Int’l groups warn vs ‘toxic’ WTE
SEVERAL international environmental groups are warning against the use of waste-to-energy (WTE) to generate electricity, saying the technology offers “false solutions” to waste management, is more expensive, and is likely to produce pollutants that are more toxic than those existing now.
“Incineration, in particular, stands out as one of the most environmentally harmful and costly waste disposal methods,” said the group, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), in an FB post.
“The industry greenwashes incineration as ‘waste-to-energy’ despite generating minimal amounts of usable energy,” GAIA said.
Incineration is the only known method to convert waste to energy. The group said the incineration industry is allegedly exploiting and milking the falsehood of WTE to “access billions of dollars in federal, state, and local green, renewable, and sustainable energy subsidies and tax breaks.”
“Incinerators are dirtier than the rest of the energy sources. They emit 3.8 times as much greenhouse gases,” it added.
GAIA also said incinerators transform waste into toxic ash which would allegedly only worsen air and water pollution and is more difficult to contain.
The ash generated by WTE is allegedly more toxic than the waste that was burned to produce electricity, the group added.
“This toxic ash causes harm to human health, increasing asthma risks, reduced lung function and greater hospital admission,” GAIA said.
“In addition, incinerators are costly to build and run, wasting billions of taxpayer money that could go into real zero waste solutions,” it said.
Another group, Zero Waste Asia, said WTE was neither a “just” nor “transitional” source of power and urged a stop to international funding for WTE projects.
“Worse, privatizing the waste sector almost always displaces waste pickers. It is urgent to phase out these false solutions,” it said.
The group alleged that WTE is worse than coal because its greenhouse gas emission is 2.5 times higher than coal; its emission of toxic chemical dioxin/furan is 28 times higher than coal; its emission of mercury is 14 times higher; its emission of nitrogen oxide is 3.2 times higher; it emits nearly 2 times more carbon monoxide, a highly poisonous gas; it emits 20 percent more sulfur dioxide; and it emits 2.5 times more carbon dioxide.
Ronald Steenblik, senior technical advisor of Sustainable Just Economic Systems (SJES), supported the conclusions of GAIA during a livestrean event last January 25.
“WTE plants do reduce plastic as a physical waste but produce large amounts of CO2 emissions, and depending on the sophistication of the plant, the release of toxic air pollutants,” said Steenblik.
“Residuals from burning plastics also have to be disposed of properly,” he added.
Steenblik also said that because of potential harm, incinerating plants in the European Union had been required to report CO2 emissions this year.
According to Steenblik, WTE plants were very expensive and existing ones suffered technical glitches while in operation.
“They, too, produce a lot of waste. And in the end, burning fuel derived from plastics adds CO2 to the atmosphere,” he said.
