Comment by mfost

There is in France a kind of shared network of hot water used to heat up our homes (well, those that are connected and paying into the system at least). Part of the system works by burning trash and capturing the heat in the process. Supposedly they also work on using renewable energies to do the work.

Some people argue that the whole system is going against the objectives of recycling stuff but at least it's better than just burning it to get rid of it.