the last resort

No matter how efficient we get in using resources and diverting waste as inputs to various processes, I imagine there will always be some waste remaining. So maybe its not so bad that the last unused bit should just be incinerated to squeeze out whatever energy is left. Of course, burning anything to get energy from waste will emit carbon, but that impact has to be weighed up against the carbon that would be given off through generating electricity from other sources, and also against the environmental impacts of dumping the waste instead.

The real problem right now is that so much waste is toxic (when did you last separate your dud batteries from other trash?) that incineration can only safely use a few waste sources. But after writing yesterday's post about the coming recycling revolution, I started wondering if the pressure to sort waste efficiently would eventually increase the proportion of waste that would be safe to incinerate. I hope that in 10 years, we'll be using fewer toxic materials in consumer products anyway. Maybe our resource use will be so efficient (reduce, reuse, repair, repurpose - and only then recycle) that the problem will be a shortage of waste to feed the incinerators. Now that would be a good challenge to face.