Dive Brief:

• Retrofitting the emissions control system at the Metro Vancouver Waste-to-Energy Facility enabled the plant to lower its emissions by 53% since the start of this year, Covanta recently announced.
• The new emissions control device was invented by Covanta for use in retrofitting plants. The Metro Vancouver Plant is operated by Covanta Burnaby Renewable Energy.
• Covanta’s new emissions technology lowers nitrogen oxides operating levels to about three times under the current limit.

Dive Insight:

Using waste-to-energy technology to lower pollution and to lower the amount of trash heading to landfills has multiple benefits. But when a company can find a way to make such operations more environmentally friendly, it merits notice.

"Over the last two decades, Covanta has worked diligently towards eliminating environmental impacts from our Energy-from-Waste facilities like Metro Vancouver’s, leading to dramatic reductions of over 95 per cent for most emissions," said Christopher Baker, Covanta Vice President of Client Business Management in a news release. "With our new technology, we now have the ability to significantly reduce nitrogen oxides emissions to the lowest concentration in the North American industry. We are so pleased to provide this breakthrough technology to our valued partner, Metro Vancouver."