Municipal solid waste: a hard-eyed assessment. [Recycling and Energy Recovery]

Recycling and energy recovery from solid municipal waste is reported. The solid waste energy potential is considered and the utilization of refuse-derived fuels (RDF) is reviewed. A conclusion is reached that a sanitary landfill is the cheapest of all the resource recovery systems at present, as the sorting of the waste is a problem and the recycling and energy recovery are not economical.