On March 19, the Baumann team in Frankfurt visited the FES waste-to-energy plant in Frankfurt Heddernheim. The waste-to-energy plant is partly responsible for supplying parts of the city with heat and electricity. It is also an important contribution to achieving our climate protection targets for a “carbon-neutral future”.
Every year, around 500,000 tons of household waste are recycled for energy, and the steam generated supplies around 30,000 households with district heating. In addition, up to 49 MW of electrical power can be generated in combined heat and power generation.
While we typically put our garbage in the appropriate bins every day, we were able to experience in person how thermal and electrical energy is generated from our waste during this visit. This was an impactful experience, as it gave us a better understanding of the waste cycle.
We were also able to see that not everything that is disposed of in household waste actually belongs there. We were astonished to discover that expansion vessels from heating technology had been disposed of improperly and were perhaps still being disposed of.
In terms of sustainability, valuable raw materials do not simply belong in household waste but must be returned to the material cycle, as they are otherwise unnecessarily converted into energy. Ways and means are available, what is missing is the will.