WASTE-TO-ENERGY PROPOSALS STUDIED.Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH Staff Writer In an effort to end Los Angeles' dependence on landfills, sanitation sanitation: see plumbing; sanitary science. officials are reviewing 12 proposals to build the nation's first major trash-to-energy plant in the city. The plant would take residual garbage garbage: see solid waste. -- what's left after bottles, cans and other recyclables are picked out -- and convert it into gas or electricity. City officials are expected to choose a project next year with the goal of opening a plant in 2010. "A lot of these are extremely reputable rep·u·ta·ble adj. Having a good reputation; honorable. rep  u·ta·bil companies with proven
technologies, things that are being done all around the world today.
L.A. will by no means be a guinea pig guinea pig (gĭn`ē), domesticated form of the cavy, Cavia porcellus, a South American rodent. It is unrelated to the pig; the name may refer to its shrill squeal. ," said Mitch Englander, chief
of staff for Councilman Greig Smith Greig Smith is a Los Angeles City Councilman, representing the 12th District, which includes Granada Hills, Northridge and other parts of the Western San Fernando Valley. Smith is also a reserve officer for the Los Angeles Police Department. .
Smith has proposed building as many as six trash-to-energy plants throughout the city to alleviate the need for Sunshine Canyon Landfill -- the Granada Hills dump that currently takes the city's residential trash. The proposal for the first plant calls for the city to partner with a company, possibly providing land and pledging to buy electricity from the operation. The company would build and operate the commercial-size plant, which could take up to 1,000 tons of trash per day. The city is also looking to partner with a company developing an experimental trash-to-energy process. The plants use heat, chemicals or biological processes to break down trash in a controlled facility to limit noise, air pollution and odors Odors anosmia Medicine. the absence of the sense of smell; olfactory anesthesia. Also called anosphrasia. — anosmic, adj. halitosis bad breath; an unpleasant odor emanating from the mouth. . However, some environmental groups are opposed to trash-to-energy plants, saying they discourage recycling recycling, the process of recovering and reusing waste products—from household use, manufacturing, agriculture, and business—and thereby reducing their burden on the environment. and would create too much air pollution. "Call them what they are: incinerators," said Robina Suwol, who runs California Safe Schools. "We have the worst air quality in the entire continent." kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com (213) 978-0390 To learn more For more information on trash alternative technologies, visit www.lacity-alternativetechnology.org. CAPTION(S): box Box: To learn more (see text) |
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