Capitol To Send 5,000 Tons of Trash For Burnin'

influencealley.nationaljournal.com - by Julia Edwards - September 21, 2012

When Republicans took over the House in 2010, a makeover of sorts took place. Over objections from Democrats, they traded in Rep. Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., biodegradable Greenware for Styrofoam and ditched Pelosi's "Green the Capitol" initiative in favor of one that burned trash.

And now House Republicans are touting the results of their nearly 1-year-old "Waste-to-Energy" program, in which non-recyclable Capitol trash gets burned in an Alexandria, Va. facility and converted into energy. About 3,700 tons of waste have already been diverted from landfills, and an estimated 5,000 would be sent to incinerators by November, according to a statement from the Architect of the Capitol Stephen Ayers.

House Administration Committee Chair Dan Lungren, R-Calif., said in a statement that the program has "made huge strides to improve our environmental sustainability" and has helped generate enough electricity to power about 250 homes a year.

But Democrats concerned about the Styrofoam in the House cafeteria wouldn't paint such an environmentally-friendly picture of such Republican efforts.

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