THE PROBLEMS WITH INCINERATION
DILUTION IS NO SOLUTION TO POLLUTION
INCINERATORS DO NOT DESTROY WASTE
INCINERATORS RELEASE A DEADLY COCKTAIL OF CHEMICALS
INCINERATOR EMISSIONS POISON THE HUMAN BODY
INCINERATOR EMISSIONS
ARE POORLY REGULATED
INCINERATORS DO NOT DESTROY WASTE
Every year in the UK, we produce millions of tonnes
of domestic waste. We chuck it in the bin and wait for the council to collect
it. National Only 11% is recycled. The majority is landfilled or burnt, in 15
municipal incinerators around the country. Many people assume it has been
destroyed.
But it is one of the fundamental principles of science that matter can never be
destroyed; it can only ever be transformed. Incinerators do not destroy waste.
They simply turn it into ash, gases and particulate matter. Our rubbish still
exists. We may see less of it. But we’re breathing it in instead.
INCINERATORS RELEASE A DEADLY COCKTAIL OF CHEMICALS
Chemicals
are emitted from their chimney-stacks, in grate (bottom ash) and in water
discharged to the sewerage system. The heat of the incinerator furnace
vaporises some of the hazardous heavy metals - such as mercury, lead, cadmium,
chromium and tin - found in household waste. And it causes chemical reactions,
producing many new toxic chemicals, such as dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs), polychlorinated napthalenes, chlorinated benzenes, polyaromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs). Other pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen
oxides, are also released in huge quantities.
INCINERATOR
EMISSIONS POISON THE HUMAN BODY
Cancer,
heart disease, respiratory problems, immune system defects, increased allergies
and birth defects can all be caused by the chemicals that spew out of large
incinerators. Dioxins have been classified by the World Health Organisation
(WHO) as carcinogenic, and have been described as the most toxic chemicals
known to science. And yet more than half of British babies and toddlers exceed
safe levels of dioxin intake.
People
living near incinerators risk exposure to a range of toxic chemicals by
breathing contaminated air, by eating contaminated produce like vegetables,
eggs and milk, or by skin contact with contaminated soil.
The
most notorious by-product of burning rubbish are dioxins, which are formed when
substances that contain chlorine, live PVC plastic, are burnt. Dioxins are
highly toxic and accumulate in the food chain. The most dangerous dioxin is
classified as a human carcinogen by International Agency for Research on Cancer
and has been described as the most toxic chemical know to science.
INCINERATOR EMISSIONS
ARE POORLY REGULATED
The monitoring regime for incinerators is inadequate. It is entirely based on self-reporting and the range of measured pollutants is too narrow, less than half a dozen substances are continually monitored. The most toxic chemicals are only checked a few times a year, which is likely to miss any peaks production.
For example, dioxins are classified by The World Heath Authority as the most cancerous substance known to science, yet emissions to atmosphere are only measured twice a year by the owners and independently measured once a year.
There have been reports and investigations into the effects
of incinerators on human heath. One study concluded that children living near
70 British incinerators were twice as likely to die from cancer. Another study
on incinerator workers in Sweden showed an increase in deaths from lung cancer,
cancer of the oesophagus and heart disease.
Click Here - Human heath risks
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