Municipal solid waste can be used to generate energy. Several
technologies have been developed that make the processing of MSW for
energy generation cleaner and more economical than ever before,
including landfill gas capture, combustion, pyrolysis, gasification and plasma arc clasification. While
older waste incineration plants emitted high levels of pollutants,
recent regulatory changes and new technologies have significantly
reduced this concern. United States Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) regulations in 1995 and 2000 under the Clean Air Act have
succeeded in reducing emissions of dioxins from waste-to-energy
facilities by more than 99 percent below 1990 levels, while mercury
emissions have been by over 90 percent.
The EPA noted these improvements in 2003, citing waste-to-energy as a
power source “with less environmental impact than almost any other
source of electricity.”