At the Wheelabrator Technologies plant on Annapolis Road in Baltimore City, trash-talkin? happens all day long.
And so does recycling ? lots of recycling, as Wheelabrator, which describes itself as a “renewable energy generating company,” annually manages to turn a whopping 675,000 tons of trash into energy.
On average, 400 trucks a day unload their trash at the facility, according to Chris Leyen, plant manager at Wheelabrator.
The trash is then incinerated in three massive boilers that produce 510,000 pounds of steam an hour.
“Some steam is used to run the plant?s day-to-day operations,” Leyen said. “The rest is either sold to the city or turned into electricity by a turbine and then sold.”
Steam sold to the city is bought by the Trigen Energy Corp., which, according to its Web site, is the “largest developer, owner and operator of community energy systems in North America.” Trigen uses the steam to heat and cool businesses and residences throughout the Baltimore area. (The locker rooms at M&T Bank Stadium are steam-heated.) Electricity from the turbine is sold to New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and even Chicago, Leyen said.
“Wheelabrator owns and operates 25 energy facilities nationwide, and in 2005 the company?s overall revenue was $879 million,” said Frank Ferraro, vice president of Wheelabrator public relations. “In Baltimore, steam sales account for 6 percent of the company?s total revenue.”
But steam isn?t the only thing that Baltimore gets from Wheelabrator. Last year, it was 108 tons of ash.
“Wheelabrator pays us $14 a ton to take the ash,” said Mark Wick, the city?s chief of solid waste. Ash from incinerated trash is used as landfill cover, and the city uses it to seal their landfills.
But the recycling doesn?t end there. Metal found after the trash is burned is also put to use. “We recycle 11 tons of metal each year,” Leyen said.
