Waste-to-energy plant
A facility that burns mixed municipal waste to generate electricity or steam.
A waste-to-energy (WTE) plant burns mixed municipal solid waste and uses the heat to make steam or electricity. Pallets thrown out with ordinary trash in areas served by one end up there.
EPA's WARM model bases its combustion factors on WTE plants generating electricity. For dimensional lumber, the net factor is −0.58 MTCO2E per short ton, with −0.63 coming from utility emissions displaced; WARM uses a net 550 kWh generated per ton of mixed MSW combusted, adjusted for transmission losses.
Massachusetts' wood ban applies to landfills, not combustion facilities, so pallets there may lawfully go to a WTE plant. See combustion.
Not every region has a waste-to-energy plant; where none operates, mixed trash with pallets in it goes to landfill instead. Your hauler can tell you where your trash actually goes, and that answer is what you should use when choosing between the combustion and landfill rows of the calculator.
Sources
- Documentation for Greenhouse Gas Emission and Energy Factors Used in WARM, Version 16: Construction Materials Chapters, ch. 12 Wood Products (EPA-530-R-23-020) U.S. EPA. Accessed October 27, 2026. Exhibits 12-3 (p. 12-3), 12-9, 12-13, 12-15 and 12-16 (p. 12-10).
- 310 CMR 19.017 Waste Bans Massachusetts DEP (text via Cornell LII). Accessed October 27, 2026.