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Covanta's sustainable waste solutions do more than keep trash out of landfills. Each year, our facilities produce enough energy to power one million homes. This is critical, base load green energy that complements intermittent renewable energy sources like wind and solar, helping the world in its efforts to end its dependency on climate-damaging fossil fuels.

The negative carbon solution

Green light bulbDid you know that energy produced from waste is actually more climate-friendly than solar or wind power? In fact, Waste-to-Energy is a negative carbon energy source—scientists and governments around the world, including the U.S. EPA and the European Union, have consistently found that it reduces the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere.

Conversely, traditional green energy sources actually generate carbon footprints due to the emissions related to the manufacture, installation and disposal of solar panels or wind turbines. While the process of producing energy from waste also generates carbon emissions, these are offset by the greenhouse gas avoided by keeping waste out of landfills, recycling metal and reducing the need for fossil fuel energy production. Combusting a ton of waste, instead of sending it to a landfill, keeps the equivalent of about a ton of carbon dioxide out of the atmospherean important victory in the battle against climate change.

This is why countries across the globe, from Europe to Asia to the Middle East, view waste as a resource that should not simply be wasted. Covanta is proud to be doing our part, helping businesses and communities in North America handle their waste sustainably and turning it into a negative carbon, green energy source to power our lives.