Mark Freedman talked about COVANTA Energy and its Montgomery facility that processes up to 1,800 tons-per-day of solid waste, generating up to 52 megawatts (net) of renewable energy, enough to power 37,000 homes. All Montgomery waste is first delivered to the Shady Grove Transfer Station in Derwood,MD, compacted into steel waste containers and shipped by rail to the COVANTA plant (eliminating truck traffic). The waste is burned at 2200 degrees (in a state-ofthe- art plant built in 1995) and scrubbed to capture methane and other pollutants. The ashes are used to cover land fill. Methane is the most dangerous of pollutants. Twenty five percent of all methane comes from waste land fill. In Montgomery County the average waste per person is one ton per year.