The Global Waste to Energy Market Projected to Grow at a CAGR of 4.7% and Generate a Revenue of $70,700.0 million by 2028 - Research Dive

The global waste to energy market is predicted to be valued at $70,700.0 million by 2028, surging from $49,300.0 million in 2020 at a noteworthy CAGR of 4.7%.

Impact Analysis of COVID-19 on the Waste to Energy Market

The coronavirus outbreak has led to enormous uncertainty towards achieving sustainability goals and effectively handling waste to energy projects. The pandemic has negatively impacted the waste to energy projects across the world due to huge accumulation of toxic medical waste, plastic waste, and municipal solid waste. Total lockdown imposed across various countries has led to shortage of labors, closure of incineration plants, and has raised issues regarding transportation of the collected waste to existing plants. For instance, in India, half of the waste to energy projects defunct due to improper segregation of waste. Waste to energy involves both generation of energy and waste management. The waste management has been greatly affected due to lack of human resources, exponential rise in biomedical waste, poor waste management infrastructure, and disruptions in the standard operating procedures that have negatively impacted the waste to energy market during the pandemic.

Various government initiatives are helping the society to recover from the chaotic situation. For instance, as stated on April 02, 2020, in Plastic Smart Cities, initiative taken by Worldwide Fund for Nature, United Nations along with local governments prioritized the waste management process. The medical, industrial, and household waste collection was declared as an urgent and emergency public service to minimize the spread of COVID-19 virus. In addition, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) aimed at effective management of biomedical waste including proper identification, separation, collection, transportation, storage, treatment, and disposal. This also involved disinfection with proper protection.      

Global Waste to Energy Market Analysis

Waste to Energy market has gained huge popularity as it converts waste into useable electricity, thereby supporting sustainable development. These projects reduce the landfill waste that drastically reduces the emission of harmful greenhouse gases. A ton of waste is capable of generating 550 to 700 kilowatt hours of power that can meet the energy requirement of a person’s house for almost a month. The waste to energy plant is also capable of recycling the waste that remains after combustion such as aluminum and steel. This reduces the amount of waste entering the landfill. The waste to energy is a green and sustainable process that reduces the emission of harmful pollution-causing gases such as nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, sulphur oxides, furans, dioxins, and others. In addition, waste to energy projects help in conserving natural resources such as oil, coal, and gas that are used for generating electricity.      

However, the cost of setting up waste incineration plants is costly as it involves the cost of building infrastructure for the same. In addition, maintenance cost of these incineration plants is high and it requires trained personnel to monitor and operate these plants. These factors are anticipated to limit the waste to energy market growth during the forecast period.

Various waste to energy technologies that convert non-recyclable waste into usable form of energy for sustainable waste management, are estimated to generate huge growth opportunities. The thermal treatment in grate technology provides clean energy and reduces the dependence on fossil fuel which is anticipated to generated untapped growth opportunities. Furthermore, fluidized bed technology is used for processing sludge or municipal solid waste, has high efficiency, and low residual values. Rotary kiln technology is used for processing toxic medical, industrial, and biological waste such as nails, scalpel, syringes, and others. Other technologies such as gasification, plasma arc gasification, and pyrolysis are also used for waste to energy process which is estimated to generate excellent growth opportunities for the market players. In addition, as stated on July 1, 2019, in World Economic Forum, the international organization, China has the highest number of waste to energy plants with the highest energy generation capacities in the world. Shenzhen’s waste to energy plant is capable of processing 5,000 tons of daily waste.  

Global Waste to Energy Market, Segmentation

The global waste to energy market is segmented based on technology and region.

Technology:

The technology segment is further classified into thermal, biochemical, and others. Among these, the thermal sub-segment is anticipated to have the dominant market share and shall surpass $48,366.9 million by 2028, with an increase from $34,219.5 million in 2020.  The thermal waste to energy sub-segment includes converting waste into heat, flue gas, and ash. The thermal technology is a proven technology that reduces the emission of greenhouse gases, recovers & recycle metals that reduces the need for mining operations, and provides electricity. This process offers various benefits by destroying toxic medical waste and other garbage.  Thermal technology facilitates efficient waste management, produces power and heat, reduces pollution by trapping or filtering the pollutants, provides control over noise and odor, does not produce harmful methane gas, thermal incinerators can operate in any weather, and eliminates the release of harmful germs & chemicals.

Region:

The waste to energy market for the Asia-Pacific region is projected to witness rapid growth. This region’s market generated a revenue of 17,462.1 million in 2020 and is projected to reach up to $25,982.3 million by 2028. This growth is majorly owing to the large number of waste to energy projects due to increase in the amount of waste generated in the Asia-Pacific region. For instance, as stated in the World Economic Forum, the international NGO, in July 2019, China produces more waste than any other country and Shenzhen with a population of 20 million people alone produces 15,000 tons of waste daily. In this regard, China has installed largest waste to energy capacity projects and more than 300 plants are in operation. In addition, as stated on December 23, 2019, by Mercom India, the clean energy consulting firm, India has set up 186 waste to energy projects with a cumulative capacity of 317.03 MW. Out of the 186 projects, 5 projects are used for recycling municipal solid waste and remaining 181 projects handle urban, industrial, and agricultural waste. In addition, Itochu, the Japan-based import-export company and Hitachi Zosen Innova, the leader in sustainable solutions, have won the contract to build and operate $1.2 billion waste to energy plant in Dubai, which is capable of generating electricity to power 140,000 households. Hence, the rapid rise in the number of waste to energy projects in Asia-Pacific region is estimated to drive the market growth during the forecast period.  

Key Players in the Global Waste to Energy Market

Some of the leading waste to energy market players are Abu Dhabi National Energy Company Pjsc (TAQA), Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc., China Everbright International Limited, John Wood Group Plc, C&G Ltd., Suez, Waste Management, Inc., Veolia, Covanta Holding Corporation, and CNIM among others.

Along with the company profiles of the key players in the market, the report includes the Porter’s five forces model that gives deep insights into the competitive environment of the market.

Porter’s Five Forces Analysis for the Global Waste to Energy Market:

• Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The waste to energy market players buy various raw materials required for establishing the incineration plants from various suppliers. Hence, the suppliers are in the dominant position and can use their negotiating power to sell the raw materials. 
  Thus, the bargaining power of suppliers is high.
• Bargaining Power of Buyers: In this market, the concentration of buyers is high.
  Thus, buyer’s bargaining power will be moderate.
• Threat of New Entrants:  The threat of new entrants is low as huge cost is involved in setting up waste to energy plants. In addition, various government regulations and exit barriers are imposed on the market players. 
  Thus, the threat of the new entrants is low.
• Threat of Substitutes: There are no substitute products available for waste to energy as it is the efficient and latest technology to recycle waste generate energy without posing threat to the environment.  
  Thus, the threat of substitutes is low.
• Competitive Rivalry in the Market: The waste to energy market players are focusing on enhancing their waste management and energy production capacities via business expansion and adoption of latest technologies.
  Therefore, competitive rivalry in the market is moderate.