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How to retrofit an convert an Island: Puerto Rico-Case Study
Solid Waste as an Economic Generator for
Sustainable Development
Adapted from a
Keynote Presentation by:
Patrick F. Mahoney, Chairman of Energy Answers Corporation
Presented at:
AHC Group Ninth Annual Affiliate Program
June 18th - 19th, 2001
CORPORATE STRATEGY IN A TIME OF GREAT CHANGE
Gideon Putnam – Saratoga Springs, New York
Puerto Rico is 1000 miles from Florida in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on the North and the Caribbean on
the south. It is an island 100 miles x 35 miles and is a territory or commonwealth of the United States with a
population of 4 million people. Virtually all of the energy is generated from non-renewable imported fossil
fuels. And little of the land on this densely populated island is suitable for landfilling of wastes. Raw materials
are scarce and the population has become quite concerned with the quality of the environment.
So Puerto Rico is an excellent candidate for our resource recovery system, industrial ecology and sustainable
development. Puerto Rico produces more waste/capita than any other place in the world, has very few natural
resources and imports virtually all of the fossil fuel used to generate its electricity. So a resource recovery
philosophy makes great sense.
Each day in Puerto Rico, 14,000 tons of waste is generated and that amount of waste represents:
• 875 tons of steel. (While this material is being landfilled, 1,100 tons of steel is imported each day to
support the construction industry.)
• 1,575 tons of aggregate. (Currently, aggregate is imported; mined from limestone quarries on the island,
at a great cost to the natural landscape; or produced from sand which is being removed from beaches
along the coast.)
• 87.5 tons of non-ferrous metal
• 17,500 barrels of oil. (The energy value in 14,000 tons of waste is enough to serve nearly 375,000
homes and would provide the island with a renewable power source, not dependent on foreign fuel
imports.)
Instead, this 14,000 tons of waste is now being landfilled in non complying landfills with a long-term negative
environmental impact as 21 acres of the island are buried each day,1 foot deep in waste.
Sustainable Development
Adapted from a
Keynote Presentation by:
Patrick F. Mahoney, Chairman of Energy Answers Corporation
Presented at:
AHC Group Ninth Annual Affiliate Program
June 18th - 19th, 2001
CORPORATE STRATEGY IN A TIME OF GREAT CHANGE
Gideon Putnam – Saratoga Springs, New York
Puerto Rico is 1000 miles from Florida in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on the North and the Caribbean on
the south. It is an island 100 miles x 35 miles and is a territory or commonwealth of the United States with a
population of 4 million people. Virtually all of the energy is generated from non-renewable imported fossil
fuels. And little of the land on this densely populated island is suitable for landfilling of wastes. Raw materials
are scarce and the population has become quite concerned with the quality of the environment.
So Puerto Rico is an excellent candidate for our resource recovery system, industrial ecology and sustainable
development. Puerto Rico produces more waste/capita than any other place in the world, has very few natural
resources and imports virtually all of the fossil fuel used to generate its electricity. So a resource recovery
philosophy makes great sense.
Each day in Puerto Rico, 14,000 tons of waste is generated and that amount of waste represents:
• 875 tons of steel. (While this material is being landfilled, 1,100 tons of steel is imported each day to
support the construction industry.)
• 1,575 tons of aggregate. (Currently, aggregate is imported; mined from limestone quarries on the island,
at a great cost to the natural landscape; or produced from sand which is being removed from beaches
along the coast.)
• 87.5 tons of non-ferrous metal
• 17,500 barrels of oil. (The energy value in 14,000 tons of waste is enough to serve nearly 375,000
homes and would provide the island with a renewable power source, not dependent on foreign fuel
imports.)
Instead, this 14,000 tons of waste is now being landfilled in non complying landfills with a long-term negative
environmental impact as 21 acres of the island are buried each day,1 foot deep in waste.
1 Comment
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Comment by Allan Rivera on July 25, 2008 at 6:26pm - This is to open to discussion this case study so we conform micro-solutions for the 1.2 millions residential utilities users in: transportation, energy, waters & lansfills. Also agro and acuaculture.
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