.

The Saugus plant's monofill has a thick natural liner of Boston Blue Clay that was naturally in the marsh.  In addition they capture all the groundwater and send it to the cooling tanks at the waste-to-energy plant.  Some environmental groups are concerned that the concrete and clay barriers could leak and pollute the marshes, the Saugus river and the ocean.  They also worry about sea level rise impacting the monofill.  Right now, there is a big controversy because Wheelabrator has requested to increase the height of the monofill for more ash as the monofill is almost at capacity. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has granted a preliminary permit, and it is expected to be made permanent.  As a result, some environmental groups like the Conservation Law Foundation were on WGBH News today, March 22, 2018, protesting the move.

I worry about the toxins in the monofill too.  Yet, for now, I don't know a better solution to dealing with waste.  If we didn't have the waste-to-energy plant, the waste would be landfilled.  Methane would leak into the atmosphere and toxins would leach into the groundwater--and 90% more land would be needed for the landfills.  When I was a young girl in Lynn during the 1960s -1970's there were big landfills all around and very visible--on the Lynnway, on the Saugus marsh several along Route 128 and other highways.  Those landfills were very polluting and are still contaminating groundwater although we cannot see the trash anymore because they have been capped.  For now, the new technology of the waste-to-energy plant that debuted in Saugus in 1975 still makes sense 40 years later.

http://www.wtienergy.com/plant-locations/energy-from-waste/wheelabrator-saugus

https://news.wgbh.org/2018/03/21/local-news/massachusetts-may-extend-life-controversial-ash-landfill-saugus

http://globalenergyobservatory.org/list.php?db=PowerPlants&type=Waste

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25732

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste-to-energy_plant