Journal 7

Waste to Energy Plant! (not the incinerator)

     Last Wednesday our class took a trip to the Lee County Waste to Energy Plant and was able to have a behind the scenes look at what goes on. There is so much that happens and also how great it is for the community. It basically takes all your trash, and converts it into energy.

The main dumping area

   In the picture, this is where all the garbage trucks dump everything. From here, other trucks plow everything into the yellow lit area. You can actually see the claw that comes down and picks up about a ton worth of garbage. It then gets lifted up and over the wall where there is a chute that takes it all the burners. It all get very compacted and gets extremely hot. All the heat will turn water into steam. This steam will then turn and spin a turbine which finally goes to a generator.
   We now have electricity! From everything burning, it does create ashes. But which is better? Tons and tons of garbage that you see here in the picture, or a couple square feet of ashes that will eventually turn into concrete? I will take the burning for sure. It compacts everything so much and we get something positive out of it. The smoke is cleaned and filtered so many times that it is virtually, odorless. It is really something that i think every county should have. It burns what we throw out, and makes electricity out of it. Thats a win win if you ask me. I would love to try and see more of it.