In Palm Beach County, we're unique in that we have two waste-to-energy facilities. We receive your trash, combust it, and turn it into electricity. Yes, that’s right – some of the lights at your school or home could be powered by garbage! Palm Beach County's first waste-to-energy facility was built in 1989 and then renovated in 2009. It combusts 800,000 tons of municipal solid waste each year. In July 2015, Renewable Energy Facility 2 began commercial operation. It can combust 1 million tons of post-recycled municipal solid waste each year. Renewable Energy Facility 2 is the first of its kind in more than 20 years, and the most advanced, efficient, cleanest and greenest waste-to-energy power plant in the world. With these two facilities, we produce enough electricity to power most of the eight buildings on our 1300-acre footprint as well as about 90,000 homes per year.
