The bins and barrels of trash that you place at your curbside for collection may be transformed into electricity that will light the skyline or power the neighborhood. The process begins when the municipal solid waste arrives at our facility in Bristol.

After being weighed, it is moved to a storage pit that can hold up to 4,000 tons of unprocessed waste. One of two overhead cranes lifts the waste and places it into combustion unit charging hoppers. These containers prepare the waste for combustion, a rapid chemical process that takes place in two furnaces that can each burn up to 325 tons of waste every day. Each furnace has separate combustion controls and air pollution controls, leading to fewer emissions than conventional fuels burned in most American power plants.

The furnaces are used to produce steam, which generates electricity for sale to Connecticut Light & Power. Not only does the waste-to-energy process prevent your trash from piling up in landfills and releasing harmful methane gases commonly known as greenhouse gas, it helps BRRFOC/TROC reduce the tipping fees for our member communities.