Covanta

Delaware Valley

10 Highland Ave
Chester, PA 19013
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Reducing Landfill Waste

Located in Chester, Pennsylvania, the Delaware Valley Resource Recovery Facility is an award-winning Waste-to-Energy Facility that serves the residents of Delaware County as well as neighboring regions with reliable and sustainable waste management.

In addition to keeping waste out of landfills, we’re committed to ensuring safe operations and minimizing environmental impacts. We have been consistently recognized for exceptional operations, including OSHA’s stringent Voluntary Protection Program Star certification.

Since acquiring this facility, our operations in Chester have helped us to understand the importance of a comprehensive Environmental Justice strategy and how to effectively interact with communities. Working in partnership with local leaders in Chester and the Chester Environmental Partnership, we established a Community Outreach and Environmental Justice Policy in 2011 that commits to reduce discharges and minimize emissions and to do this in a manner which ensures meaningful community involvement. For more on our commitment to Environmental Justice, please visit this website.

For resources related to the Delaware Valley Waste-to-Energy Facility Public Information Session on March 28, 2023, click the button below.

For more information on the facility, click the button below for answers to frequently asked questions.

Fast Stats: Annual Performance

Every year, our facility processes more than 1,230,000 tons of waste that would otherwise have ended up in landfills.

Less waste in landfills reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1,039,000 metric tons of CO₂. That’s like taking 223,000 passenger vehicles off the road for one year.

We use waste to produce 87 megawatts of electricity 24/7 - enough to power 52,000 homes for a year.

We also recover 57,300 tons of metal for recycling annually - enough to build 47,000 cars.

Superior Environmental Performance

We care about our communities and operate well below emissions limits. Over 99.9 percent of what comes out of our plant’s stack is what you’d typically find in air - water vapor, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide. The remaining constituents are well below federal and state standards.

The following data is presented in units required by the facility's permit as averaged emissions.

A permit application has been submitted to PADEP to lower the NOx emission limit to meet RACT III rules.

CO, SO2, HCL and NOx values are the daily (24-hr) block averages for that day.
Opacity values are the maximum 6-minute average for that day.
All emission values reported in units consistent with the permit. CO, SO2, HCL and NOx reported as parts per million, dry gas basis at 7% O2 (ppmdv7), Opacity as %, Removal Efficiency as %.
SO2 compliance is based on concentration (ppm) or removal efficiency (% reduction between inlet and outlet emissions).
The dash symbol (-) indicates that a unit is off-line, has insufficient data for a compliance period or is in an exempted startup/shutdown period. Please note that opacity data applies at all times.

* Results are provided for informational purposes only and are subject to adjustment based on allowable quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) review. Data will be displayed in two week increments beginning April 22, 2021.

For more information on facility performance click here.

Process in Action

Waste-to-Energy: How Does It Work?

Waste-to-Energy takes non-hazardous waste - otherwise destined for landfill - and combusts it to generate steam for electricity generation. Ash is processed to recover metal for recycling while all gases are collected, filtered and cleaned before being released safely into the atmosphere.

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