Fly ash is the gray, talcum-powder-fine residue left from pulverized coal burned in our power plant boilers.  Release of fly ash into the air hurts the environment and is strictly regulated by clean air standards. In the 1920s, Detroit Edison was the first utility to install electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) to collect fly ash (long before any regulations were enacted).  Since that time, Detroit Edison fly ash has been used by concrete and asphalt companies as a beneficial additive.

Combusting more than 20 million tons of coal in 2009 resulted in the production of more than 1 million tons of ash from at our six coal-burning plants, with about half of the total coming from our Monroe Power Plant. Using modern ESPs we capture all of the fly ash produced by our plants for reuse, recycling, or landfill.

Historically 9 percent to 15 percent of our total ash gets reused or recycled, with the remainder going to landfills. We are working to improve this percentage. We recently partnered with a vendor to complete a revision of our ash handling process at Monroe Power Plant. This revision should enable us to recycle a much greater percentage of our ash. These additional sales will bring us closer to the 50 percent to 55 percent ash recycling industry average rate, as a starting point.