Uncovering the HORRORS of the Abandoned Detroit Incinerator

Detroit Renewable Power aka The Detroit Incinerator. It was at the center of controversy for nearly three decades. It’s been a target for activists, protestors, environmental groups, city officials, state legislators, and neighborhood residents alike. It’s been celebrated, but mostly hated.
It’s gigantic smokestack could be seen for miles away, as well as by the millions of people who passed by it as they traveled through the heart of Detroit. The massive power plant was located within the shadows of the I-94 and I-75 intersection, also making it a part of the Detroit skyline for over 30 years.
The neighbors had long been plagued by the odors coming out of the incinerator that were absolutely atrocious and would often cause people to gag, and in some cases even get sick to their stomach. In addition, they ended up having respiratory problems and serious breathing issues. There was also numerous reports showing an increase in COPD, whooping cough, and asthma, all from the contamination of the air, the water, and the soil, caused by the constant flow of pollution. Sadly, the children in the area were hospitalized at a rate of three times higher than the state average as a direct result of the incinerator. For years the local residents gathered, lobbied, protested, and even sued the incinerator due to its constant pollution, however and quite shockingly, it was not always this way. In fact, in the beginning it was the complete opposite.
In 1989 the City of Detroit opened the world’s largest municipal incinerator, now known as the Detroit incinerator. It was praised by the city’s government and citizens alike, as it was expected to bring economic prosperity and growth to Detroit. It was thought that industries would be attracted to the city because at the time incineration, or burning trash, was viewed as the safest, most cost-effective waste disposal method. Many residents also supported the business venture as it was to bring much-needed jobs to the local community, but this was all short-lived as it took a turn for the worst.
Once the plant was underway, environmental groups begin to take notice after measuring high toxicity levels in the immediate area around it. They felt that the incinerator was going to be a major environmental and health risk; and actively protested against it, but in the end it fell on deaf ears and the incinerator continued to operate, burn trash, and infect the clean air. Unfortunately, the concerns of the environmental groups would eventually ring true.
The Detroit incinerator was responsible for burning over one million tons of solid waste from 13 counties throughout southeastern Michigan each year. The burning garbage would then create steam, which in turn produced electricity, all at a cheap cost. However, that was where the incinerator went wrong.
They solely focused on bringing in inexpensive, renewable energy to Detroit and only focused on the financial aspect of the production, rather than the health of the residents. So in effect it was a cheap cost for energy, but an expensive cost to the residents in terms of their health, as some would pay with their lives as a direct result from the plant’s extreme toxicity.
The incinerator became notorious as it was rated the worst in all of Wayne County for criteria pollutants produced. The plant would emit nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and lead into the atmosphere - pollutants which can be toxic to human health, especially respiratory health.
In 2019, things began to come to a boiling point. Officials reported that in its last five years of operation, the site exceeded pollution emission standards nearly 800 times, a shock to many city officials, state legislators, and other people in the industry. After this concerning report, officials again demanded action at the incinerator and required the operator to live up to the federal standards and guidelines. This meant that Detroit Renewable Energy had to give the plant a complete overhaul and upgrade most of its outdated equipment. The company quickly realized that this was going to be a huge financial cost and most likely would have resulted in a millions of dollars lost in profits. Detroit Renewable Energy eventually made the decision to close the incinerator and the years-long controversy surrounding the Detroit solid-waste burning incinerator, finally came to an end.
The Detroit Incinerator was demolished in 2023, signaling the end of a toxic era within the City of Detroit.
And that brings us to the end of the abandoned Detroit incinerator video. We hope everyone liked the video and you can see more photos at our website, abandonedcentral.com. also please subscribe to abandoned central on KZbin so you don’t miss any videos. And one more important thing, if you would like to support us in creating these videos, please donate by clicking the “super thanks” link next to the download icon. Thank you friends, we are truly grateful for all the support.

[@PhyllisJerry]

Putting the incinerator in the middle of the city was definitely a mistake, but I can’t help but wonder if the trash is just going to a landfill now instead of being used to generate power.

[@kenosabi]

Tbf ... Detroit is a ghost city. They don't exactly have a ton of energy needs anymore.

[@rodonis88]

Yup! The logic baffles me, you can’t have it both ways. At least electricity is the plus of this style

[@shawngleason1345]

Bulk of the problem with that place was pretty simple and the owners and city chose not to deal with it. When you burn toxic materials that's what you get out the stack. We have a incinerator but we also have a very strict do's and don'ts trash policy and recycling program.

[@billsauer3164]

Yeah, the landfill is WAY better than being burnt... Are you slow?

[@jannejohansson3383]

Bill Both ways could done good or bad way. Landfills pollutes air and around area too many cases. And this is in reality small owen with open fire, not good to burn even wood efficiently. Sand flow bed or plasma jet systems burn trash clean way, but you still dosen't throw just everything in those, if you want to do it clean way. I think this wasn't last one of this type system in US or anywhere :( In some countries all trash is collected and few times a week burned at open fiel. If we think that's worst way, this type facility and burner is very next of it. Some times unburned smoke have more energy left than that material where it came from. When process works and no wrong stuff in trash (hazardous waste, PVC, e-waste), then it could be burned cleaner than wood in camp fire.

[@kenny8351]

I worked about a mile from this plant all through the 90's. At times the toxic smell was so bad, that you could not stand to be outdoors. I can even remember early Saturday and Sunday were the worst. But it was always bad. I was amazed that they allowed that thing to operate, given the toxic-burnt plastic smell alone.

[@briankoontz7798]

So the chemical processing plant just 50 yards away, that was always so bad inside that it was just a haze, had nothing to do with the bad smell? I wonder hoe many people are aware that there is a chemical disposal plant right next to the incinerator that was probably just as much to blame for everything the incinerator is blamed for.

[@TheGnomestead]

I worked on quite a few power plants in the 90's cleaning the boilers, mostly coal but did visit this one and gota say it was the nastiest place I ever saw in all my days

[@maxwalsh234]

They aren't even profitable anymore. Clean energy is wayyyy better in every single possible way

[@ms_cartographer]

How do the boilers get cleaned?

[@oxygen454]

@@ms_cartographer normally super high pressured water. Sometimes using air chisels and needlers if the material is really thick.

[@Flies2FLL]

I pushed a broom in Monroe Power Plant back in the '80's and it was FILTHY!

[@TheGnomestead]

@@ms_cartographer we used Detinating cord and Amonium nitrate

[@antsmith1125]

Hell yeah just put all the trash in a landfill that’s better for the planet right guys?

[@gregorygregory4966]

I worked there for many, many years. When I hired in, it was still under construction in 1988. I was just a kid out of high school basically. I was there to see the initial startup, first fire, many protests and even more politicians. Lots of what was said in the video was true, but some was inaccurate, misleading or taken out of context. At the time, this plant was the largest and most state-of-the-art refuse fueled power plant in the world. We had a sister plant that was very similar, but smaller in Hawaii. It is still there today. Most people have no idea where electricity comes from or how a power plant works. Much of what was shown in this video is standard power plant equipment. Today, most of the trash that this plant used to burn is going to landfills. That plant spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the years updating and improving a lot of the environmental systems and equipment. This plant had no true chance to be successful because it was a HUGE political nightmare right from the beginning. A better job of recycling, removing metals and toxins from the trash prior to pick up, delivery and burning would have prevented a lot of the problems. I have worked in the energy industry my entire adult life. I have burned coal, trash, various gaseous fuels and oil. But working at the "trash plant" was the most unique work experience of my career. Today, due to environmental concerns, we are moving away from burning carbon-based fuels to produce power and are moving towards "greener" forms of power production such as wind and solar. But I fear that we all will soon find out that there is no such thing as "green energy". Every energy source has a cost. In most cases we do not realize the cost we must pay until much later down the road.

[@serpent213]

Some do realise, others are just in for the money…

[@Ziegfried82]

Sadly "green" energy will be the most catastrophic failure the West has ever endured. It simply does not generate enough power and low enough cost to be sustainable. Ironic, since they call it "sustainable energy"!! Coal and nuclear are the only real options for power in the next 30 years but it looks like large portions of the West will learn the hard way.

[@kawakawatree6495]

Amazing, looks like this was a well built facility that was run into the ground. That could explain the levels of pollution that seemed to get worse over time as waste incinerators need to be run consistently at high temperatures to reduce emissions of compounds like dioxins, carbon monoxide and VOCs. Looking at the state of some of the equipment , even allowing for the time abandoned it was very surprising that no major incidents occured.

[@gregorygregory4966]

Actually, the environmental concerns were a problem right from the start. There needed to be a recycling program, a better metal removal process and vetting of the trash prior to pickup, delivery and burning it. If batteries, metals, chemicals, etc. were present in the trash then these items would be released into the atmosphere when burned. Another issue at this plant was that it was new state of the art technology that was not perfected at the time. The builders and engineers designed this plant in the same fashion as a coal fired plant. But refuse derived fuel and coal burn completely differently. Different temperatures, BTUs, emissions, ash, etc, everything is different. This resulted in a plant that was always a work in progress and always looking to rectify unforeseen problems. But the condition of the plant was consistent with most power plants of the same age.

[@ThatOneGuyWithTheEye]

@@gregorygregory4966 who cares. Don't like it move. Why would you live in Detroit to begin with

[@briankoontz7798]

That is exactly true. It was run into the ground with little money put into making sure what should've been sealed, was sealed. As you can see by a couple conveyors, simple cleanings would've went a long long way

[@chickenwing111]

@17:35 - that is a water conductivity meter. Essentially measures the mineral content of the water used in the boilers.

[@davidmiseveth]

When it was still active, the smell was horrible, just driving by it on the highway or any nearby by roads. One of the few buildings in Detroit I was happy to be closed down.

[@mikewillett5076]

Might give the smells coming from the "shit plant" in Essex Md a run, lol.

[@kenny8351]

Worked a mile from there. It was unbearable at times.

[@d-boyzeighteenhundred]

@@kenny8351 smelled like dead bodies floating thru the air .. can’t believe they let this go on for so long 🤦‍♂️

[@_JoeMomma]

Oh yeah driving down 75 when that thing was on was always awful

[@bombtwenty3867]

Well it handled waste. Rotten food and meat, diapers and who knows what else. I guess it all depended how much was stored there before burning.

[@belindahawkins4083]

This place looks like they turned the power off and split

[@rdaw33]

Imagine the day they started that up, all fresh, and clean, and brand new!!!.....Thanks for a great explore!!!!

[@sheepheard483]

Incineration has a number of outputs such as the ash and the emission to the atmosphere of flue gas. Before the flue gas cleaning system, if installed, the flue gases may contain particulate matter, heavy metals, dioxins, furans, sulfur dioxide, and hydrochloric acid. If plants have inadequate flue gas cleaning, these outputs may add a significant pollution component to stack emissions. In a study from 1997, Delaware Solid Waste Authority found that, for same amount of produced energy, incineration plants emitted fewer particles, hydrocarbons and less SO2, HCl, CO and NOx than coal-fired power plants, but more than natural gas-fired power plants.[17] According to Germany's Ministry of the Environment, waste incinerators reduce the amount of some atmospheric pollutants by substituting power produced by coal-fired plants with power from waste-fired plants.[18] Gaseous emissions

[@aricgoetz910]

Well the placement of it in the middle of a city was a bad idea but now I bet most of that garbage is off to the landfill

[@morganophelia5963]

landfills smell horrid too there is one right by me on the highway between st. louis county and st. charles county in missouri and it smells horrid .. at least this way the trash was being burnt but they should have put it in a more secluded place

[@aricgoetz910]

​@@morganophelia5963 yeah it's all garbage and nasty but landfills just are the worst way to dispose of it. At least burning it also produced electricity and got rid of it at the same time instead of just rotting away in the open

[@morganophelia5963]

@@aricgoetz910 i agree. i just think they should have put it away from the people though in a better place

[@aricgoetz910]

@@morganophelia5963 exactly what I was thinking also. Why on earth would they put it anywhere close to a populated area when so many other options exist

[@gregorymalchuk272]

​@@morganophelia5963Why should it have been put in a more secluded place so that it stinks up rural residents? City residents should deal with their own waste by incineration.

[@chcarroll5164]

Located near the intersection of two interstate freeways, the incinerator was there for a long time, decades, and I never thought much of it and then at some point it started to smell. Like smell really bad. I'd drive past it on the way home from work. It was intolerable.

[@perstaffanlundgren]

the feed water in the turbine system, may have to be adjusted, often to prevent calcium mineral build up In the system. Or to acidic conditions. If there were scrubbed for the exhaust gas the ph Value of exhaust scrubber fluids, also needs checking. The scrubber fluid gets acidic over time and the ph has to be adjusted . (If the place even had scrubber)? These type of incinerator Use water spraying in the combustion Oven to regulate water wapuer content and temperature in the oven. The temperature regulation, also control levels of nitric oxide and nitric dioxid content in the exhaust. The wet gas condensation in the Steam heat exchanger helps with Increasing effect on the boiler, so You want to wet the gases if the fuel is dry. The fuel is often burned in fluid bed based system air is blown in the fuel under high pressure. Making" it boil ", some plants have sand beds that the air comes up thrue, or metal roaster grids. As I understand it this site also made Heat for the Detroit, now this will Be done with fosil gas, that's not very Climate friendly..... And the trash will probably have to be Put in landfill instead. It would be better if they had Upgraded the plant with proper, filtration, and exhaust gas /fly ash/ partical /metal separation. Mayby even carbon capture storage. Instead of shutting it down. I get that the situation, was really bad When it was running, absolutely. But landfills that leak methane, and toxins, and fosile gas burning is not very good either. (CCS could be used Att the gas heat plant also) When you have these types of heat and electricity combination plants you get quite high efficiency for the fuel burnt. Of course waste burning, could not replace recycling, but recycling need a system of separation of the material strems Generated, and some material Would be landfill burn stream, even with a well organised sorting recycling system.

[@amandarowell4932]

Great explore. A little on the creepy side but very interesting. I wouldn't want to live close to that place when it was operable. Very informative explore, love your explores.

[@apocyldoomer]

The perfect place to make a human corpse disappear, the perfect crime, just perfect.

[@brendakrieger7000]

Lol, that wipe your feet sign😂 Yes,keep the dirtiest thing in the known universe perfectly tidy🧼🧽 Good Grief🙈🙉🙊

[@Awakened133]

How many bags of trash do you send out of your domicile each week…?

[@lambjack1]

I worked at a plant like this for Ogden Martin, later bought out by Covanta. We had the same exact uniform lockers.

[@rizzo74glg]

The caustic is for boiler water quality not to burn through the trash.

[@cardinaloflannagancr8929]

Always amazing to see people don't want a landfill or to incinerate it. They don't want it around yet you can't do anything with it either. Incinerator power plants are used in Japan where it reburns trash and the exhaust has scrubbers on it. Instead here people prefer it goes to a landfill not in their backyard. Which then some other areas residents will protest against.

[@Mr.DebtHimself]

They just needed to install participant filters. Japan incinerates their trash but they do also sort it a lot better

[@LTJC70]

Burning trash for power is a great idea... The problem lies in the maintenance... Owners get cheap and don't do what's required to keep the waste filtered properly so theres no pollutants exiting the stacks... When first built im sure everything was up to code but once the enforcement workers are gone then that's when things go down hill quickly... If there were enough code enforcers to go through all these places and stop these pollution making companies then this planet would be fine... Im guessing people aren't going to take things seriously until they themselves cant breathe or get sick!!! I don't know why they seem to think what their doing isnt going to effect them but I got news, ITS COMING FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES TOO!!!!

[@belindahawkins4083]

They shut it down but now the schools and homes are abandoned

[@BaloonLlama6056]

Cool

[@apocyldoomer]

Half of this craphole City is abandoned,you can fit the City of San Francisco in the empty land of Detroit, whole neighborhoods were bulldozed.

[@belindahawkins4083]

@@apocyldoomer I didn't know that😥😢😳

[@belindahawkins4083]

@@BaloonLlama6056 Not cool Ppl died from the poison of that place

[@apocyldoomer]

@@belindahawkins4083 Yes, the old neighborhoods that were bulldozed are known as “Urban Prairies” the wildlife came back, and I’m not talking about the criminals!,

[@sailortrash55]

the fact that 34 people died their that year says it all.

[@sheepheard483]

Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials.[1] Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-energy facilities. Incineration and other high-temperature waste treatment systems are described as "thermal treatment". Incineration of waste materials converts the waste into ash, flue gas and heat. The ash is mostly formed by the inorganic constituents of the waste and may take the form of solid lumps or particulates carried by the flue gas. The flue gases must be cleaned of gaseous and particulate pollutants before they are dispersed into the atmosphere. In some cases, the heat that is generated by incineration can be used to generate electric power.

[@SarcasticMary]

This was very interesting. I love how you always give us info on the places you explore, when you can! Sad that so many were hurt by this...

[@briankoontz7798]

Judging by the info he gave here, I wouldn't believe any info he gives.

[@tazpupper7828]

Compared to modern garbage incineration facilities this is a prehistoric dinosaur no better than home incinerators people had in the 40s and 50s. In the 80s we pretty much openly burned garbage with no environmental protections or regulations whatsoever nowadays it’s different. Modern incineration plants treat everything that come out heavy metals and toxic vapors are a thing of the past.

[@dakotabowes2387]

i still burn with a incinerator🤣

[@TheSlim2none]

Couldn’t imagine that place in operation be dangerous place to work.

[@OMGpandemic]

It looks very spooky, but also so interesting in there! Awesome video!

[@marieford4464]

I lived in Brewster Homes for 16years before I moved out and complained about it nothing was ever done up until now … be careful of who you vote for and put in office… that place should not have been there from the get go around hospitals and residential areas..

[@FormulaBoat]

Way cool, thanks for the tour. Always wanted to see the turbine, generator, and control panel / room. I'm somewhat against the grain and a believer in incineration, it reduces waste volume by over 90%. Easy for me to say when I did not live by this one. I think we'll regret simply burying our garbage. It won't be in our lifetime, but will be an issue in the future. This incinerator was faulted in that it was placed within the city and likely had minimal emission treatment on its exhaust due to its age of design and construction. The smell could have been eliminated by keeping food out of the garbage. A lot of Detroit gets free food, so the amount of food waste in the garbage is high. Grind it up in the sink disposal instead. There is not enough effort to reduce garbage, there is no effort actually. Plastic is an amazing material, but should not be allowed to be single-use such as in packaging. A lot of items don't need packaging, which makes up a lot of our garbage. Recycling efforts should be mandatory, and limit one garbage can per household every 2 weeks. Build a modern incinerator with the latest emission controls on the exhaust, and place it out and away from suburban areas. We can do better, but we don't because of $. Burying is cheap. Sucks.

[@quillmaurer6563]

Ideally all waste should be separated and dealt with in the most environmentally responsible manner - recycling, composting, incinerating, whatever the case may be. The problem is coming up with an environmentally responsible, economically viable way of dealing with a complete mix of everything from food waste to plastic packaging to broken electronics. But separate waste collection streams is expensive, people are lazy and stupid, and putting things in the wrong bins can contaminate entire batches of a given type of waste/recoverable material. Disposable or single-use plastics really should be reduced, that's the obvious room for improvement. I've always thought there should be a "trash tax" on vendors for any material given to customers along with their products. There's this mindset of "reduce, reuse, recycle," but it's always aimed at consumers, when consumers usually don't have much choice, they have to take the packaging offered. Pressure needs to be on the supply side. Likewise there should be policies encouraging reusable instead of disposable, I think of all those "fast casual" eateries (Chipotle for example) that give dine-in customers single-use utensils, drink cups, etc, because that's cheaper than using reusable and having a dishwasher. Some sort of fee, say a few cents for each plastic fork, would shift those economics. For durable goods, I agree that plastic is an amazing material. Having a 3D printer makes me love it all the more - I can do almost anything with it. Thinking of landfills, I've pondered if someday, perhaps in a few centuries, we'll end up mining 20th/21st century landfills to recover valuable materials from them - metals, glass, maybe even some types of polymers. More advanced technologies for material recovery making that viable. I look at how much cost, energy, and environmental impact is involved in mining metal ores and processing them, surely valuable materials could be extracted from garbage cheaper than that, considering how much metal I see thrown away on a regular basis.

[@brianandlindafairchild1237]

Lots of people lost their jobs.

[@wes5150.]

All that the local residents need to do is just HOLD their BREATH !

[@kenosabi]

...are you fu

[@tabbott429]

Until we change the "design it to fail and throw it away" mentality we will kill ourselves with stupidity. Car exhaust is no better,

[@urbanburner]

Awesome work bro 👍 cheers from Toronto Canada

[@NitroBoarder17]

great video!! You have such an amazing channel, so glad to come across it and subscribe.

[@mgeorge162]

I work with M.Moore and F. Opificius for 10 years at that plant as a Aux Assistant Operator, this is wild seeing this.

[@briankoontz7798]

@mgeorge162 how's it going my friend. Fancy seeing you on here.. B Koontz

[@mow4ncry]

Why is the guy touring the plant whispering you're not in a church service

[@paulbrimo4437]

10:12 What is a Tyvek suit? Tyvek® for PPE delivers comfortable and durable protective garments that protect against a wide range of chemical threats and hazards. From the cleanroom to a hazardous cleanup, Tyvek. Why Tyvek® Industrial protective clothing. Tyvek® provides inherent barrier protection against lead, asbestos, mold and more. Found at DuPont Tyvek suit PPE

[@oxygen454]

Ya basically a thin cloth jumpsuit. They are used for painting as well. It seals everything but your face. I have cleaned some waste burning stations in my past.

[@ampedupelectronics]

16:45 It is the sample valves to measure the water that is driving the turbine. If the PH goes too high or too low it will get corrosive. They momentarily tested the water which likely fed back to the boiler and drove the turbine

[@sidewaysbeard7606]

wow, creepy looking place.

[@davidder4516]

Wow great video I always wanted to see in side that place been seeing it my hole life burning trash .

[@imqxla67]

very informative and as always a great video!

[@robertmailhos8159]

It's a miracle that the federal government e.p.a did not get involved in this matter of making it more safe to keep it up and running

[@karuder]

Feds and epa take money😢

[@robertmailhos8159]

@@karuder you got that right young lady 💐🌹

[@Ruthy101]

Waste inceneation is not safe, like they said in the video it is cheap fuel at a high cost to public health. And the plant never met its projected profitability. Nuclear power plants have the same cost effectiveness issues, the cost to build and maintain them is just too high, you will never makeup the costs or come close to making a profit. It's doomed to be kept open on the backs of overcharging the taxpayers for bad construction projects.

[@robertmailhos8159]

@@Ruthy101 thanks for your reply on this video on this matter young man 👍

[@twotalljones4790]

They didn’t get involved as all the thieves running the city had all the stealing well under control and they wouldn’t be able to get a cut of it.

[@customscreenprinting]

Abandoned Central thanks foe sharing this video i really enjoyed it about Uncovering the Horrors of An Abandoned Detroit Incinerator it was a very interesting video and God Bless.

[@katitcha]

Thanks for covering this.

[@NaomisAdventures]

Great video. It's really neat to see what it looked like

[@stevegird7706]

You scooped The Proper People with this one.

[@orellaminx3530]

It is fucking weird that shit like this just gets left to sit around. Even weirder is the fact Detroit residents haven't stripped it of every bit of metal that can be fit in the back of a truck.

[@abandonedcentral]

Yea usually everything in Detroit gets scrapped out but they had security here so thats why the scrappers didn't get much from here.

[@ms_cartographer]

That, and the materials are probably covered in toxic sludge.

[@Gfysimpletons]

New title: UNCOVERING THE HORRORS OF INHABITED DETROIT; the people!

[@junkyardgamer911]

It’s no wonder that the people of Detroit were sickened & fed up with the incinerator. Cause if you look at the area that this place was built it’s totally right in the middle of this residential commercial of town. They should have built it somewhere far away from the town somewhere secluded

[@expert8997]

There's a lot of heavy industry in the area. Industry needs laborers, so people built neighborhoods around the area. There's even neighborhoods around the oil refinery not too far away.

[@Awakened133]

The amount of toxins in the ground water from decades of steel smelting and automobile production had long since been an issue… Watch “Wall-E”, Waste removal and processing is an important part to sustaining civilization.

[@losthighway53]

Started to tear it down in 2023, most of it is still standing. I go by it daily

[@davidm2645]

@ 20.58 "Rollers on Dance Floor Beams"??? It would seem that they had a good time at break!

[@larryvercauteren22]

sad that it polluted and was a waste and all that equipment sitting rotting i wonder how much copper is in that turbine just sad

[@crippleguy415]

Well who made all that garbage in the first place ? 🤷🏼🤷🏼‍♀️

[@taylorsutherland6973]

Not sure what "atrocities" you uncovered. All if what you saw was standard stuff at an industrial facility. This one is obviously in very poor repair.

[@SupraBdub]

Whoa, this is crazy! Thanks

[@abandonedcentral]

Thanks for watching! Make sure to subscribe for more videos like this!

[@Awakened133]

If you do not produce solid waste from your domicile, You can call this what it is, If you send One bag of trash out of your door, you have no room to speak. Everyone mentions it was a mistake to put it in city center, But that was a cost effective position, Central to all production of waste= Less transport of waste, Less fuel burnt to put trash in the facility, And it was put in an already heavily contaminated place.

[@belindahawkins4083]

All this equipment not dismantled and recycled is a waste

[@JagGuy2000]

All the metal is being recycled, covering the cost of demolition and giving the City of Detroit a large % of the payback.

[@WJCTechyman]

Well, if the designers and engineers who built this facility correctly, with the appropriate scrubber and filtration systems, as well as limiting to what kind of garbage was being burned, this facility would be running today with very few issues. This facility was definitely an example of what unregulated, free market capitalism gives us. Also, there is a lot of valuable stuff in this facility that could have been auctioned or donated to second hand stores and suppliers like those tool cabinets, lockers and even the switch gear.

[@ericgiroux320]

Has anyone here been involved with a properly built and functioning Waste to Energy facility? I see much misinformation. 2 important truths-1)These facilities can run with very low environmental impact. 2) Placing it in the middle of the area served limits emissions from the trucks that deliver the fuel. Now for the opinion, these fail due to poor leadership at the highest levels-both public and private.

[@davestrang8585]

The old Not in my backyard deal

[@TrevorTByOregon2024]

I hope they can pass a bill for this the new restore building 👷‍♂️ 2023 2024

[@AndreasDelleske]

Who incinerates the incinerators? In Germany, the fumes have to be filtered. Case closed.

[@TrevorTByOregon2024]

I think they should restore it or rebuild it and get people back to work

[@Honey_Daddy]

There is a lot of usable material and machinery left there. Are there still workers there doing anything at all? Dismantling or anything? That's got to be millions of dollars of materials and equipment that could be recycled and put to good use. Edit: you did say they just started demo, so I suppose that answers my question. I hope they actually put the material to use instead of sending it to some other incinerator. How ironic would that be? An incinerator incinerating the incinerator? It's like those pimp my ride memes. XD I heard you liked incinerators, so I got you an incinerator to incinerate your incinerators.

[@JagGuy2000]

Read this week that everything possible is being recycled, mostly metal products. The demo guys get a majority % of the recycling money according to the contract, but the City Of Detroit is getting a large % as well, so it is basically not costing any money to demo it.

[@WN_Byers]

One of the first memes #YoDawg

[@expert8997]

Yes, it is now being dismantled.

[@Honey_Daddy]

@@WN_Byers for real xD that shit was legitimately hilarious.

[@quillmaurer6563]

Very little of what we see in this video could be incinerated, almost all metal and concrete. But hopefully was recycled or repurposed rather than dumped in a landfill.

[@TheDynotuner]

How bad was the smell currently?

[@waynewinters6581]

the plant made steam heat for many of the cities government buildings

[@theamerican7080]

If you choose to move close to, or continue to live in close proximity to a facility like this, knowing it was there for over 30 years....... Need I say more?

[@kenosabi]

Uh yeah you could perhaps aim that smug di

[@josephbennett3482]

Man , before watching the video i thought it was a giant crematorium for burning dead humans....the title should have the word Trash incinerator in it instead of just incinerator.

[@ms_cartographer]

This is why Waste to Energy plants with proper scrubbers and regulations are important. When you have too much deregulation, you get dirty incinerators that pollute too much. Well run waste to energy plants with proper regulation are great. Dirty, unregulated incinerators are not.

[@JoeFromDetroit]

If I remember correctly, Mayor Young didn't want the expense of scrubbers so they weren't installed.

[@ms_cartographer]

@@JoeFromDetroit wow. That's awful.

[@JoeFromDetroit]

@@ms_cartographer I am going off 30+ year old memories, but I do recall him saying incinerator didn't need scrubbers.

[@ms_cartographer]

@@JoeFromDetroit this is what happens when you have bad politicians who only care about profit. I feel bad for the people of Detroit

[@amsf1]

I wonder how many people got cancer from this thing. Smh

[@dentonthaves5216]

Freddy Krueger worked there.

[@ucitymetalhead]

If i was there I'd be playing the song start up the incinerator (here comes another useless fool) by carpathian forest.

[@apocyldoomer]

Good stuff. Stinky. Wow.

[@brucebeamon5460]

😡 WHY is this narrator touring this building WHISPERING it made the video nearly pointless I’m not sure WHY that infuriated me so much but I just STOPPED watching half way through

[@jameschester2113]

Why couldn't they install re-burners like that are now required on all wood stoves that burn the smoke and filter out toxins.

[@TomokoAbe_]

I love your abandoned videos! Did you know if you incinerate a person with a pacemaker in them still it will explode. Incinerating the morbidly obese is also dangerous because human fat will overheat the unit--and it can explode. Cremation is the best way to dispose of bodies: It is cheapest and not wasting valuable land.

[@michaelblair5767]

I am glad they got rid of that place it was very nasty

[@denisespring2015]

Awesome!

[@57oldsmobile]

You guys need more light, really dangerous exploring a place like this. Most of these "Waste to Energy" plants never worked and were closed across the country long ago. Hard to control the emissions when you can't control what is in the trash going into the plant. The emissions were the same before the city sold it as they were after they sold it. It only became an issue when the city wasn't involved. Good to shut it down no matter who owns it. Being Detroit, I'm surprised it is being demolished.

[@expert8997]

Detroit has been reclaiming a lot of land lately. They've cleared many dilapidated houses and commercial properties over the last couple years.

[@jamesdavis5096]

17:59 They were adding phosphate and chemicals to it. Even more than what the people in the beginning of the episode thought so

[@dennisrichardville4988]

They used to drop spent acid off the Tipping floor and let the trash soak it up. Then burn the trash....😮

[@JBAutomotive794]

The chemicals were added to the boiler water to maintain the ph levels of the water to avoid corrosion. Phosphates can be beneficial for reducing mineral buildup in heat exchangers

[@cathymorrison4953]

Wonder How Meny Employees are Still Alive 😢🧡🇨🇦

[@cub1009]

I personally like the way it smells.

[@tm8747]

tear it down and build something better, there always talking about a CLEAN AIR PROGRAM, start here? Detroit needs to change , before the country and the people disappear.

[@beauepperson2641]

Too late it’s a ghost town thanks to politicians

[@mystica-subs]

Do you happen to have the original source footage still at 30p? If so, can you please re-edit the content with it instead? (i can see the every 5th frame jump a lot...and its very jarring)

[@thunderace3584]

Top place for meth lap.... Cool find..

[@brianjones7521]

Didn't mention Body Parts. You know parts came in with the trash. Discover Body Parts & Everything Stops. Nobody wants that headache. What would YOU do? Also, Body Disposal could be a Lucrative Side Hustle.

[@abandonedcentral]

I'd imagine quite a few bodies went through this incinerator in Detroit.

[@zombienation68]

Want to talk about environmental classism, look at Africa...its where all the affluent areas send their crap :(

[@Phil-D83]

They ahould filter the emissions. It burns so hot, over 2000*C, that the emissions are not harmful.

[@orektez]

thought they were going green or something shouldn't these be shut down?

[@belindahawkins4083]

I hope u have a mask on and shield

[@ivegotadream255]

Grow a pair

[@rachelputtick6257]

And sword😂

[@GeneralSorrow]

If you were at all concerned about toxins, you shouldn't have gone in there.

[@Andyhey123]

Big mistake putting it near city they should put that in a place that is not a city

[@andrewbowlgarte4738]

Just a tiny view of the real America , behind the facade

[@italianballbreaker]

Why are you whispering? Who do you think is gonna hear you?

[@iamnotpaulavery]

Good Lord...Bob, what have you discovered now??

[@KieraCameron514]

They should have pyrolized the plastic which would have given them a flammable gageous fuel and an oil-like fuel and burned them in a combustion turbine. They should have also taken the food waste, paper, carboard, and wood and put them into a biodigester (which would give the same thing as natural gas) and used that gas to make electricity. That would have greatly lowered emissions and reduced if not eliminated the smell.

[@twotalljones4790]

The thing he is calling the turbine is a generator and the turbine that he did not show would drive it.The wall with the water conductivity and gauges and the chemical tanks were for treating the water that the steam was made from.

[@iiLiip]

If only they would do this to the one in East Liverpool, Ohio. I live less than a mile from the incinerator and work across the street. And its the same story! Weird smells increased asthma and cancer rates. God save us!

[@dennisrichardville4988]

WRC there in East Liverpool burns dirty dirt with heavy Chemicals in it.

[@maxjackson1373]

turn for the worse.....not worst.....worse.........uggghhhhhh, we're doomed.............