Covanta Alexandria/Arlington Inc. Reaches New Waste Disposal And Service Agreement With The City Of Alexandria And Arlington County, VA
New Deal Provides Long Term Stability for Sustainable Waste Management
Alexandria, VA -- (Marketwire) - Covanta Alexandria/Arlington Inc., operator of the Alexandria/Arlington Energy-from-Waste Facility, today announced a new waste disposal and service agreement with the City of Alexandria and Arlington County, Virginia. The new agreement, which was approved by unanimous vote from both the Alexandria City Council and the Arlington County Board, runs from 2013 through 2019, with an option to extend the agreement through 2038. The deal is expected to save residents a substantial amount in solid waste disposal costs and continues the successful partnership that began in the 1980s.
The Covanta Alexandria/Arlington Energy-from-Waste facility commenced operations in 1988 and serves the sustainable waste disposal needs of the City and County, along with other neighboring communities. The facility processes over 330,000 tons of municipal solid waste per year to produce approximately 185,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy and recycles thousands of tons of metals.
"The City is extremely pleased to continue managing our solid waste in an environmentally sustainable manner and generate clean, renewable energy locally," said Rich Baier, P.E., City of Alexandria director of transportation and environmental services. "The new agreement allows the City to meet our long-term goals in our Eco-City Environmental Action Plan and our Solid Waste Management Plan."
In almost 25 years of operation, the Alexandria/Arlington Energy-from-Waste facility has achieved some significant milestones. Since 1988, the facility has converted approximately eight million tons of municipal solid waste into over four million megawatt hours of electricity, enough to supply all of the homes in Washington D.C. and Alexandria with electricity for one year. Offset approximately eight million tons of greenhouse gases, the environmental benefit equivalent to planting over 180 million tree seedlings. Recycled 36,000 tons of ferrous metal, the same amount used to build the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
"Arlington County is proud to continue our partnership with the City of Alexandria and Covanta Energy for years to come," said Mark Schwartz, Arlington County deputy manager. "The new agreement continues Arlington County's avoidance of landfill disposal for solid waste that cannot be recycled at the curb and provides financial savings to our citizens."
In 2011, Covanta Alexandria/Arlington was named the Large Waste-to-Energy Facility of the Year in the combustion category by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in recognition of its strong environmental and safety performance record. Also in 2011, the facility was the recipient of the Governor's Environmental Excellence Award and received the Gold Industrial Waste and Pretreatment Environmental Excellence Award from the Virginia Water Environmental Association. The facility received its OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) STAR designation in 2004 and is also a member of the Virginia Environmental Excellence Program at the elite E4 status level.
"Extending our partnerships with host communities is a primary business goal so we are extremely pleased to have reached a new, mutually beneficial agreement with the City of Alexandria and County of Arlington," said Paul Stauder, Covanta Americas senior vice president. "We applaud both communities in their respective decisions to continue to utilize energy from waste for sustainable and environmentally-friendly municipal solid waste disposal, while promoting a local source of clean, renewable energy. We look forward to serving the residents of Alexandria and Arlington County for many years to come."
Recovering energy from waste after efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle have been employed is a critical component of managing residual waste. For every ton of municipal solid waste processed at energy-from-waste facilities like Covanta Alexandria/Arlington, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by the equivalent of approximately one ton less of carbon dioxide emissions. This is possible due to the avoidance of methane from landfills, the offset of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel electrical production and the recovery of metals for recycling.
Covanta Alexandria/Arlington Inc.
Covanta Alexandria/Arlington Inc. is a subsidiary of Covanta Energy Corporation is an internationally recognized owner and operator of large-scale Energy-from-Waste and renewable energy projects and a recipient of the Energy Innovator Award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Covanta's 44 Energy-from-Waste facilities provide communities with an environmentally sound solution to their solid waste disposal needs by using that municipal solid waste to generate clean, renewable energy. Annually, Covanta's modern Energy-from-Waste facilities safely and securely convert approximately 20 million tons of waste into 9 million megawatt hours of clean renewable electricity and more than 9 billion pounds of steam that are sold to a variety of industries. For more information, visit www.covantaenergy.com.
SOURCE: Covanta Energy