4/16 blog

The waste-to-energy facility field trip that we went on was outstanding.  I had no idea that Lee County had an operation like that going on.  I feel much better about the garbage that I produce, knowing that 90% of it is being burnt down into energy while the other 10% is now non-toxic and cleanly disposed of.  Five things that I see are good about this system of waste-to-energy are that it drastically reduces the amount of waste that needs to be disposed of.  Second, there is no smell or harmful toxins that are produced by burning the garbage.  Third, the county is getting clean energy to run some of its facilities from the plant.  The fourth thing is that It is very cost-effective for the County to run the plant, it powers itself.  The fifth thing that I see is good about the waste-to-energy plant is that is is producing a source of clean, reusable energy that can be used to power other facilities without burning toxic materials that can harm the environment.  The one thing that I can see as being a negative for the waste-to-energy facility is that it is very expensive to build and the amount of time that it takes to even start the production on one of these facilities can take years of jumping through political hoops and trying to get around all of the nay-sayers.  It is clear that anyone who has done the proper research about these types of facilities would not be opposed to the idea of having one in their area...  Colin Baesler

I had no idea how efficient converting garbage into energy could be. Not only does it dispose of the garbage in a safe non hazardous way, which is the most important thing, but it also produces enough energy to run the entire facility. The positive affects greatly out number the negative ones. If their are any negatives it would be the ash that is left behind, even though it takes up much less space than garbage and does not smell. The biggest problem is getting the system set up as it is much more expensive to build. john deblasio