Sep 12 2013
Covanta Marion, Inc., a subsidiary of Covanta Energy Corporation, and Marion County, Oregon today announced an agreement that extends sustainable waste disposal services for the county at the Covanta Marion Energy-from-Waste (EfW) facility.
The new agreement, which is for up to five years, was recently approved by the Marion County Board of Commissioners and begins in September 2014 after the expiration of an existing 30-year agreement.
“The new contract provides for the continuation of reliable waste disposal and extends a successful partnership between Covanta and Marion County that began in the mid-1980s,” remarked Commissioner Sam Brentano, Marion County. “The Energy-from-Waste facility coupled with innovative recycling programs has enabled Marion County to be a leader in solid waste management.”
Since 1987, the Covanta Marion Energy-from-Waste facility has been a critical component of the county’s sustainable, integrated waste management system. The County has built a world-class system that prioritizes recycling and relies on energy recovery for material that remains. Electricity and metal recycling revenues from the EfW facility enable the county to provide residents with innovative recycling programs including, among other things, a curbside collection program for non-traditional recyclable materials such as latex paint, household batteries, motor oil, antifreeze and cooking oil. The county has also achieved a recycling rate of approximately 60 percent which is among the highest in the country and more than double the national average.
Under terms of the new agreement, the county will continue to supply 145,000 tons of municipal solid waste per year to Covanta.
“Covanta is pleased to continue our long and mutually-beneficial partnership with Marion County,” said Paul Stauder, Covanta senior vice president of business management. “The county and its residents should be proud of the sustainable waste management system they have worked hard to establish over the years. These efforts have resulted in a true model of environmentally sound waste disposal that can be emulated by communities around the country. We are proud of Covanta’s contribution in providing a critical component of that system through our Energy-from-Waste facility.”
Since its inception, the Covanta Marion Energy-from-Waste facility has:
- Converted approximately 5 million tons of municipal solid waste into approximately 2.2 million megawatt hours of clean, renewable energy – enough to power over 190,000 homes for a year
- Recovered and recycled approximately 100,000 tons of metal, the equivalent amount of steel used to build more than 80,000 automobiles
- Reduced approximately 5 million tons of greenhouse gases based on national averages, which is equal to avoiding the annual greenhouse gases from nearly 950 thousand passenger vehicles
Recovering energy from waste after employing efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle is a critical component of managing residual waste. On average, for every ton of municipal solid waste processed at energy-from-waste facilities like Covanta Marion, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by approximately one ton. This is possible due to the avoidance of methane from landfills, the offset of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel electrical production and the recovery of metals for recycling.
Source: http://www.covantaenergy.com/