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Incineration – Solid Waste Disposal
Rotterdam incinerator closed due to “overcapacity”
http://ukwin.org.uk/2012/05/17/rotterdam-incinerator-closed-due-to-overcapacity/
Rotterdam incinerator closed due to “overcapacity”
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May 172012
As reported in LetsRecycle, Frans Beckers of the Van Gansewinkel Group waste business has stated that the company closed down an incinerator due to overcapacity and advised others to do the same:
We closed one of our incineration plants in the Rotterdam area. There is overcapacity in Germany and we hope some of our colleagues will follow suit. We hope more [incineration] capacity will be taken out of the market. In the end we could harm recycling performance.
Beckers also claimed that these problems also relate to biomass, stating that: “There is a lack of fuels. Too much is being burnt. We need to ensure we do not invest in too many biomass energy installations as we won’t have the fuel any more”.
In the same article Michel Sponar, policy officer with the European Commission’s environment directorate, is also reported as saying that “member states such as Germany and Denmark which are heavily reliant on incineration need to change their focus too, by sending more waste for recycling and composting”.
These comments should be set in the context of the Environment Agency recently granting SITA a permit to export 600,000 tonnes of UK RDF to Amsterdam, a quadrupling of RDF export licenses; calls from the European Commission for the UK to avoid sending recycable material to incineration and the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment calling for “the phasing-out, by the end of this decade, of incineration of recyclable and compostable waste”.
Study warns of incineration capacity threat
Study warns of incineration capacity threat
22 January 2013 | By Neil Roberts
UK waste leaders have defended the role of incineration after a new report highlighted the dangers of overcapacity.
The study warned the opening of a Europe-wide market in exporting and importing waste for incineration, driven by over-capacity, threatened the application of the proximity principle.
It predicted growing capacity would increase waste shipping across Europe which could damage efforts to reach recycling targets.
The shipping of waste for incineration, the authors say, has an environmental impact through transport emissions.
It adds: “Overcapacity has very high potential impacts on recycling markets and on waste treatment prices. On one hand, investments in incineration facilities must be paid off and this creates a need of waste being sent to incineration, rather than prevented or recycled.
“On the other hand, if not enough waste is sent to incineration to pay off the investments, incineration fees must increase, which has an effect on waste charges paid by households and commercial activities.
“Last, overcapacity represents a financial risk for investing companies and public bodies.”
The report, produced by the ENT environmental consultancy in Spain and commissioned by anti-incineration group GAIA, claims that despite existing overcapacity in some countries, Europe-wide capacity is predicted to grow by 13 million tonnes by 2020.
Joan Marc Simon, coordinator of GAIA in Europe said: “If the European Commission is to maintain its commitment to limit incineration to non-recyclables by 2020, the strategy should be to close incinerators and not to build new ones. The objectives of the Resource Efficiency Roadmap and recycling targets won’t be achieved unless the European Commission tightly controls the European incineration capacity.”
Using data from a previous Eunomia report, the study claims the UK could have a waste treatment overcapacity of 6.9 million tonnes in the near future, but already exports half its solid recovered fuel to other EU states with existing overcapacity.
Jacob Hayler, economist at the ESA, said the situation in the UK was very different from the rest of Europe.
With over 30 million tonnes of waste going to landfill each year, he said new EfW facilities were still needed.
“Although some analysts have argued that we are likely to see EfW overcapacity in the UK in the years to come, this assumes all residual waste projects with planning consent are built. In practice this is unlikely to happen, not least given the extremely difficult conditions in the financing markets.”
Incinerator ultimately needed: Under Secretary
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hkedition/2013-01/22/content_16150997.htm
Waste technology will alleviate pollution, not make it worse: Loh
Under Secretary for the Environment Christine Loh Kung-wai on Monday told China Daily’s Asia Leadership Roundtable that people tend to have wrong impression about incinerator, which is expected to alleviate the city’s waste disposal problem. She stressed that an incinerator ultimately is needed to deal with different types of waste produced in the city.
An academic agreed with Loh, saying an incinerator is helpful as long as garbage is sorted properly before being incinerated.
“People say, ‘do you have to build some kind of treatment facilities?’ I dare not to use the word ‘incineration’, because the word in Hong Kong somehow generates ideas of some black-smoke-and-dioxin-spilling factories. This is in fact not the case,” said Loh.
Currently, with a 48 percent recycling rate, 13,500 tons of solid waste daily are shipped to landfills for burial.
“Most people don’t realize the sludge treatment plant being built in Tuen Mun is an incinerator. It is incineration technology. For those of you who don’t know yet, it is also going to (look like) a spa,” said Loh.
Loh said the “beautifully designed” plant is expected to be finished by the end of 2013 and encouraged the public to visit the location and perhaps to acquire “a new concept about what waste treatment can mean in Hong Kong”.
Nevertheless, Loh said the government is going to have to build “a whole range of hardware to deal with the waste” that we are not able to reuse or recycle.
Professor Johnny Chan Chung-leung, dean of the School of Energy and Environment at City University of Hong Kong, said the public should take responsibility to reduce waste in the city rather than blaming the government for the problem, while at the same time expecting the authorities to take sole responsibility for solving it. Chan said he had no objection to building an incinerator when it is needed, but he adds the public needs to join in efforts to reduce the waste at the source and sort garbage before it is incinerated.
According to government’s figures, each Hong Kong resident generates 1.36 kilograms daily domestic waste, at least 36 percent more than Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo.
“The biggest problem is that before an incinerator is built, we should already sort out what can be incinerated and what cannot. Even with the advanced technology, it is fairly important that the gas coming out can be quite different and clean if we sort out the trash,” said Chan.
Chan also described waste disposal charges as right and necessary for reducing waste at the source.
Last week, the government unveiled a series of policies aimed at cleaning up the city. Those measures include a HK$10 billion program to lure owners of old diesel trucks drivers to abandon their vehicles. Old diesel engines are Hong Kong’s biggest source of roadside air pollution. In the meantime, a retirement age of 15 years will be set for newly registered commercial diesel trucks.
On a radio program on Monday, Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing said the government will have a blueprint for waste management by the end of March. Wong said though the government will take the incinerator as a last resort, it would be irresponsible for the government to rule out an incinerator as a viable solution.
(HK Edition 01/22/2013 page1
HK$31b bid to solve Hong Kong waste crisis
Submitted by admin on Jan 22nd 2013, 12:00am
News› Hong Kong
ENVIRONMENT
Cheung Chi-fai chifai.cheung@scmp.com
Seven-year blueprint confirms controversial incineration project remains top priority, with recycling measures and landfill expansion
Hong Kong will spend at least HK$31 billion on waste-handling infrastructure in the next seven years, it was revealed yesterday.
And included in the measures will be a bitterly contested plan for an incinerator put forward by the previous administration, which has been stalled by opposition in Legco and the courts.
Moves spelled out yesterday by deputy environment minister Christine Loh Kung-wai gave the first clear indication that incineration remained a priority as the government seeks an ultimate solution to the city’s waste crisis.
But the target date for commissioning the waste-burner – 2021 at the latest – is about three years later than proposed by the previous government.
Loh also gave no indication whether the proposed site had been changed and outlined plans for food-waste disposal, recycling and landfill expansion – which are also contentious issues.
Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing said it would be irresponsible to leave discussion about an incinerator out of any debate over waste, although reduction remained the priority.
“We need to look at what the incinerator’s role is holistically, how big it needs to be and what technology can be used,” he said.
Environmentalists and residents were outraged by the previous government’s plan for the incinerator on Shek Kwu Chau, an island between Cheung Chau and the Sokos.
Lawmakers rejected a funding request for the incinerator and for landfill expansions last year. The incinerator has also been challenged in court and a verdict is pending. Hong Kong is at the crossroads in dealing with its mounting waste crisis.
Its waste-generation rate is more than a third higher than cities such as Taipei and Seoul, and its landfills – now the only means of disposal – will be full by 2019.
Loh said at a forum organised by a media group: “Between now and 2020, Hong Kong will have to invest HK$31 billion plus in hardware. We need to continue these investments and we can’t run away from it.
“And after the HK$31 billion, we might spend some more.”
She said the food waste “hardware” would be ready between 2015 and 2017. Preparations for product responsibility schemes, recycling and landfill expansion would be complete between 2014 and 2020.
A timeframe of 2020 to 2021 was given to the waste-to-energy incinerator for solid waste. If endorsed, it would mean a decision would have to be made as a soon as next year.
Last year, Environmental Protection Department officials put the cost of two landfill expansions at more than HK$8.3 billion and an organic waste treatment plant at HK$500 million.
A 3,000-tonne incinerator would cost HK$14.9 billion.
Loh also said that consultation would start soon over a scheme to charge importers up to HK$1 for wine and beer bottles made from glass.
Friends of the Earth director Edwin Lau Che-feng said the new government appeared to understand the urgency of the problem. “We have wasted many years and failed to move forwards,” he said.
But Lau questioned whether officials should review the planned siting of the incinerator on the island. He suggested that using a site in Tuen Mun would mean the waste-burner could be completed two years earlier and would also cause less environmental damage.
Martin Williams, an opponent of the island project, said an incinerator was “only a glorified bonfire” with toxic emissions.
But he said the new government was more open in discussing the issues, including the incineration technology.
Topics:
Environment
Christine Loh Kung-Wai
Incineration
Landfill
Environment chief calls for talks on Lantau incinerator
Submitted by eldes.tran on Jan 21st 2013, 12:09pm
News›Hong Kong
ENVIRONMENT
Cheung Chi-fai chifai.cheung@scmp.com
The environment minister called for a discussion on building an incinerator as a part of Hong Kong’s waste strategy, calling it irresponsible if talks don’t take place.
Wong Kam-sing said that waste reduction at source remained a top priority for the government and that he would present his blueprint on waste reduction and treatment soon.
Speaking on a radio programme on Monday morning, he said an incinerator along with landfill expansion might be necessary, adding that such a plan would be in line with what other overseas jurisdictions do.
He warned existing landfills would fill up, one by one, by 2020.
Alongside plans to roll out schemes such as glass bottle recycling, Wong also said it was time to initiate a discussion on building an incinerator and extending landfills.
“If we talk about it today, it doesn’t mean that we will implement it right now. What we need is time for more consideration.
“It is irresponsible to avoid this discussion. We need to look at what the incinerator’s role is, how big it needs to be and what technology can be used,” he said.
The government last year proposed to build an incinerator with a capacity of 3,000 tonnes at Soko Island, south Lantau. The project is now being challenged in court.
It also proposed to expand the three strategic landfills in Tuen Mun, Ta Kwu Ling and Tseung Kwan O.
Both plans have met with strong opposition from locals.
Wong also talked about a proposed HK$10 billion scheme to replace old diesel vehicles, saying the plan was sensible and reasonable, despite truck drivers’ concerns that it might disrupt their livelihoods.
On conflict between environment and development, Wong said there were already rules outlining the minimum space between buildings and the proportion of greening in new developments.
“With these measures, we can still make our city more livable even if we are going to increase our housing density,” he said.
Topics:
Waste reduction
Incinerator
Soko Island
South Lantau
Landfill
Wong Kam-sing
Environment Bureau
Bid to block offshore waste incinerator begins in court [1]
Source URL (retrieved on Jan 21st 2013, 9:42pm): http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1132897/environment-chief-calls-talks-lantau-incinerator
Links:
[1] http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1082381/bid-block-offshore-waste-incinerator-begins-court
Waste Management Mafia Charged in New York
Twelve members of three New York crime families have been charged with racketeering conspiracy in the waste industry after multi-rear investigation
“The indictments show the ongoing threat posed by mob families and their criminal associates. In addition to the violence that often accompanies their schemes, the economic impact amounts to a mob tax on goods and services,” explained FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George C. Venizelos.
In total charges have been made against 32 individuals as part of an investigation into organized crime’s alleged continuing control of large aspects of the commercial waste-hauling industry in the greater New York City metropolitan area and in parts of New Jersey.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the main Indictment charges 12 defendants under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) for conspiring to participate in a racketeering enterprise that asserted illegal and extortionate control over commercial waste hauling companies.
A further 17 defendants are facing charges of individual acts of extortion, loan sharking, and other crimes associated with those activities.
The charges are contained in three Indictments, United States v. Franco, et al., United States v. Giustra, et al., and United States v. Lopez.
The Department said that thirty of the defendants have been arrested in connection with the charges, and will be presented and arraigned in Manhattan federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin N. Fox. Two further defendants, Dominick Pietranico and Pasquale P. Cartalemi are expected to surrender shortly.
Extortion
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Here, as described in the indictments, organized crime insinuated itself into the waste disposal industry throughout a vast swath of counties in New York and New Jersey, and the tactics they used to exert and maintain their control come right out of the mafia playbook – extortion, intimidation, and threats of violence.
According to Bharara, while the accused mobsters may have hidden themselves behind seemingly legitimate owners of waste disposal businesses, law enforcement was able to pierce that veil through a painstaking, multi-year investigation.
“Organized crime has many victims – in this case small business owners who pay for waste removal, potential competitors, and the communities infected by this corruption and its cost,” he added.
Allegations
The Department of Justice said that the following allegations are based on the Indictments and statements made in Manhattan federal court:
Twelve of the defendants, who are members and associates of three different Organized Crime Families of La Cosa Nostra (LCN) – the Genovese, Gambino and Luchese Crime Families – are charged with participating in a RICO enterprise in which they worked together to control various waste disposal businesses in the New York City metropolitan area and multiple counties in New Jersey.
This criminal waste disposal enterprise was an illegal organization, the members of which engaged in crimes including extortion, loan sharking, mail and wire fraud, and stolen property offenses.
The members of the enterprise avoided any official connection to the waste disposal businesses they controlled, because they were either officially banned from the waste hauling industry, or unlikely to be granted the necessary licenses required to do business in the waste hauling industry due to their affiliations with organized crime.
Accordingly, enterprise members concealed themselves behind waste disposal businesses that were officially owned and operated by non-Enterprise members (controlled owners), who were able to obtain the necessary licenses because they had no known affiliations with organized crime.
Ultimately, the members of the enterprise exerted control over these waste disposal businesses by, among other things, dictating which trash pick-up stops a particular hauling company could use and extorting payments in exchange for protection by individuals associated with organized crime.
By asserting and enforcing purported ‘property rights’ over the trash pick-up routes, the Enterprise members excluded any competitor that might offer lower prices or better service, in effect imposing a criminal tax on businesses and communities.
Separately, some of the controlled owners were also committing crimes, including stealing property of competing waste disposal businesses and defrauding businesses of their customers.
The operation of the Waste Disposal Enterprise was coordinated by and among factions of the LCN families through the use of ‘sit-downs’ to determine which faction would control a particular waste disposal company and established the financial terms upon which control of that company could be transferred from one faction to another in return for payment.
During the time period alleged in the Indictment, enterprise members extorted a controlled owner, who, unknown to them, was a cooperating witness (CW). The CW incorporated a waste removal company (CW Company) that ultimately was controlled by a number of different factions of the enterprise.
At various times, the CW Company was under the control of Carmine Franco, a Genovese Crime Family associate who was banned by New Jersey authorities from maintaining any involvement in the waste hauling business in that state due to prior criminal convictions.
A Genovese Crime Family crew based principally in Lodi, New Jersey (Lodi Crew), which included Genovese Family soldiers subsequently wrested control of the CW’s waste company from Franco and further extorted the CW for weekly payments for ‘protection’ from other LCN factions.
In addition, at various times, a different faction of the Genovese Crime Family – led by Genovese soldiers and a Gambino Crime Family crew controlled the CW’s waste hauling company.
In addition to the 12 defendants charged as members of the waste disposal enterprise, 17 of the defendants are charged with carrying out various illegal activities in relation to the waste hauling industry.
These illegal activities include: extortion, mail and wire fraud conspiracy, and interstate transportation of stolen property.
The Department of Justice also noted that the charges contained in the Indictments are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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Crime Magnet: New Jersey’s Waste & Recycling Industry
For anybody who’s seen the TV show The Sopranos, the concept of crime bosses working in New Jersey’s waste industry will be a familiar one. And it’s not hard to see where the show’s producers took their inspiration from. Over the years numerous mobsters have been exposed as operating in the industry, and the problem is far from becoming a footnote in history.
Cardboard Gangsters Arrested in New Jersey Recycling Swindle
Three arrests have been made in New Jersey following a theft operation which was responsible for stealing tens of thousands of dollars worth of cardboard for recycling large retail sites.
VIDEO: UK Environment Agency Getting Tough on Waste Crime
Serious waste crime is big business in the UK, with the number of people sent to prison for committing serious waste crime offences almost trebling in the last three years and 759 illegal waste sites shut in 2011-2012, according to a new report by the Environment Agency.