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Municipal Solid Waste                                          

Data For: 2006
Release Date: April 2008
Next Release Date: April 2009

Table 1.7 Waste Energy Consumption by Type of Waste and Energy Use Sector, 2006
(Trillion Btu)
TypeSector
CommercialIndustrialElectric PowerTotal
Electric UtilitiesIndependent Power Producers
Total3614015216407
  Landfill Gas474864150
  MSW Biogenica2664135171
  Other Biomassb76131686
a Includes paper and paper board, wood, food, leather, textiles and yard trimmings.
b Agriculture byproducts/crops, sludge waste, and other biomass solids, liquids and gases.
MSW = Municipal Solid Waste
Note: Totals may not equal sum of components due to independent rounding.
Sources: Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-906, "Power Plant Report," Form EIA-920, "Combined Heat and Power Plant Report,"
and Government Advisory Associates, Resource Recovery Yearbook and Methane Recovery Yearbook; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Landfill Methane Outreach Program estimates; and analysis conducted by the Energy Information Administration, Office of Coal, Nuclear,
Electric and Alternate Fuels.


More tables on MSW/Landfill Gas Generation and Capacity Format
Table 1.5a Historical Renewable Energy Consumption by Energy Use Sector and Energy Source pdfxls
Table 1.5b Historical Renewable Energy Consumption by Energy Use Sector and Energy Source pdfxls
Table 1.7 Waste Energy Consumption by Type of Waste and Energy Use Sector pdfxls
Table 1.11 Electricity Net Generation From Renewable Energy by Energy Use Sector and Energy Source pdfxls
Table 1.12 U.S. Electric Net Summer Capacity pdfxls
Table 1.13 Renewable Electricity Net Generation by Energy Source and Census Division pdfxls
Table 1.14 Industrial Biomass Electricity Net Generation by Census Division and Energy Source pdfxls
Table 1.A1 Other Non-renewable Energy Consumption by Energy Use Sector and Energy Source pdfxls
Table 1.A2 Other Non-renewable Net Electricity Generation by Energy Use Sector and Energy Source pdfxls
Municipal solid waste: large pile of used newspapers.

Municipal solid waste: large pile of used newspapers.

   Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Photographic Information Exchange.

The municipal solid waste industry has four components: recycling, composting, landfilling, and waste-to-energy via incineration.  Municipal solid waste is total waste excluding industrial waste, agricultural waste, and sewage sludge.  As defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, it includes durable goods, non-durable goods, containers and packaging, food wastes, yard wastes, and miscellaneous inorganic wastes from residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial sources.  Examples from these categories include: appliances, newspapers, clothing, food scrapes, boxes, disposable tableware, office and classroom paper, wood pallets, rubber tires, and cafeteria wastes.  Waste-to-energy combustion and landfill gas are byproducts of municipal solid waste.

Renewable Information Team

Methodology for Allocating Municipal Solid Waste to Biogenic and Non-Biogenic Energy
This report summarizes the methodology used to split the heat content of municipal solid waste (MSW) into its biogenic and non-biogenic shares.

Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE)
A comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and selected federal incentives that promote renewable energy.

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