Waste-to-energy (thermal and biological)
Recovering heat, power or fuel from municipal and industrial waste by incineration, pyrolysis, gasification, landfill gas capture and anaerobic digestion.
1 · What it gives
Waste-to-energy sits below recycling in the waste hierarchy and is used for residual waste that cannot be economically recycled. The portal already has pages on anaerobic digestion of municipal waste and on gasification; this page covers the whole group, including incineration, pyrolysis and landfill gas. Permitting and public acceptance are central.
- Collection and sorting: Collect residual waste; remove recyclables, metals and hazardous items.
- Conversion: Thermal route: incineration with energy recovery, pyrolysis or gasification. Biological route: anaerobic digestion or landfill gas collection.
- Energy recovery: Produce steam and power, district heat, syngas or biogas; upgrade biogas where needed.
- Emissions control and residues: Clean flue gas to permit limits and manage ash, slag and digestate.
Draft from established general knowledge; not source-checked (verified: false, confidence: low).
2 · What it replaces 6 · matched by industry
| D2E– | Composting and anaerobic digestion of separately collected biowaste instead of landfill Replaces: Landfilling of food and garden waste (methane emissions, leachate) and its incineration with mixed waste | SERV |
| D1E4 | Food and market organic waste treated by black soldier fly (BSF) larvae, composting and bokashi fermentation instead of landfilling, open dumping and incineration of wet waste Replaces: Landfilling and open dumping of food/market waste (methane, leachate, vectors); incineration of high-moisture organic waste; chemical fly … | SERV |
| D1E3 | Landfill gas and organic-waste biomethane instead of flaring, fugitive methane and fossil gas Replaces: Flared or vented landfill/dump methane; untapped organic-waste methane (open dumps common across this index's regions); fossil natural gas … | FUEL |
| D3E3 | Biogas and biomethane from organic waste instead of firewood, charcoal, LPG and diesel Replaces: Firewood, charcoal and dung as cooking fuel (household air pollution); fossil LPG and natural gas for cooking and heat; diesel-generator … | FUEL |
| D3E– | Sewage sludge and faecal sludge stabilized biologically — anaerobic digestion, thermophilic co-composting, sludge treatment (drying) reed beds — instead of lime stabilization, landfilling, incineration-only and raw dumping Replaces: Lime (CaO/Ca(OH)₂) stabilization of sludge; landfilling of untreated sludge; raw dumping of pit-latrine and septic-tank sludge into rivers … | SERV |
| D2E3 | Biodiesel, renewable diesel (HVO) and SAF instead of fossil diesel and heating oil Replaces: Fossil diesel in transport and generators; gas-oil heating; jet fuel (via SAF blends); also disciplines waste cooking oil and tallow that … | FUEL |
3 · How to implement 4 steps
- 1Collection and sortingCollect residual waste; remove recyclables, metals and hazardous items.
- 2ConversionThermal route: incineration with energy recovery, pyrolysis or gasification. Biological route: anaerobic digestion or landfill gas collection.
- 3Energy recoveryProduce steam and power, district heat, syngas or biogas; upgrade biogas where needed.
- 4Emissions control and residuesClean flue gas to permit limits and manage ash, slag and digestate.
4 · Who delivers
Matched suppliers (matched automatically)
| GranBio | Brazil | Services / consulting | active |
| Beijing Shougang LanzaTech | China | Services / consulting | active |
| GPS Renewables | India | Research / RTO | active |
| Green Earth Institute (TSE Growth) | Japan | Research / RTO | active |
| Incauca | Colombia | Producer | active |
| Orizon Valorização de Resíduos (B3: ORVR3) | Brazil | Producer | active |
| REVO International | Japan | Producer | active |
| Zhuoyue New Energy 卓越新能 (SSE 688196) | China | Producer | active |
| Sanergy | Kenya | Services / consulting | active |
| Thermax | India | Services / consulting | active |
| Airex Energy | Canada | Producer | active |
| Algaetech International | Malaysia | Distributor | active |
Leading companies and institutes (from the brief)
5 · Rules & route to market
none for the service; operator permits (integrated environmental permit ~1 month)
Information, not legal advice — confirm the procedure for your product. (2026-10-06)
United States
Policy documents mentioning waste-to-energy appear for Australia, Kenya and the United Kingdom (2018-2025).
European Union
Emission permits, public opposition, feedstock contracts and gate-fee dependence are the usual risks to check.
Sources:
- none matched yet
China
No companies are linked yet; the portal’s supplier matching adds them under the related industries.
6 · Money: tenders & grants
No open tender or grant matched right now.
7 · Tech stack & innovations
Where this appears 5 sources
Appears in 5 distinct sources across 5 regions, 2010–2025.
- policy documents 5
Regions: Australia · Ghana · Kenya · OECD · United Kingdom
- 2021: 0
- 2022: 0
- 2023: 11
- 2024: 0
- 2025: 11
- 2026: 0
- 2027: 0
Matched themes 3
Waste to energy technologies Waste-to-Energy projects Waste-to-energy
Themes from forum programmes, policy documents and reports are mapped to technologies automatically and then reviewed; counts are distinct sources, not mentions, and are not a ranking. data sources and method → · Trending, not yet covered →
Sources 2 · 0 independent · 2 producer sites
Producers' own sites 2
- task36.ieabioenergy.com producer checked 2026-11-05
- www.ieabioenergy.com producer checked 2026-11-05