Let's talk some trash, shall we? Contrast the approach to handling trash in Denmark with that in New York.
Denmark collects trash locally and, after making sure all recyclables are separated, burns this waste to create electricity-a lot of electricity.
Only 4% of the trash in Horsholm, Denmark goes to landfill.
All the rest is either recycled or converted into electricity.
New York, on the other hand, sends 10,500 tons of trash each day to landfills as far away as Ohio and South Carolina.
None of it is burned to produce electricity.
Environmental groups in New York actually oppose converting trash to clean energy.
Why? They want to encourage zero waste rather than waste-to-energy.
"Incinerators are really the devil," said Laura Haight, a senior environmental associate with the New York Public Interest Research Group.
Her group has vigorously fought a trash to energy plant in New York.
"Irrational" and "environmentally irresponsible" are the nice words I can use to describe this attitude.
In Denmark, waste-to-energy plants are actually a reason to want to live in a community.
In New York and other part of the US, they are considered a NIMBY eyesore.
Having a local incinerator that covert trash to clean energy provides lower cost heat and electricity, with no smelly off-gassing.
Dozens of filters catch pollutants, from mercury to dioxin, thanks to new technology that allows these plants run so cleanly that many times more dioxin is now released from home fireplaces and backyard barbecues than from incineration.
Denmark now has 29 such plants, serving 98 municipalities in a country of 5.
5 million people, and 10 more are planned or under construction.
Across Europe, there are about 400 plants, with Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands leading the pack.
By contrast, no new waste-to-energy plants are being planned or built in the United States.
There are only 87 trash-burning power plants in the entire United States, a country of more than 300 million people, and almost all these plants were built more than 15 years ago.
This is the case, even though the federal government and 24 states now classify waste that is burned for energy as a renewable fuel.
In many cases such plants are eligible for subsidies.
No one is even trying to build them in the US; it would take years of hearings and environmental reviews.
Even proposing a windmill for energy often sets off protests.
I think this is shameful.
Converting trash to energy is a green no-brainer.
Environmental groups need to back trash-to-energy plants.
If you agree, please make your voice heard.