[Photo is of the Chester Covanta receiving floor taken by the Delco Times. It still looks like that.]
Short story, I hope: I visited the Covanta incinerator in Chester recently and got the full tour of their facility, including getting to stand over the large receiving area where ALMOST ALL of Delco’s trash goes to be burned. I wish I had a photo, but it is quite a sight (and smell). [You might have seen a Covanta exec saying it ‘smells like money’. Hmmm.]
As someone with more than a passing interest and some knowledge about the options for recycling, I was struck by how much material could have been recycled. So much metal, Mattresses. Cardboard. Wood and other construction materials. Loads of clearly recyclable plastics.
With just a little education and effort, there could be a substantial reduction in what gets incinerated and tossed up into the air over Chester and feeding climate change with rapid green house gas emissions.
It’s clear that as Delco looks to review and revise its Solid Waste Management Plan for the next 10 years, we’re all going to have to learn a lot more about how to recycle, what to recycle, and how to reduce what we’re tossing into the garbage.
Landfill space isn’t getting cheaper. Incineration, if it stays (and groups are working hard so that it won’t) will get more expensive if better pollution controls are imposed (Covanta is 30+ years behind on their controls, just FYI.).
Zero Waste Delco is not just about a lifestyle change and changing buying habits. We need to make this a project for our entire community, and when we do I’m confident that Delco can be a model county in the US. We have so much to gain from making this work and the sooner we get started the better.
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