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Why the Cleanest Countries in the World Incinerate Their Waste

  • yes or no Redaktion
  • May 27
  • 4 min read

Waste does not disappear. It merely changes location – or its value. It is the latter that countries with high environmental and cleanliness standards, such as Sweden, Switzerland, Singapore, or the United Arab Emirates, are increasingly leveraging. They use waste as a regional resource. What often ends up in landfills elsewhere is transformed through thermal treatment into a source of energy, a reservoir of raw materials, and a strategic reserve. In a world of growing cities, rising waste volumes, and increasing energy demand, Waste-to-Energy – also in light of fragile supply chains – is evolving from a disposal system into a pillar of urban resilience.


Waste becomes a source of energy: cities are evolving into their own suppliers of raw materials. (yes or no Media GmbH, own image)
Waste becomes a source of energy: cities are evolving into their own suppliers of raw materials. (yes or no Media GmbH, own image)

From one ton of waste, Waste-to-Energy generates an average of 500 to 600 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity[1] – enough to supply a household for around two months or 50 to 70 households for a day[2]. After incineration, about 20 to 30 % of mineral slag remains, which, depending on processing, can be used as a secondary raw material in road construction and civil engineering[3].

 

Rapidly growing megacities, in particular, require solutions for stable energy, reliable resource availability, and efficient waste logistics.

 

The City as a Resource Machine

Around 4.8 billion people currently live in cities, accounting for 58 % of the global population[4]. On average, a person generates about 0.74 kilograms of waste per day[5] worldwide, resulting in approximately 2.0 to 2.2 billion tons of municipal waste annually[6]. This means that increasing amounts of material are concentrated in one place.

 

Leading countries in sustainability and circular economy rely on Waste-to-Energy:

 

  • In Sweden, only about 1 % of household waste ends up in landfills; more than 2.5 million tons are used for energy recovery[7].

  • Switzerland thermally processes around 3 million tons of municipal waste annually[8] – about half of its total volume – and recovers valuable materials from the residues: over 60,000 tons of steel scrap, 6,000 tons of copper, 17,000 tons of aluminum, and even around 300 kilograms of gold each year[9].

  • Denmark is considered a pioneer in waste incineration. A prominent example is Amager Bakke (CopenHill) in Copenhagen – a Waste-to-Energy plant with an integrated ski slope that processes around 400,000 tons of waste annually and supplies energy to more than 150,000 households[10].

  • Singapore is among the global leaders in thermal waste treatment, processing around 2.8 to 3.0 million tons of waste annually[11]. This reduces waste volume by up to 90 % and significantly relieves the country’s only landfill[12].

  • The world’s largest Waste-to-Energy facility, the Dubai Waste Management Centre (Warsan), has been in operation since 2024. It processes around 1.9 million tons of municipal waste per year (about 45 % of total waste) and generates approximately 200 megawatts (MW) of electricity for more than 120,000 households. This supports the United Arab Emirates’ goal of increasing the share of clean energy to 75 % by 2050[13].

 

In these examples, Waste-to-Energy goes far beyond waste disposal. It creates a new urban function: the city as an independent supplier of raw materials.

 

The Dynamics of Megacities

The future demands it: by 2050, around 68 % of the world’s population – approximately 6.7 billion people – will live in cities[14]. At the same time, global municipal waste generation is expected to reach 3.4 billion tons per year[15]. Based on an average electricity yield of 500 to 600 kWh per ton through Waste-to-Energy, this results in a theoretical global energy potential of around 1,700 to 2,040 terawatt-hours annually – equivalent to roughly three to four times Germany’s annual electricity consumption[16].

 

Waste-to-Energy is thus evolving from a disposal method into a core infrastructure: incineration plants not only reduce waste volumes but also generate energy and recover raw materials – directly where they are produced. Cities are no longer merely endpoints of global supply chains; they are beginning to supply themselves.

 

This marks a paradigm shift: the megacity of the future will not be measured by how much it consumes, but by how much it recovers. This is urban mining in its most effective form – resource extraction not through new mining, but from what has already been used. The key lies in its logic: it produces both energy and materials at the same time. This dual value creation makes cities more resilient. In times of geopolitical tension, this local availability – enabled by urban mining and Waste-to-Energy – becomes a strategic advantage.


[2] Calculation based on an average household consumption of approx. 3,000-3,500 kWh per year (≈ 8-10 kWh per day). Accordingly, 500-600 kWh corresponds to around 50-75 days of electricity for a household, or enough to supply 50-70 households for one day.

[3] European Commission (JRC), Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document for Waste Incineration, 2019

[16] Calculation: 3.4 × 10⁹ tons of waste × 500-600 kWh/t = 1.7-2.04 × 10¹² kWh ≙ 1,700-2,040 TWh. Germany: approx. 500-550 TWh of electricity consumption per year (rounded reference value).


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