Energy production from waste is far from reaching its potential in the Chicago Tri-State metro-region. The early generation of waste-to-energy incinerators that were built in the Chicago Tri-State metro-region during a period of limited landfill capacity in the early 1970s have proven to be environmentally and financially unsustainable. Tighter federal environmental regulation led to their closing or to costly retrofitting (Sendzik et al, 1996).