Is It 'Energy From Waste' or a "Waste Of Energy"?
The Region of Durham has been trying to sell the incinerator as an energy provider. The Regional Chair and his supporters have said all along that it is "either burn or bury". Meaning that there are only two solutions to our waste problems; incinerate or landfill. Since the constituents over a decade ago demanded an end to landfill, locally, incineration was the only solution. They would go on to suggest that it was reckless to ship our garbage to the U.S. when we should be responsible for it's disposal ourselves.
That sounds fair, doesn't it? There are a couple of problems that your regional reps haven't spoken publically about, though. First, by selecting the incinerator they have also chosen to bury too. Publically, they said 'burn or bury' yet their solution was 'burn AND bury'. You see, 30% of the tonnage being burned comes out the bottom as ash, which requires landfilling. Oh, it gets better... 5% of the ash is considered toxic and must be sent to a special landfill site. To top it all off, the ash will be shipped to New York State to be landfilled. Simple, isn't it? We were being irresponsible shipping garbage to Michigin, however, we will be responsible by shipping toxic ash to New York State!
The environmental assessment has shown a flawed process with missing data and the selection of a site with an already compromised air shed. Doctors the world over are speaking out against incineration, health studies show higher instances or respiratory illness and non-hodgkin lymphoma in communities with incinerators in Europe, it is expensive, and we cannot control most toxins and fine particulate matter that come out of the stack. And finally, it doesn't work to eliminate the real problem: too much garbage. Lets roll up our sleeves and work hard to do the right thing: reduce our waste stream, recycle more, and compost the organics.
That sounds fair, doesn't it? There are a couple of problems that your regional reps haven't spoken publically about, though. First, by selecting the incinerator they have also chosen to bury too. Publically, they said 'burn or bury' yet their solution was 'burn AND bury'. You see, 30% of the tonnage being burned comes out the bottom as ash, which requires landfilling. Oh, it gets better... 5% of the ash is considered toxic and must be sent to a special landfill site. To top it all off, the ash will be shipped to New York State to be landfilled. Simple, isn't it? We were being irresponsible shipping garbage to Michigin, however, we will be responsible by shipping toxic ash to New York State!
The environmental assessment has shown a flawed process with missing data and the selection of a site with an already compromised air shed. Doctors the world over are speaking out against incineration, health studies show higher instances or respiratory illness and non-hodgkin lymphoma in communities with incinerators in Europe, it is expensive, and we cannot control most toxins and fine particulate matter that come out of the stack. And finally, it doesn't work to eliminate the real problem: too much garbage. Lets roll up our sleeves and work hard to do the right thing: reduce our waste stream, recycle more, and compost the organics.