Municipal solid waste as a source of energy

This presentation summarizes a study which examined how to properly dispose of municipal solid waste in Mexico City. 20000 tons of municipal solid waste are generated every day in Mexico City and the surrounding areas by the inhabitants. It is a big task is to dispose properly of such a large amount of MSW. After the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed late in 1993, municipal authorities all over the country could not be allowed any longer to throw away municipal solid waste (MSW) in open fields. The main idea of this presentation is to learn how to properly dispose of MSW and how to take advantage of such a procedure. In Mexico City as well as in the whole country, municipal authorities face two main problems. One is how to dispose properly of MSW fulfilling environmental laws, and the other is how to get funds to pay the electric utility the extremely high price of energy for the street lighting system.