Contributions of the Earth Engineering Center to understanding the impacts of waste management on climate change: 2008-2010

by Prof. Nickolas J. Themelis

The Earth Engineering Center (EEC) was formed in 1995 with the mission to direct academic research to processes and products that balance the increasing use of materials with the finite resources of the Earth and protection of the environment. EEC contributed to the formation of the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia and concentrated on advancing sustainable waste management in the U.S. and abroad. This led to the 2002 formation of WTERT, in collaboration with the Energy Recovery Council (ERC). Since 2008, there have been sister organizations to WTERT in Canada, China, Germany, Greece (SYNERGIA) and, this year, in Japan and Brazil; others are being formed in France and the U.K. EEC research has shed light on the benefits, limitations, and synergies of recycling, composting, WTE and modern landfilling. In 2009, EEC and ERC helped bring about a mutual understanding as to the respective GHG effects of WTE and modern landfilling. The results of EEC research are exemplified in the graphs of the Expanded Hierarchy of Waste Management and the Ladder of Sustainable Waste Management. More recent EEC projects are the carbon benefits of Single Stream collection and processing of recyclables, the potential for oil production from source-separated plastic wastes, and the performance of WTE facilities in China and France with regard to controlling dioxin emissions.

NOTE: This is the PDF-version of the Power Point slides shown during the presentation at WTERT Bi-Annual Meeting 2010.

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published: WtERT USA , Columbia University, EarthEngineering Center, WTERT Bi-Annual Meeting 2010 (Oktober 2010), 10|2010
Keywords: Germany