Incinerators

Burning waste has many negative environmental, social and health

consequences.

Waste incinerators do all of the following:

 Poison our environment, bodies, and food supply with toxic chemicals.
Incinerators produce a variety of toxic discharges to the air, water and ground that
are significant sources of a range of powerful pollutants, including dioxin and other
chlorinated organic compounds that are well-known for their toxic impacts on human
health and the environment. Many of these toxins enter the food supply and
concentrate up through the food chain.

 Produce toxic byproducts. In addition to air and water emissions, incinerators

create toxic ash or slag that must then be landfilled. This ash contains heavy metals,
dioxins, and other pollutants, making it too toxic to reuse, although industry often tries
to do so.

 Undermine waste prevention and recycling. The use of incinerators feeds a

system in which a constant flow of resources needs to be pulled out of the Earth,
processed in factories, shipped around the world, and burned in our communities.
This one-way linear system of resource extraction, production, transportation,
consumption and disposal is a system in crisis. We simply cannot sustain this pattern
indefinitely on a finite planet.

 Contribute to global climate change. Incinerators emit significant quantities of

direct greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, that contribute
to global climate change. They are also large sources of indirect greenhouse gases,
including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, non-methane volatile organic
compounds, and sulfur dioxide. In fact, incinerators emit more CO2 per megawatt-
hour than any fossil fuel-based power source - including coal-fired power plants! But
their greatest contribution to climate change is through undermining waste prevention
and recycling programs, and encouraging increased resource extraction.

 Waste energy and destroy vast quantities of resources. People selling "waste-to-
energy" incinerators claim that generating energy by burning trash is a win-win
solution to our waste and energy crises. The truth, however, is that incinerators
actually waste energy. When burning materials that could be reused, recycled, or
composted, incinerators destroy the energy-saving potential of putting those
materials to better use. Recycling, for instance, saves 3 to 5 times the energy that
waste incinerator power plants generate. Incinerators are also net energy losers
when the embodied energy of the burned materials is taken into account. For these
reasons, "waste-to-energy" plants would be more aptly named "waste-of-energy"
plants.

 Drain money from local economies to pay for expensive, imported technology,
and provide far fewer jobs than zero waste programs. Incinerators are bad for
local economies. As the most expensive waste handling option, they compete with
recycling and composting for financing and materials, and they only sustain 1 job for
every 10 at a recycling facility.

 Hide the evidence of dirty and unsustainable industries. Incinerators allow dirty
industries to get rid of their toxic waste and hide the impacts of their practices. These
 industries depend on incineration to fuel our continued use of this system of
unsustainable production and consumption.

 Violate the principles of environmental justice. Incinerators are disproportionately

sited in poor or rural communities and areas of least political power. There are
currently hundreds of proposals to build incinerators in Africa, Asia, Latin America
and elsewhere.

Better alternatives to incinerating materials exist, and many communities where people are
organized into strong grassroots movements have been able to defeat incinerators. Most things
can and should be safely and economically recycled or reused, and we also need to simply use
less and redesign our products so that they are toxic-free and built to last. This is the heart of a
zero waste strategy that eliminates the negative environmental, social and health impacts of
incinerator use.