European Union integrates Waste-to-Energy into energy plan

The European Union has officially integrated Waste-to-Energy technology into its 'AccelerateEU' energy plan, recognizing its potential to address waste accumulation and energy supply instability. This technology converts municipal waste into electricity and heat, providing a weather-independent base load of approximately 500 to 600 kilowatt-hours per ton of residual waste.

However, waste management practices vary significantly across EU member states. While Germany thermally processes about 25 million tons of waste annually and Sweden imports waste for its high-efficiency plants, countries such as Romania and Bulgaria still landfill 70 to 80 percent of their waste. Currently, 49.5 million tons of municipal waste are landfilled in the EU each year, contributing to methane emissions, which are significantly more climate-damaging than CO2 over a 20-year period.

To mitigate these environmental impacts, the EU will prohibit the landfilling of all recyclable waste starting in 2030.