On Friday, May 27, 2016, we had a very special, not quite everyday destination: the waste-to-energy plant in St. Gallen. This visit made it clear that even waste that cannot be recycled is a valuable raw material. Thanks to modern technology, the combustion process can be used as a powerful source of energy. We learned how sophisticated the processes have to be to ensure that incineration is as environmentally friendly as possible. It was almost eerie to watch the vast amounts of waste being dumped into the plant’s huge bunker and then transported into the power plant’s furnaces with oversized gripper arms. These are capable of burning more than 5 tons of waste per hour!
