This mini-review aims at proving that waste-to-energy (WtE) is an essential cornerstone for circular economy (CE). Based on literature, the history of thermal waste treatment over the last 150 years is investigated, from open burning to WtE with resource recovery and final sink function. The results show that in the past incineration solved the issues it was designed for but often created new and sometimes even worse problems: The introduction of incineration in the 19th century improved urban sanitation, decreased waste volume and prolonged operational life of landfills. But it also polluted the environment, triggering an unprecedented scientific and engineering effort of all stakeholders. Today, WtE is one of the best investigated and optimized technologies in waste management. It enables the recovery of energy as heat and electric power and facilitates the ‘cleaning’ of cycles by the destruction of hazardous organic substances. Recent developments in resource recovery from WtE residues allow to recycle metals and, in the case of sewage sludge, even phosphorus by thermal recycling. Combined with carbon capture and storage technology, WtE stands for a quantifiable contribution to greenhouse gas reduction. Today, WtE is indispensable to reach the goals of CE, namely recycling of energy and materials, supplying safe final sinks for persistent organic substances and minimizing the need for sinks for hazardous inorganic substances.

中文翻译：

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垃圾发电，循环经济不可或缺的基石：小回顾

本次小型审查旨在证明废物发电（WtE）是循环经济（CE）的重要基石。基于文献，研究了过去 150 年热废物处理的历史，从露天燃烧到具有资源回收和最终汇功能的 WtE。结果表明，过去的焚烧解决了其设计目的的问题，但常常带来新的、有时甚至更严重的问题：19世纪焚烧的引入改善了城市卫生，减少了垃圾量并延长了垃圾填埋场的使用寿命。但它也污染了环境，引发了所有利益相关者前所未有的科学和工程努力。如今，垃圾发电是废物管理领域研究最充分、最优化的技术之一。它能够回收热能和电能等能量，并通过破坏有害有机物质来促进循环的“清洁”。垃圾焚烧发电残渣资源回收的最新进展允许通过热回收来回收金属，对于污水污泥，甚至可以回收磷。与碳捕获和储存技术相结合，WtE 代表着对温室气体减排的可量化贡献。如今，WtE对于实现CE的目标是不可或缺的，即回收能源和材料、为持久性有机物质提供安全的最终汇并最大限度地减少对有害无机物质汇的需求。