Highlights:

• Covanta WBH, a subsidiary of Covanta Energy Corporation, announced that it signed a 10 year extension to its waste disposal contract with the City of Tulsa.  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• Waste will be handled by the Covanta WBH Energy-from-Waste facility which processes over 300,000 tons of solid waste each year and generates 50,000 mega-watt hours of power each year
• The clean energy generated from this steam is used by a nearby refinery

From Press Release:

Covanta WBH, LLC, a subsidiary of Covanta Energy Corporation, (NYSE: CVA) a world a leader in sustainable waste management and renewable energy, today announced an agreement with the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma that extends current waste disposal services for the municipality. The agreement, which was approved by the Tulsa Authority for the Recovery of Energy, runs from July 2, 2012 to June 30, 2022, with options to extend the agreement thereafter. The contract provides reliable, long-term sustainable waste disposal to the residents of the City and continues a successful partnership between Covanta and Tulsa that began in the 1980s.

"Tulsa is committed to recycling and the recovery of energy from our residential solid waste," said Eric Lee, Solid Waste Services Manager of the City of Tulsa. "This long-term agreement with Covanta shows a shared commitment to the Tulsa community. We are excited to continue our partnership and look forward to making Tulsa a more sustainable city."

The Covanta WBH Energy-from-Waste facility holds special meaning for Covanta as it was the first Energy-from-Waste project built by the company. Today, the facility processes over 300,000 tons of municipal solid waste per year and generates up to 240,000 pounds-per-hour of steam. The steam is used to generate clean electricity and is delivered to an adjacent refinery, offsetting their need for fossil fuels to generate steam on-site. The facility also recovers thousands of tons of metals per year for recycling that would have been lost had the City's waste gone to a landfill.

With this agreement, the City's waste comprises approximately one-third of the facility's capacity, solidifying Tulsa as Covanta WBH's largest municipal client.

"Covanta has a long history in the City of Tulsa so we are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement to continue providing sustainable waste disposal and clean, renewable energy to the City," said Paul Stauder, Covanta senior vice president of business management. "The City was on the leading edge when the facility was built and that appetite for innovation continues to prevail today. The City should be applauded for its foresight in choosing to utilize energy from waste for sustainable municipal solid waste disposal. We look forward to serving the residents of Tulsa in the many years ahead."
Annually, the Covanta Energy-from-Waste facility in Tulsa:

• Converts over 300,000 tons of municipal solid waste and non-hazardous industrial waste into more than two billion pounds of steam and approximately 50,000 megawatt hours of renewable electricity
• Recovers and recycles more than 7,700 tons of metal, the equivalent amount of steel used to build more than 6,000 automobiles
• Offsets the need for 300,000 barrels of oil or 75,000 tons of coal

Recovering energy from waste after efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle have been employed is a critical component of managing residual waste. For every ton of municipal solid waste processed at energy-from-waste facilities like Covanta WBH, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by the equivalent of approximately one ton less of carbon dioxide emissions. This is possible due to the avoidance of methane from landfills, the offset of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel electrical production and the recovery of metals for recycling.