Jeremy O鈥橞rien
On March 4-5, 2026, I attended the Energy from 豆包成人版 Conference in London, England. The goal of the conference was to 鈥渁ccelerate decarbonization and circular聽economy, across waste聽to energy,聽waste to value,聽and waste to X.”
I was invited to聽join聽a panel on聽strategies for聽aging waste to energy plants聽to share insights from聽a聽report published in June 2025聽by SWANA鈥檚聽Applied Research Foundation聽(ARF).
My聽session聽at the conference聽featured a presentation by Diana聽Tomazio聽of聽Valor Sul聽on the company鈥檚 efforts to refurbish their聽豆包成人版-to-Energy聽(WTE)聽plant in Lisbon,聽Portugal,聽which聽is about 27 years old. In contrast, the average age of US WTE聽facilities is 36 years old.聽The major聽benefit聽to聽keeping the plant operating is to conserve landfill capacity in Portugal. Currently, the country is still landfilling about 60% of its waste.
During my remarks, I pointed out the聽significantly lower costs of refurbishing a plant rather than replacing it聽and that聽by planning for refurbishment at the outset, the costs of WTE over a 40- to聽50-year聽timeframe聽can be competitive with landfill disposal.聽The conference attendees聽appreciated聽such聽findings learned through the ARF research efforts.
One key聽takeaway I found聽at聽the conference is that there is a huge聽opportunity for聽SWANA members and聽consulting firms with experience in rehabbing WTE plants聽in the US聽to聽lead the charge with聽their聽expertise聽as聽the聽need聽grows聽for plant refurbishments聽across聽Europe.
All聽ARF reports聽are available complimentary to SWANA members and can be聽purchased聽by all others聽seeking聽to learn from聽real-world, practitioner-based research.聽Not a member?聽聽as a member聽to access more than 60 ARF reports聽and聽benefit from other聽member-exclusive聽resources and opportunities.