Thursday, July 10, 2025
Despite common misconceptions, the Village of Lynbrook manages its waste through a modern waste-to-energy facility that uses advanced thermal technology to reduce landfill use, generate electricity, recover recyclable materials, and lower the environmental impact of trash disposal, said Village officials.
The Village of Lynbrook contracts with Reworld, a company that operates a thermal treatment facility designed to convert municipal solid waste into usable energy.
The term “incinerator” often evokes images of heavy pollution and smoke stacks, Lynbrook Mayor Alan Beach said, but he noted the facility in use today reflects modern environmental standards and sustainable practices.
“A significant, as I understand it, byproduct of the burning of trash is the steam heat from the high temperature burn [which generates] steam powered turbines to produce electricity,” Beach said.
The energy is transferred into the electrical grid, while recovered metals are sent for recycling. The process offsets, on average, two tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per ton of waste processed, according to the company.
This process helps offset some of the costs associated with waste management, Phil Healy, director of Public Works for the Village of Lynbrook, said.
It costs $85 per ton for waste incineration, compared to $110 per ton for recycling because of the labor involved in hand-processing the materials.
Lynbrook contributes less than 11,000 tons of waste annually to a regional total of approximately 560,000 tons, said Beach.
The four Long Island facilities manage about 2 million tons of waste and recycle 60,000 tons of metal a year, according to Reworld data.
However, Dawn Harmon, Reworld’s Long Island market director, said a common misconception is that the facility recycles all items.
While the same trucks manage both waste and recycling for municipalities, they are not delivered to the same facilities.
“Some people think recycling doesn’t matter because it’s all coming here anyways,” Harmon said. “That’s not what is happening.”
Another common issue involves the improper disposal of lithium batteries and electronics, which pose fire risks, she said.
The facility uses heat detection systems, but remains primarily defensive due to the unpredictable nature of incoming waste.
Certain items, such as mattresses, bulk materials, and tree debris, are prohibited from the facility, but Harmon said residents don’t realize or recognize the risk.
Energy recovery with environmental safeguards is included in state solid waste management legislative policy as an acceptable method of solid waste management, said John J. Salka, public information officer for New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation.
He said New York State is developing an updated State Solid Waste Management Plan, working directly with municipalities and all New Yorkers to employ a circular economy, which focuses on reusing, recycling and reducing environmental harm.
The Reworld facility serves as a regional solution for Long Island municipalities affected by the Long Island Landfill Law, which restricts landfill operations to protect the island’s sole-source aquifer.
According to Reworld’s data, the thermal process reduces waste volume by up to 90 percent and produces roughly 550 kilowatt-hours of electricity per ton.
The Environmental Protection Agency, European Commission and United Nations Environment Programme recognize thermal treatment as a greenhouse gas mitigation method, ranking it above landfilling, but below source reduction and recycling in terms of environmental preference.
According to the budget, the Village spends about $1.2 million on contracted services for waste disposal a year.
The village has explored alternative waste management technologies, such as more efficient methods for collecting and disposing of trash, but these options have proven to be cost-prohibitive, Beach said.
“But maybe in the future the industry will develop cost effective methods of developing environmentally friendly ways of picking up and disposing of trash,” he said.
