Waste Management 2006 Annual Report Download - page 27

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RENEWABLE ENERGY
Landfill Gas to Energy
Methane gas is produced as a natural
byproduct of the decomposition
of waste in landfills. Waste
Management captures this gas for
use as a clean, reliable fuel resource.
In nearly two decades of working
with businesses and public utilities,
Waste Management has developed
more than 100 beneficial-use
landfill gas projects. We currently
supply enough gas to create more
than 470 megawatts of green
energy that could power about
400,000 homes or replace nearly
7 million barrels of oil per year.
These gas projects have reduced
greenhouse gas emissions from our
landfills by more than 50 percent as
well as earning Renewable Energy
Certificates that can be sold to
utilities to help satisfy their
requirements for renewable energy.
Waste to Energy
By burning solid waste to generate
electrical or steam energy, our
waste-to-energy plants have
the capacity to generate more than
650 megawatts, potentially saving
more than 7.6 million barrels
of oil and generating clean,
renewable energy that could
power 700,000 homes per year.
In addition, the combustion process
reduces the volume of the waste by
90 percent, saving valuable space
in landfills. According to the EPA,
waste-to-energy plants produce
power “with less environmental
impact than almost any other
source of electricity.”
Some of the things we do have a dual benefit, protecting both the
environment and the public welfare. In July of 2006, California and
Massachusetts passed legislation making it illegal to throw away syringes
and other medical “sharps” in an unsafe manner. Waste Management
has played a national role as one of the leading industry partners in
developing and lobbying for sharps disposal programs, because sharps
pose a constant hazard for people handling waste. In partnership with
Sharps Compliance, Inc., the market leader in sharps disposal-by-mail
containers and products, and Becton-Dickinson, the country’s largest
manufacturer of medical syringes, Waste Management implemented the
Sharps Disposal by Mail System,
®the first complete mail-back system
available to the public through local pharmacies.
We are proud to be a company that is committed not only to
environmental stewardship today, but also to sustainable initiatives that will
make a difference for generations to come. In every facet of our operations,
we make it our pledge and our practice to respect the environment.
That is Green at Work.
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