Nickolas Themelis on Waste-to-Energy for New York City

New York City spends $ 200 billion per year on municipal solid waste management. Out of this $ 300 million is spent on just trawler trucks traveling 40 million miles using fossil fuels to transport waste. (Source: "Tax In, Garbage Out" (PDF) published in 2012 by New York Citizen's Budget Commission). The report goes on to suggest significant changes to New York City's waste management system, which includes the building of local waste-to-energy facilities.

Below is Professor Nickolas Themelis comment on New York City's waste management problem:

Report from New York Citizens Budget Commission is another blue ribbon report documenting the great need for NYC (New York City) to move to waste-to-energy. But any time Mayor Bloomberg starts to deal with this need, he is soon cowered by a vociferous small minority that lives in the past.

Here, Professor Themelis is referring to the opposition to building waste-to-energy facilities in New York City, based on idealism and outdated knowledge of waste-to-energy technology. By "past", he refers to the fact that waste-to-energy technology has made enormous advancements in pollution control and is now one of the cleanest sources of electricity according to United States Environmental Protection Agency.