Is municipal solid waste (MSW) considered biomass?
Not in the U.S., although MSW is burned here, in Europe, and elsewhere to generate electric power and heat. Most of the mass of municipal solid waste is derived from plant matter and could be used to fire special MSW power systems, but MSW also contains a variety of potentially toxic materials such as creosote-treated wood, batteries that contain mercury, and other hazardous products. As a result, MSW power systems must either remove these materials from their feedstocks before burning them, or treat the exhaust very carefully to avoid toxic emissions. “Biopower” plants in the U.S. use only uncontaminated feedstocks. Ordinary biomass contains no toxic chemicals and, when used in modern power systems, produces fewer emissions than conventional fossil-fuel fired power plants.
No. Although MSW is burned in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere to generate electric power and heat, it contains inorganic materials such as plastics and metals and therefore cannot properly be considered biomass. It also contains a variety of potentially toxic materials such as creosote-treated wood, batteries that contain mercury, and other hazardous products, and therefore cannot be called biomass and is certainly not environmentally sound. MSW incineration also conflicts with recycling goals, diverting resources from more environmentally sound uses. MSW incineration should be distinguished from landfill methane. Using methane captured from landfills to fuel power plants is far superior to allowing the methane and other air toxics generated by landfills to escape into the atmosphere (where the methane has a global warming potential 21 times that of carbon dioxide) or simply flaring the gas. For a more extensive list of Frequently Asked Questions relating to biomass and bio-energy, vis
