Turn Waste Into Energy, Group Urges New York

Green: Politics

New York City should embrace waste-to-energy plants to reduce the $300 million it spends annually disposing of its garbage, a government watchdog group suggested in a report released on Thursday.

A plant that converts garbage into energy in Rahway, N.J.Frank C. Dougherty for The New York Times A plant that converts garbage into energy in Rahway, N.J.

The group, the Citizens Budget Commission, noted that the city’s trash is transported to out-of-state landfills by tractor-trailer trucks that travel hundreds of miles while emitting greenhouse gases. If one-third of the garbage going to landfills were to be turned into energy instead, the city would save $119 million a year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35 percent, said the group, which monitors state and city spending.

The report estimated the cost of sending a ton of garbage to a regional waste-to-energy plant at $66 to $77 per ton, compared with $95 per ton for transporting it to a faraway landfill, and said that differential was likely to grow.

Waste-to-energy plants are commonplace in Europe and increasingly used in states including Connecticut, the report notes. About 9 percent of New York City’s garbage now goes to waste-to-energy plants in New Jersey and on Long Island.

The city is currently seeking proposals to build a privately owned state-of-the-art plant in or near the city that could initially handle 450 tons of trash a day. That plan has drawn some criticism from environmental groups, however, who that argue that officials should focus instead on reducing waste and increasing recycling.

“Everyone wants to reduce the mounting cost and burdens of landfilling,” said Eric A. Goldstein, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, “but progressive cities around the country are turning first to enhanced and sophisticated recycling programs, before waste-to-energy incinerators.”

“The most economical and environmentally sound first step is to recreate and reform our recycling program,” he said.