Bangor Daily News reports that an increase in the use of construction and demolition waste is favored for use as fuel in the state's biomass and waste-to-energy facilities.
C&D (construction and demolition) waste contains wood which is useful as fuel, but also contains other substances including but not limited to lots of PVC (vinyl siding, flooring, wallpaper, pipe, jacketed electrical cable, deck and fence materials, and packaging). The wood makes good fuel - but just about everything else in C&D waste is terrible fuel. Asphalt shingles will burn nicely, as long as they are mixed with a great deal of biomass in a WTE facility designed to combust municipal solid waste (better pollution control equipment than a basic biomass boiler; those crude oil refining residues are probably chock full of sulfur)
One of Maine's issues is with the importation of out-of-state C&D wastes. Haulers bring mixed waste in to be burnt, then when they get to the power plant the wood is burnt and the remainder must be landfilled. Legislators hope to enacte regulations to allow only WOOD to be accepted into the state for incineration.
