Growing global population, urbanisation and increasing economic growth mean that the amount of waste produced by human activities is increasing. The quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) already exceeds 2.1 Gt/y and in the absence of measures to reduce waste production, this could increase by around 60–80% to 3.4–3.8 Gt by 2050. In order to deal with this growing waste problem, the waste management hierarchy has been devised to rank options according to what is best for the environment. Energy from waste (EfW) is a key part of this waste management, reducing the proportion of the residual waste that would otherwise be sent to landfill.
This report assesses the role of EfW within an overall waste systems approach to achieve net zero emissions (NZE). This includes the opportunity for the application of carbon capture to EfW plant to achieve net negative emissions as a large-scale greenhouse gas removal (GGR) technology. The existing global coverage of EfW plant which is largely incinerator based is assessed, together with a review of new technologies such as gasification, plasma gasification and pyrolysis. Whilst the report is largely focused on EfW as a localised solution, the opportunity to repurpose existing thermal plant assets and the potential to cofire with coal is also covered. Policy framework to support achieving NZE is discussed, including public support for EfW which can be low due to perceived emissions of pollutants including dioxins and furans, as well as CO2.
Overall, EfW can play a key role to both process around 450 Mt of MSW, whilst at the same time producing 1% of global electricity demand, recovering iron, aluminium and other metals to support the circular economy, and perhaps most crucially contributing a potential 12% of the GGR from biomass energy carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS) forecast by the IEA to be needed by 2050.
