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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 1:30 P.M. FRIDAY,'FEBRUARY 22, 1974
EPA OFFICIAL URGES USING SOLID WASTE AS FUEL
There is enough energy in the solid wastes in large U.S.
cities to light every home and commercial establishment in the
country all year long, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
official said today.
Arsen Darnay, EPA's Deputy Assistant Administrator for
Solid Waste Management Programs, told a news conference that
the wastes could be converted into energy to generate the
electricity in large urban areas. The total energy provided
by this big city waste, he said, would be the equivalent of
150 million barrels of oil a year.
If the burning is accompanied by recovery of the metals,
glass, rubber and other items for recyclinghe said, there
would be an additional energy saving equal to 30 million barrels
of oil a year. The reason for this is that it normally takes
less energy to manufacture a product using secondary materials,
such as scrap iron or steel, than to make it with the virgin
materials counterpart, such as iron ore.
Darnay listed 21 cities, including such large urban areas
as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit, where a plan
to burn trash as an auxiliary fuel to make electricity has
either been adopted, or is under serious consideration. (See
list of cities at end of news release.)
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EPA FORM 1510-1 (REV. ^72)
R-357

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Some of the plans to use solid waste as auxiliary fuel for
electricity are modeled on an EPA-supported demonstration in St.
Louis by the city and the Union Electric Company. After magnetic
metals are removed for recycling by the Granite City (Illinois)
Steel Company, the waste is burned along with coal in one of
Union Electric's boilers.
Darnay said, " In the St. Louis Demonstration, we have
convincing evidence of a large, virtually untapped energy source
for the country. We calculate that our large urban areas (the
Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas) — where solid waste
can be profitably used as fuel -- generate about 90 million tons
of residential and commercial solid waste each year.
"About 70 to 80 percent of this waste can be burned. If
that combustible waste were used as fuel, we would have an energy
recovery of 800 trillion British Thermal Units annually, the
equivalent of 150 million barrels of oil a year.
"That's enough energy to light our homes and commercial
establishments all year long. It's also equal to 27 percent of
the oil projected to be delivered through the Alaskan pipeline."
Darnay also said that many cities can save fuel by revising
procedures for collecting solid wastes. If those communities
which now collect solid waste twice a week were to collect once
a week, a fuel saving of 29 percent could be achieved. Improved
vehicle routing procedures, he said, could reduce fuel consump-
tion nationwide by five percent. These two changes together
could result in a national annual saving of 18.2 million gallons
of diesel fuel and 39.1 million gallons of gasoline, he said.
Energy is also saved, Darnay declared, when consumers buy
smaller automobiles or require less packaging. He said if each
individual used no more packaging in 1972 than he did in 1958,
we could have saved almost 600 trillion BTUs in 1972, the equiva-
lent of .3 million barrels of oil per day.
Energy recovery is under consideration in the following
cities:
New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Washington, D.C.
(including suburban Maryland and Virginia), Boston, St. Louis,
Baltimore, Cleveland, Milwaukee, San Diego, Buffalo, Rochester,
Memphis, Albany, Akron, Nashville, Knoxville, Bridgeport and
Brockton, Massachusetts, and Eugene, Oregon.
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