Waste to energy

Long, long ago I got to go on a tour of a waste-to-energy plant. It is located in a residential neighborhood. At some point in its past, the neighbors protested and got them to put in stronger emission control equipment. The smoke it puts out is white. At the time of the tour, neighbors didn't even realize it was a power plant. 

Part of why it works is that the community knows and agrees to sort their plastic and glass recycling at home and pulling out toxic material rather than putting it into the trash. 

They have three sources of income:
- tipping fee (meaning that if the trash isn't brought there it will be driven far out of town to a dump, so they get the money that would cost)
- recycling income from metal (they run the trash on a conveyer belt past big magnets that pull out any metal)
- baseload power 

When we left I realized that the smell had been so low we hadn't even noticed.

I love the idea of turning trash into something useful. I love it when sugar plants use the plant residue for power. I love it when people figure out how to use manure for gas. 

I taught two business school classes on renewable energy in the Before Times. I asked each if they thought waste to energy was renewable energy. One class voted yes and the other voted no. The class that voted yes reasoned that we'll never run out of it, so trash is renewable. The class that voted no reasoned that "renewable" really meant in the sky, but then geothermal and hydro didn't meet that definition. 

What do you think? Is waste-to-energy renewable or not?