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WTE: Sustainable Waste and Materials Management

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Recovery of Materials and Energy from Urban Wastes
  • Originally published in
  • R. A. Meyers (ed.), Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, © Springer Science+Business Media LLC 2017

Glossary

Energy from waste (EfW):

Synonym of WTE used by some companies

Greenhouse gases (GHGs):

Carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases contributing to the greenhouse effect

Integrated waste management:

Using a combination of all possible means of waste management so as to minimize adverse environmental impacts and optimize resource conservation

Waste-to-energy (WTE):

Recovery of the chemical energy contained in used materials by means of thermal treatment

Definition of the Subject

Globally, we are consuming natural resources at an increasing rate due to economic development and growing population. There is international agreement that a long-term solution to energy and climate change issues must include a low to carbon neutral energy supply. There is also growing agreement that more careful attention to how we manage wastes and materials is critical to minimizing environmental impacts, including global climate change. Moving away from our current linear model of material extraction...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Covanta, Morristown, NJ, USA

    Brian Bahor & Michael Van Brunt

Authors
  1. Brian Bahor
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  2. Michael Van Brunt
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brian Bahor .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Nickolas J. Themelis

  2. Earth Engineering Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    A.C. (Thanos) Bourtsalas

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Bahor, B., Van Brunt, M. (2019). WTE: Sustainable Waste and Materials Management. In: Themelis, N., Bourtsalas, A. (eds) Recovery of Materials and Energy from Urban Wastes. Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7850-2_404

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