Incineration is not the best "answer" to our waste issues

Incineration seems like an answer to some waste issues, but in reality it doesn’t “solve” much.  Here are the myths that we seeing:

• Waste sent to incinerators doesn’t go to landfills.  True, the bulk of waste is reduced by up to 95%, but ashes and byproducts from the incinerators still must be disposed of. (Incineration vs Landfill - Which Is Better?)  There are two types of ashes left over:

• Incinerator Bottom Ash (IBA): this ash is sent past a heavy duty magnet, which picks out any ferrous metals – such as steel, iron etc – that might be in the mix, then “eddy current separators”, which are spinning magnets designed to pull out non-ferrous metals such as copper, aluminum, etc. Then part of the remains (aggregate) can be used in concrete and bulk fill purposes. 

• Air Pollution Control Residues (APC), also known as Fly Ash.  This ash is hazardous material because of the chemicals and elements it contains. Plasma vitrification is used to break the complex hydrocarbon molecules into simpler, less volatile compounds harmful to the environment.   (What happens to Waste to Energy Incineration Ash?) 

• Incinerators can be used to produce energy, right?  Yes, these are called Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plants.  They actually burn household garbage to heat water and produce steam, which powers turbines and generates electricity.  These are used as an alternative to landfills, especially in Europe, but even Europe is trying to drastically reduce its waste, which means that in the future these plants may not have enough waste to burn. In addition, household waste has a very low “calorie” content, meaning that it doesn’t produce a lot of heat per ton compared to other fuels like coal or oil.  (Waste to Energy – Controversial power generation by incineration) 

• Incinerators remove all the hazardous products from their emissions, right?  According to this factsheet about incinerators, even modern pollution control devices such as air filters do not prevent the escape of many hazardous emissions such as ultra-fine particles, and the most technologically advanced incinerators still release thousands of pollutants that contaminate our air, soil and water. Many of these pollutants enter the food supply and concentrate up through the food chain. Incinerator workers and people living near incinerators are particularly at high risk of exposure to dioxin and other contaminants.  The New York Department of Conservation found that the state’s incinerators emit up to 14 times more mercury as coal-fired power plants per unit of energy. In 2009, New York incinerators emitted a total of 36% more mercury than its coal plans.  

Incinerators are designed for the waste streams they will be burning.  Many incinerators rely on “mixed waste”, which means they have different fuels coming in with different calorie counts.  They need to know how much household waste is coming in and whether it’s before or after recycling, how much construction waste, how much medical waste, etc.  Even hazardous waste is burned in some cases.  The highest calorie counts come from plastics like PVC and used engine oil, for example, because these are based on hydrocarbons.  (Calorific value (CV) of waste - "Waste to Energy")  Many times, proponents of incinerators will call this “recycling” the hydrocarbons because they’re used to produce energy and are not just “wasted” by sending them to a landfill.  However, these can release toxins into the air, like dioxins and mercury, that poison communities around them. 

One such example was an incinerator operating in Detroit from 1989-2019.  Residents fought to keep the plant from opening, and then to shut it down, for thirty years.  It was the most costly project Detroit had undertaken up to that time, and city leaders expected to save money for the city once it was operating, but since opening it consistently lost money.  It was sold in 1991 to reduce the city’s budget deficit, but the construction loans were not sold, and eventually contributed to the city’s bankruptcy in 2013.  Residents around the plant complained of increased asthma rates, loud noise and noxious smells. (How Detroiters Finally Won the 30 Year Fight to Shut Down Enormous Trash Incinerator)  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 30 years of protesting, complaints and organized resistance, the plant’s operators agreed to shut down when faced with a lawsuit that would require them to make costly upgrades.  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. (Uncovering the Horrors of the Abandoned Detroit Incinerator)

The question “what should we do with this waste?” continues all over the world, and while burning it seems to have an economic benefit, we should consider the outcome of the Detroit incinerator: “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.”  (Uncovering the Horrors of the Abandoned Detroit Incinerator)  The best solutions to the waste question, in our opinion, were developed during opposition to this plant, which was called the Zero Waste Detroit (ZWD) coalition, promoting a positive vision of a zero waste future. (How Detroiters Finally Won the 30 Year Fight to Shut Down Enormous Trash Incinerator)  This is the same vision that is now at work in Europe, called a “circular economy” that aims to halve residual waste by 2030.  (Waste to Energy – Controversial power generation by incineration)   

We don’t envy you if you live near an incinerator.  It’s not a desirable place to live, work, or own a business.  The placement of incinerators appears to follow a well-established pattern of environmental injustice in the US, where communities of colour are far more likely to be housed next to sources of pollution, such as power plants, highways, landfills and other industry, than their white counterparts. (Revealed: 1.6m Americans live near the most polluting incinerators in the US)  This was evident in Detroit, because much of the waste that was incinerated came in from more distant, wealthy suburbs, but left the residents immediately around the incinerator with the air pollution to pay for with their health.  If your city is planning on building, upgrading or closing down an incinerator, we hope that you will do research and chime in on the issue–regardless of where you live, because ultimately it affects everyone in the area.

Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash