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Although Hughes Energy claims that it plans to invest $1 billion in New York, the numbers don’t add up. McSpedon stated The Post-StarHughes Energy will need a loan of $90 million in January to build its Fort Edward garbage processing plant. The company is also seeking large government grants.

Hughes Energy would like us to believe that pressure-cooking 465 tonnes of garbage per day is a safe, efficient, odor-free and rational way to handle municipal solid waste. This garbage would be steam steamed under high pressure in an industrial autoclave measuring 60 feet in length and 10 feet in height at Fort Edward, on the Champlain Canal. Does it sound like a sustainable and green business to cook trash with fossil fuels (propane) or natural gas?

This technology was first used to process garbage over 20 years ago. This technology has yet to be used in a facility capable of operating for more than a few months.

Autoclaves can be used to sterilize medical equipment and supplies and are widely used in manufacturing. However, mixing diverse materials is difficult to manage and cook with: think dirty diapers and dog poop, rotten foods, broken stuff, mercury from fluorescent lights and thermometers and household hazardous waste (pesticides or solvents) and consumer products containing forever chemicals PFAS.

This giant autoclave was designed to extract fiber from food waste and cardboard from wet, pressure-cooked garbage to sell to paper mills. It is not clear that paper mills would use such low-quality fiber. This fiber would be a liability if it was soaked in toxic chemicals and carcinogens.

A solid waste regulator, who was responsible for a Limerick (Ireland) garbage autoclave constructed by a Hughes Energy precursor, expressed surprise that anyone would even consider autoclaves today for garbage processing! This technology failed, and the fiber end product grew mold.

Anaheim, California: A World Waste Technologies Inc. garbage autoclave plant, similar to that of Hughes, was in operation for less than five year before being shut down. World Waste cited its inability to obtain commitments from paper companies to buy its fiber as a major problem in a 2005 Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Companies make false promises about jobs in order to win support. Remember the Hudson Falls trash cannery and its exaggerated job projections. McSpedon claimed that the Hughes Energy facility would soon be automated in November. However, McSpedon’s op-ed stated that Fort Edward would have 50 employees.

Hughes Energy believes autoclaving is the best way to reduce methane emissions from landfills. Research suggests that autoclaving facilitates the production of methane. Autoclave Pretreatment Key to Unlocking Methane: New Research Reveals Autoclave Pretreatment Key, Published July 13, 2015. WaterworldThe trade magazine for wastewater treatment plant operators is titled,

There are better options: Recycling paper and cardboard keeps them out the landfills. Corrugated cardboard that is clean and used is in high demand. This makes it expensive for paper mills.

Second, food waste can be and should always be composted. This is a proven way to produce a soil amendment that can be used for gardening, lawns and farms. The NYS Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law came into effect in January 2022. More organics recycling is taking place. A green solution that mixes all kinds garbage and cooks it in an autoclave powered with gas is not the right solution. McSpedon said, “Obviously and technically, you’re absolutely correct.” Were not composting.

Now, we hear from The Post-StarHughes Energy has changed their plan, according to an op-ed. The company is now looking to autoclave organic material, instead of processing mixed garbage. However, there is not a large supply of organics that can be separated from their source, such as food waste, paper and cardboard. These materials are best used to make compost, and not low-quality substitutes for wood pulp.

Taxes are another problem. Failure of a business will not result in it paying taxes. Hughes might also seek a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT), exempting it form sales tax on building materials and significantly reducing its property taxes.

Hughes Energy is the exclusive North American licensee for the Wilson System, which was developed in the UK by Tom Wilson in 1998. Hughes Energy says that this autoclave has been used five times in the UK and Ireland since 1998. Hughes Energy refuses to reveal any details. (We only found evidence that the Limerick plant was shut down and a small test project in York, England. Hughes Energy founder Brendan Hughes has been trying to sell the technology in the U.S. ever since 2011, when he was an Investor with Re3 USA Ltd.

Hughes, Wilson and their associates were involved with 11 limited-liability corporations in the UK or Ireland. According to the UK’s corporations database, all but three of them have declared bankruptcy, or been dissolution, and none of those remaining businesses are profitable.

Hughes Energy is trying to scare you about closing landfills and rising garbage fees. It implies that we are at high risk of losing our trash. We have more garbage disposal capacity in the tri-county region than we need thanks to the Wheelabrator Hudson Falls landfill and the Greenridge landfill.

Hughes Energy would need to import garbage in order to meet its needs. Fort Edward’s proposed facility would need 40 garbage trucks per day.

Hughes never mentions that most garbage passing through the Hughes Energy autoclave system will still need to go into a landfill, or incinerator.

McSpedon met with concerned citizens on Nov. 11, 2013. (transcript and recording at http://www.cleanairactionnetwork.org), he agreed to answer follow-up questions but has not answered.

We would be happy to support Hughes Energy if it was a viable, sound, and green business. It isn’t.

Hughes Energy offering a great deal to the area? Or is Hughes Energy spinning a story about a failed technology? Hughes Energy, a Delaware-based privately owned company, has never operated or built a facility of any type in the United States. Let’s not be their guinea-pigs.