A visiting activist from California warned against a new
generation of waste incineration technologies that is being marketed as
"state-of-the-art" machines that will eradicate trash without.
Bradley Angel, executive director of the Greenaction for
Health and Environmental Justice, is in the Philippines for the last leg of a
three-country speaking tour that has also brought him to Japan and Malaysia to
share information on why incineration of all types continues to be a danger, and
to rally support for clean, healthy and sustainable solutions to waste and
energy problems facing communities everywhere.
Speaking in UP Diliman before a gathering of some 50
community representatives convened by the EcoWaste Coalition and the Global
Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Bradley said: "Our experience in the US
shows that the waste treatment industry is trying hard to repackage pyrolysis,
gasification, plasma arc and catalytic cracking technologies as ‘pollution-free’
and ‘zero emission’ solutions that will eliminate and even convert all types of
waste into supposedly green energy. This is a false advertising claim as no
technology will make everything disappear. These ‘incinerators in disguise’
generate the same types of pollutants as typical incinerators."
Greenaction and the Global Alliance for Incinerator
Alternatives co-published a report entitled "Incinerators in Disguise" that
unmasks the so-called "high-tech" incinerators as far from being clean and
green. Case studies from Asia, Europe and the United States show that these
technologies heat waste materials to high temperatures, burn the waste gases,
and release toxic pollutants to the environment. Some of the facilities studied
exceed emission limits for dioxins and other pollutants and some had to be shut
down due to financial, technical and operational problems, including the world’s
largest gasification plant in Germany that was closed in 2004 after only a few
years of operation.
"We in the global south should pay attention to the strategy
of the incineration industry in US and other countries, including Japan. The
documented lies and failures of the high temperature disposal technologies
should dampen any move to elevate these incinerators as magic solutions to our
trash and toxic problems. It makes no sense to buy costly repackaged
incinerators when there are ecological options available that will not put
community health and environment at risk," said Manny Calonzo, Co-Coordinator,
Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives.
Depending on what materials are burned and the operating conditions, high
temperature waste burners can also generate toxic byproducts such as particulate
matters, persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals and other chemicals of
concern as well as waste waster and ash or char residues.
