Clear The Air News Blog Rotating Header Image

Incineration – Solid Waste Disposal

CUHK to start 10-year plan on Ka Ho residents’ health

Jun 19th, 2012
by Editor.
No comments yet

http://www.macaudailytimes.com.mo/macau/36605-cuhk-to-start-10-year-plan-on-ka-ho-residents%E2%80%99-health.html

Home | Macau | CUHK to start 10-year plan on Ka Ho residents’ health

CUHK to start 10-year plan on Ka Ho residents’ health

18/06/2012 10:05:00

The government has commissioned the Chinese University of Hong Kong for a 10-year study of health conditions of the residents in Ka Ho, where local people complained of illness due to the air pollution from ashes from the nearby incinerator. The Health Bureau said they had agreed with the university on the detailed procedures of the study to monitor the health conditions of residents in the area near Hac Sa. The University was quoted as saying details of the monitoring mechanism and study methodologies would be disclosed to the public next month. Preliminary arrangements require an annual report to be published, but the final conclusion will be ten years away. The Health Bureau said the study will be conducted scientifically, impartially and independently in a professional manner. The health issues were discovered early last year when hundreds of residents, many of them students and teachers in the schools there, complained of lung and respiratory problems after the contractor working the incinerator was found to have broken safety regulations by disposing of the ashes into open areas, and a large amount of them carried to residential districts by wind

IMPERIAL COLLEGE UK STUDY

Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 19:05
To: ‘dynamco@netvigator.com‘; ‘chair@cleartheair.org.hk‘
Cc: Andrew Tristem; ‘Frances Pollitt’; ‘Kelly, Frank’; Elliott, Paul
Subject: FW: Incinerator study

Dear Mr Middleton

Thank you for your enquiry on behalf of ‘Clear The Air’ in Hong Kong.

The English Health Protection Agency announced last week that they have approved funding for a Small Area Health Statistics Unit study to investigate whether there is any potential link between municipal waste incinerators and reproductive health – see

http://www.hpa.org.uk/NewsCentre/NationalPressReleases/2012PressReleases/120124Incineratorstudystatement/

This is for a two year study starting in April 2012.  Results will be made publicly available once accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Best wishes

Anna Hansell

(Dr) Anna Hansell  MB BChir MA MRCP MSc PhD FFPH

Clinical Senior Lecturer

Assistant Director, Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU)

MRC-HPA Centre for Environment and Health

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

School of Public Health Faculty of Medicine

Imperial College London St Mary’s Campus, Norfolk Place  LONDON W2 1PG

Phone: +44 (0)20 7594 3344

Fax: +44 (0)20 7594 0768

Email: a.hansell@imperial.ac.uk

From: James Middleton [mailto:dynamco@netvigator.com]
Sent: 30 January 2012 09:43
To: Kelly, Frank; p.elliott@imperial.ac.uk
Subject: Incinerator study

Dear Prof Elliott,

We are an NGO Charity based in Hong Kong.

Our website is www.cleartheair.org.hk

Could you please tell us what is the status of your Unit’s investigation regarding possible incinerator proximity dangers and when the study would likely be complete ?

Kind regards

James Middleton

Chairman

chair@cleartheair.org.hk

Patrons:

Professor Judith Mackay

Professor Anthony Hedley

Inquiry is ordered into incinerators and health hazards they may pose

An investigation is to be launched – the first of its kind in this country – into whether incinerators present a risk to public health.

by Mark Metcalf

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

A team from Imperial College, London, has been commissioned to carry out the inquiry by the Health Protection Agency after fears were raised about the health risks of incinerators, particularly for young children.

Dozens of incinerators have been built around the country as Britain struggles to cope with its mounting refuse problems. But campaigners have become concerned that the price is being paid with poor health among babies and infants in the localities where such amenities are sited. One such activist is Michael Ryan, who lives in Shrewsbury, and who lost his only daughter at 14 weeks – and then suffered further personal tragedies when his teenage son and his mother both died, too. All lived downwind of an incinerator.

Mr Ryan began a painstaking piece of research into the subject of health – and deaths – of people living in close proximity to incinerators. The results from London are startling. In 12 of the capital’s 625 wards, there were no infant deaths between 2002 and 2008. But Southwark, which has two incinerators close by, had the highest rate with 7.2 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in that period.

Critics say it’s not microscopic particles from incinerators that kill babies and young children, but poverty. And while it is true that some people living close to incinerators are at the lower end of the social scale, Mr Ryan’s research reveals that death rates in more affluent middle class areas are higher if there is an incinerator nearby. Affluent Chingford Green ward in Waltham Forest has the second highest average number of child deaths in London. It happens to be close to Britain’s largest incinerator. “If it’s all about poverty, then how come the levels of infant mortality in countryside areas, where wages have always been below average, aren’t high?” asks Mr Ryan.

Now, to cries of “at last” from Mr Ryan, HPA head Justin McCracken has said that following discussions with Professor Paul Elliott, head of the Small Area Health Statistics Unit at Imperial College, it has been “concluded that an epidemiological study of birth outcomes around municipal waste incinerators would produce reliable results. Work is now progressing in developing a detailed proposal for what will be a complex study.”

In 2004, a study in Japan found a “peak decline in risk with distance from the municipal solid waste incinerators for infant deaths and infant deaths with all congenital malformations combined”.

http://www.tribunemagazine.co.uk/2011/06/inquiry-is-ordered-into-incinerators-and-health-hazards-they-may-pose/

Small Area Health Statistics Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London, UK

Riot fear if prisoners are kept awake by incinerator

Jun 17th, 2012
by Editor.
No comments yet

http://www.waste-management-world.com/index/from-the-wires/wire-news-disp
lay/1688664547.html
Riot fear if prisoners are kept awake by incinerator

Robert James
Scottish Express
June 17, 2012

PRISON bosses were under fire last night after claiming pampered inmates
could riot if their sleep is disturbed by a new green energy plant.

The Scottish Prison Service is objecting to a plan to build a new waste
incinerator in Perth, which is currently being considered by Scottish
ministers.

Yesterday, it emerged that former Perth Prison governor Kate Donegan had
warned that noise from the complex would lead to “concerted
indiscipline”.

She said: “The thrum of machinery from a 24-hour waste dumping, movement
and incineration operation will cause noise pollution, particularly at
night.

“This will disturb sleep and cause prisoners to complain and potentially
become involved in concerted indiscipline in support of these complaints.

“As governor, I will have absolutely no means of addressing the noise and
odour pollution issues which will leave me in a completely untenable
position from an operational control perspective.”

Although her objections are from 2009, they only emerged yesterday in a
letter to the Scottish Government’s Directorate for Planning and
Environmental Appeals.

It is considering an appeal from Grundon Waste Management against Perth
and Kinross Council’s decision to refuse the application.

The company insists that convicted criminals serving time in Perth Prison
should not be given the same rights as ordinary residents.

Apart from the prisoners, the closest homes to the waste-toenergy plant
would be more than 200 metres away.

However, the Prison Service is adamant the prison should be considered
and that inmates have as much right to a good night’s sleep as anybody
else. It states: “The prison is home to some 633 plus inmates at any one
time. C Block, which houses some 350 inmates, is only 40 to 60 metres
away from the site.”

The objection adds: “The potential impacts are not just related to
residential amenity, but also to prisoner welfare and security and
management of the prison.”

Grundon Waste Management, which is based in Slough, Berkshire, saw its
plan rejected in February. The proposal has caused anger in Perth, with
some campaigners branding the incinerator a “smoke belching monstrosity”
and raising fears over city centre pollution.

However, the firm insists that the noise levels for Perth Prison would
only be “slight/moderate”.

It states: “The proposed development would not result in any unacceptable
noise effects of any noise sensitive receptors, including inmates at
Perth Prison.”

Scottish Conservative chief whip John Lamont said the planning
directorate must not give “undue prominence” to the concerns of
prisoners. He added: “People already think prisoners have a comfortable
life. The prospect of them dictating planning decisions takes that to a
whole new level.

“Even if people do miss out on sleep for one reason or another, quite why
it should result in rioting is beyond me. If that is a risk, perhaps
those wishing to riot should be dealt with more severely.

“I hope the planning authorities see sense and don’t give this concern
undue prominence.”

Copyright 2012 Express Newspapers All Rights Reserved

Scottish Express

Wire News provided

Willawong residents fear exposure to toxic chemicals from waste incinerator

Jun 17th, 2012
by Editor.
No comments yet

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/willawong-residents-fear-exposure-to-toxic-chemicals-from-waste-incinerator/story-e6freoof-1225877201867

Description: Jasmin Daly of Willawong

Jasmin Daly, 75, outside her Willawong home, which is near a waste incinerator that’s potentially exposing residents to toxic chemicals. Picture: Mark Cranitch Source: The Courier-Mail

MORE than two dozen homes and businesses might have been put at risk of exposure to cancer-causing chemical emissions from a waste incinerator in Brisbane’s south.

The incinerator is also near the site of a huge proposed development earmarked for as many as 10,000 homes.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman has called on the State Government to fast track air and noise testing after a report into the Willawong incinerator found toxic emissions could be affecting homes up to 1km away.

Homes along Sherbrooke Rd were believed to be the most at risk.

Cr Newman said preliminary modelling done for the report into the Ace Waste incinerator found that, if it operated 24 hours a day, nearby homes could potentially be exposed to dangerous chemicals above recommended levels.

The facility burns medical waste and is, legally, emitting 10 times the international standard of some chemicals.

A 300m exclusion zone was originally imposed around the incinerator. That was raised to 500m, and last February the Department of Environment and Resource Management increased it to 1000m amid concerns emissions might affect new development planned for the area.

Cr Newman said that council’s concerns were triggered after it began planning for the development, east of the site.

Willawong has been earmarked as a priority greenfield residential site by the State Government, with a predicted 6000 to 10000 homes planned to be built there.

While new development has been left in limbo until a final study into the incinerator is handed down in December, Cr Newman said the council was still worried about the effect it could be having on nearby workers and the residents of 15 homes.

He said the potential risk to existing homes had forced him to go public.

Cr Newman said council officers and DERM staff would doorknock homes and businesses to inform them of the potential risks.

One local resident, Jasmin Daly, 75, who has lived at her Sherbrooke Rd home for 46 years, yesterday said she knew nothing about the report.

“It doesn’t make me feel the best (to hear this),” she said.

“We have a lot of swamp birds and I watch them to see if they drop dead.”

DERM assistant Director-General, Damien Brown, said the results of the council-commissioned air studies “provided to date indicate no reason to suggest any health concerns for the nearest existing residents in the area”.

“ACE Waste are required to operate within strict environmental conditions and is regulated DERM,” he said.

‘Science fiction’ waste solution a real option

Jun 17th, 2012
by Editor.
No comments yet
Plasma arc incineration is a forward-looking and realistic alternative to landfills, and won’t generate the toxic emissions associated with burning waste
Martin Williams
Jun 17, 2012

You’ve probably seen reports on plans for building a mega waste incinerator on an artificial island beside Shek Kwu Chau. Though rejected by a Legislative Council panel, the plans have not been abandoned. After four Hongkongers were this month given permission for a judicial review of the plans, the government responded that there is no alternative to building the incinerator at Shek Kwu Chau.

Is this true? Can Hong Kong find no better way of dealing with waste than shipping it to a beautiful coastal area and setting fire to it? There’s actually a range of alternatives, ranging from straightforward to one that seems verging on science fiction.

At first, I believed reports that the planned incinerator technology is so advanced that the emissions would be wonderfully clean. After all, Hong Kong used to have four waste incinerators, but closed them all down by 1997 because of concerns over air pollution – and the government would not be so crazy as to plan a similarly dangerous facility today. Or would it?

Information on incinerators reveals that even the best of them emit significant quantities of particulate, which were a key concern with the past incinerators, and have been shown to have more adverse health impacts than earlier realised. Improved techniques might reduce dioxins, yet incinerators produce an array of toxic molecules, along with mercury and cadmium. And chemicals not emitted to the air are trapped in chimney ash so toxic it can qualify as hazardous waste.

So incineration looks unwise, even irresponsible. But doing nothing is not an option. We’re among the world’s most throwaway societies, with landfills soon to reach capacity.

This profligacy means there is immense scope for reduction, reuse and recycling. Though the government claims a high, 52 per cent recycling rate, this figure is well below the 70 per cent rate achieved in Germany, and we set our sights low compared to San Francisco, which aims for zero waste to landfills by 2020. Currently, Hong Kong’s recycling efforts are prone to being so passive as to verge on being useless.

Even with massive boosts to recycling, we will need to treat remaining waste. One technique involves using bacteria to process food waste, and produces biogas that can be burned to generate electricity, together with material suitable for use as compost. But though widely adopted by some cities, such as Toronto, it may be best suited to small-scale applications.

What, then, of the “science fiction” technique? This seems far-fetched when you first hear of it, as it involves treating waste using plasma – the fourth state of matter – that can be hotter than the surface of the sun. Its time, however, may have come. Scientific American magazine included it among 20 “world-changing ideas” for making our planet cleaner, healthier and smarter.

Plasmas are so energised that they abound with charged particles. They make up stars, and occur in lightning. Plasmas have also been harnessed for an array of uses by forming them in arcs between electrodes – and it’s these plasma arcs that are now being deployed for transforming waste.

Though plasma arc torches originated in the late 19th century, their main development stems from the 1960s, when Nasa deployed them for generating the extreme temperatures needed to test heat shields for re-entry vehicles. Their applications include destroying medical waste, recovering metals from electronic waste, rendering asbestos harmless – and treating municipal waste.

Plasma waste treatment differs from incineration in several important ways. Notably, incineration means burning: oxygen reacts with organic chemicals to form smaller molecules that might themselves react together, leading to hundreds of compounds being found in incinerator emissions. Incinerator ash, particularly the fly ash from chimney stacks, contains the dangerous chemicals that are not emitted.

Plasma processes are much hotter, perhaps well over 4,000 degrees Celsius. These temperatures, coupled with intense ultraviolet light, blast molecules apart; organic chemicals disintegrate to simple components. The resulting gas mixture called syngas (synthetic gas), is mainly carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Other material forms something like lava, which can be solidified into glass-like material with metals and other toxins so effectively “locked” within that Japanese incinerators treat fly ash with plasma arc torches.

The syngas can be burned to generate electricity, rather as incinerators may be used for “waste-to-energy”. But in another marked contrast to incineration, the syngas has other possible uses. One company, Solena Fuels, is working with airlines and a shipping company to develop projects that transform syngas into jet fuel and ship fuel from waste. Advanced Plasma Power, which specialises in plasma arc treatment of municipal waste, is exploring ways to synthesise natural gas.

Here in Hong Kong, the Environmental Protection Department has fielded an array of objections to plasma arc treatment. One objection is correct: there are no large-scale plasma arc waste treatment facilities in operation. However, several projects are being planned or built worldwide, and set to become operational well before Hong Kong could complete its outdated incinerator.

Contrary to an EPD assertion, there are plasma arc companies willing to work on treating Hong Kong waste. Solena Fuels has suggested building waste-to-jet-fuel facilities at landfill sites. Advanced Plasma Power has formed a consortium prepared to financially guarantee a large-scale facility, and first build a pilot plant – just as they hope to build a pilot project for New York. The city closed its last waste incinerator in 1999. It, too, has a serious waste problem, but instead of looking backwards for solutions, it is seeking proposals for waste-to-energy projects that exclude mass burn incineration.

Under retiring chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and his environment chief, Edward Yau Tang-wah, Hong Kong has been fixated on a return to incineration. With the Legislative Council giving the thumbs-down to the Shek Kwu Chau plans, and the advent of a new leadership team, perhaps we can instead look to the future, and to ideas for building a cleaner, healthier and smarter Hong Kong.

Martin Williams is a Hong Kong-based writer specialising in conservation and the environment, with a PhD in physical chemistry from Cambridge University

Description: Artist's impression of the plant on Shek Kwu Chau.

Alternatives to Incineration

Jun 16th, 2012
by Editor.
No comments yet

http://www.farmerscampaign.org/pages/alternatives.html

Alternatives to Incineration

Total Recycling

100% recycling of our waste is impossible, or is it? Recently the farmers campaign became aware of a British recycling technology which can take residual waste previously ‘non­recyclable’ and process it into useful products to create jobs and make money from waste. Those arguing for incineration have said “what else can you do with ‘non­recyclable’ waste such as plastic meat trays contaminated with organic material, nappies, tooth brushes and polystyrene?” The answer is first put the waste through a ‘Materials Recycling Facility’(MRF) and extract high value recyclables. The residual waste left over can then be fed into a “Saltus” process offered by ‘Cardinal Mark Ltd’. A visit to the company’s operation near Chester provided an insight into the waste industry’s future.

A practical demonstration transformed a mixture of waste into a material that has a guaranteed value and wide range of uses. The new material is feed into an extrusion process capable of producing a diverse range of products. Sample products included pallets, fence posts, boards and structural beams, they appear capable of outperforming traditional materials. The process sounded too good to be true which is why a visit to the company was necessary. After signing their ‘Non Disclosure Agreement’ the company answered a series of questions. Any company still offering incineration should take note and recognise their business model is outdated, communities do not want incinerators and improved recycling makes them obsolete.

Total Recycling 2

Description: http://www.evrs-zero-bury.co.uk/_/rsrc/1292236294155/home/DSCI0027.1292235185545
An advanced form of Autoclaving (steam treatment) reduces residual waste initially to a sludge then adds a catalyst in the process to produce a consistent quality and valuable fibre for re-manufacturing. Plastics and other materials are recovered separately for recycling as part of the process. This system allows waste including old carpets, nappies, leather, plastic bags and other materials previously considered non-recyclable to be effectively recycled. For more information Visit: EVRS

Hello! Welcome to evrs.

For the last 8 years, we have conducted research and development, to produce the evrs “Zero-Bury” technology, using Thermally Induced Chemical Transformation (TICT). As a result, we can now design, build, own and operate waste recycling plants specialising in resource recovery of “lignocellulosic biomass” from non-hazardous residual wastes. We can successfully process comingled materials such as residuals, black bag waste, packed food, and bulky waste including furniture, and scale plants to meet the “proximity principle”.

Our plants are excellent neighbours, with no discharges to air, to land or to water, and the 0.1% not recycled though our plant is recycled by specialists for us, so we can claim total recycling. Our carbon footprint is 93% less than sending the same material to landfill – yes, just 7%

We hope you enjoy our website, why not look at the services we offer or get in touch?

“evrs”, the Heart logo, “Zystur” and “Waste to Worth” are registered trademarks of Zystur Ltd.

see our unique steam-powered fire defence system, courtesy of Firetrace:

http://www.firetrace.co.uk/steamextinguisher.wmv

Mechanical & Biological Treatment MBT
MBT is already established in other counties including Cambridgeshire. The term describes a range of technologies that either compost or digest biodegradable waste and recovers a high proportion of material for recycling through using advanced mechanical sorting/processing. The MBT process significantly reduces the waste and produces compost like output that can be used for land reclamation. If the compost like output is not used it can be economically sent to landfill without incurring the financial penalties or pollution problems associated with disposal of untreated waste. With MBT incineration is not necessary and the required diversion from landfill can be achieved.
MBT technology – Donarbon

Lancashire rejected incineration

“Their waste solution produces energy, diverts waste away from landfill and is combined with proactive waste reduction”. Use this link to find out morehttp://www.globalrenewables.eu/ur3r-process

New Earth Solutions

‘New Earth Solutions’ provide Mechanical and Biological Treatment of residual waste. It has significant advantages over Energy from Waste Incineration. Instead of vaporising valuable Aluminium, lead and other metals, these along with plastics are recovered.

It is more flexible and has a lower carbon foot print than an electricity producing incinerator, the price tag is also less. A facility to deal with 200,000 tonnes per year would cost around £25 million. New Earth have five plants operating including those at Bristol and Bournemouth with a sixth in progress.

New Earth Solutions

A more efficient approach
Instead of putting all mixed waste through an MBT plant, food can be collected separately from other waste, this can and is being done in many parts of the UK. Norwich City Council recently started doing this. The food waste can be fed to an anaerobic digester converting a high proportion of it to methane gas used for generating electricity. The compost like output after digestion is a useful agricultural product and can be spread on farmland. Anaerobic Digestion is a proven and effective technology. When other waste is not contaminated by food a greater proportion of it can easily be recycled. There is very little of our waste, which cannot effectively be recycled, even plastics. Norfolk County Council lags behind other areas, we are not recycling materials that others can.
Biomass Energy Centre

Thermal Treatment of our waste.
If the thermal treatment of our waste could really be justified it should only be used after we have already reduced the waste through the cleaner technologies such as MBT and AD. The type of incineration favoured by Norfolk County Council would still not be justified because cleaner, more efficient Plasma Gasification is now available. Incineration is the technology of the past.

Plasma Gasification (not to be confused with low temperature gasification)
This technology has now proven itself and is replacing traditional incineration (as currently favoured by NCC). Plasma uses a high temperature electric arc to super heat waste breaking it down into fuel gas for generating electricity and a solid glass like slag which is inert and can be used to produce rock wool insulation material. After taking into account the electricity needed to sustain the plasma plant it still produces more electricity than a traditional incinerator. A study from Cassino University’s Department of Industrial Engineering showed, “integrated plasma gasification combined cycle (IPGCC) has been evaluated. The system efficiency (31% LHV) is very high in comparison with the efficiency of conventional technologies based on waste incineration (20%)”. NCC officers responsible for our waste claimed Plasma is unproven and only works on a small scale. Plasma has operated in the UK for over 30 years, commercial scale plants are already established and many more are going through procurement. NCC officers said banks would not finance plasma, which is very misleading because some companies offering Plasma are prepared to finance the project themselves, only charging a tipping fee which is cheaper than proposed for their incinerator.
UK 300,000 tonne plasma gasification plant
The Plasco Energy Group
A Thames Gateway Article
Enviroparks News

Other technologies include Autoclave, Pyrolysis Gasification
Another emerging technology can be found on the following link: www.polyflow.co

New technology converts residual waste into substitute Petrol.
Companies are now building commercial scale plants, visit Reclaim Resources Ltd’s website for more information here: www.reclaimresources.com.

There can be no justification for Norfolk County Council getting locked in to a 25 year contract for an incinerator which will stifle recycling and prevent more efficient technology being used.

Mixed contaminated plastic can economically be recycled into valuable raw material for manufacturing, markets already exist for these materials. View the report using the link http://www.wrap.org.uk/document.rm?id=11123

There will be further updates coming soon.

In the 1990s Americans discovered EfW incinerators were expensive and inefficient, now European countries like Germany are discovering the same. When EfW incinerators reach the end of their contracts… the German authorities do not intend to build any more. View a youtube presentation by Mike Biddle showing a more modern approach to waste, there is not much that cannot be recycled.

Mike Biddle: We can recycle plastic!
Click on image below, to view video

Call to revise EU incineration rules

Jun 14th, 2012
by Editor.
No comments yet

http://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/eu-incineration-rules/

The European Commission should revise 2020 recycling targets set in the Waste Framework Directive to ensure that there is no incineration of waste that could be recycled, according to MEPs.

A resolution stating that the EU should maximise resources to kick start the economy was adopted by the European Parliament yesterday [24 May].

Valuable materials should be recovered instead of landfilled or incinerated and taxation should penalise resource waste to help boost the EU’s competitiveness, say MEPs.

The European Parliament said that the Commission should revise the 2020 recycling targets set in the Waste Framework Directive and ensure, by the end of the decade, that there is no incineration of waste that could be recycled or composted.

“The European Parliament and the European Commission have laid down ambitious plans to tackle resource use. It is now up to the member states to pick up the gauntlet and fight for resource efficiency.

“Implementation of my report would mean economic growth, creation of jobs and protection of the environment. What are we waiting for?” said rapporteur Gerban-Jan Gerbrandy after the resolution was adopted with 479 votes in favour, 66 against and 63 abstentions.

Call for landfill ban

The European Parliament’s resolution calls for a gradual phase-out of landfill of waste and calls on the Commission to make proposals to that effect by the end of 2014.

EU industry and consumers stand to gain from better designed products, say MEPs, who call on the Commission to propose an update to the eco-design directive to include non-energy related products and to demand better durability, recyclability and reparability of goods. Labelling should also provide consumers with guidance on resource use and environmental impact.

Taxation and subsidies

Parliament has urged Member States to shift towards environmental taxation, which MEPs state should allow cuts in other taxes, such as those on labour. Incentives, such as reduced VAT on certain secondary materials, could also help to correct market failures and promote innovation.

MEPs also call on the Commission and Member States to come forward with plans to eliminate environmentally-harmful subsides by 2020, echoing previous Parliament resolutions.

The public sector can play a further part by tightening rules on “green public procurement”, say MEPs, who call on the Commission to look into applying such environmentally-friendly conditions on EU-funded projects.

Resource efficiency plans

To expand improvements in resource use, MEPs call on the Commission to create task forces to develop European Resource Efficiency Action Plans in the areas of food and drink, housing, and mobility.

SCMP letter

Jun 14th, 2012
by Editor.
No comments yet

Incinerator plan is a disgrace

I refer to James Middleton’s letter (“Ash from incinerator is hazardous”, June 7), citing hazards associated with incinerators, and wish to point out that the use of such facilities to get rid of waste is basically the same as dumping this waste into our oceans.

Burnt waste is turned into gases; they stay with us and are then dissolved into rain clouds, and then the rain falls into our oceans. Most incinerators are located to allow emissions to discharge into the sea to reduce the impact to us land-dwellers.

Modern incinerators, such as the integrated waste management facilities being proposed in Hong Kong, merely ensure that emissions are odourless and invisible to the naked eye. However, no greenhouse gas will be captured, which will affect global warming. The Environmental Protection Department and minister Edward Yau Tang-wah, who are promoting these waste facilities, are a disgrace for not protecting our environment.

Nigel Lam, Kowloon Tong

Emission of heavy metals from animal carcass inc… [Chemosphere. 2004] – PubMed – NCBI

Jun 14th, 2012
by Editor.
No comments yet

So you are what you eat, clank clank

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15081760
Chemosphere. 2004 Jun;55(9):1197-205.

Emission of heavy metals from animal carcass incinerators in Taiwan.

Chen SJ, Hung MC, Huang KL, Hwang WI.

Source

Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, National Pingtung
University of Science and Technology, Nei Pu, Pingtung 91201, Taiwan.
chensj@mail.npust.edu.tw

Abstract

The metal emissions from three incinerators burning different feedstock in
Taiwan were characterized in this study. It was found that the Incinerators
A and B, treating pig carcasses and animal (including pigs) carcasses,
respectively, had much higher metal concentrations in stack flue gases than
Incinerator C that combusted medical wastes. However, Incinerator A
obtained relative lower metal contents in fly ash and bottom ash than the
other two incinerators, mainly because the former used a much lower
feedstock rate (although burning at a lower temperature) than the latter.
For all the incinerators, (1) Fe, Ni, Pb, and Zn were dominant in both the
fly ash and bottom ash while most of the Cd and Pb (more volatile) were
present in the fly ash; (2) Fe emission factor was the highest and
Zn/Pb/Ni/Cr emission factors were greater than those of Mn/Cd/Cu; (3) the
Cu emission factors in bottom ash were relatively higher in comparison with
those in fly ash; and (4) indicatory metals were the same (Fe, Zn, Pb, and
Cu). The metal emission factors obtained from the livestock incinerators
were much higher than those reported from MSW incinerators. Likewise,
crematories that burn human cadavers must create similar pollution issues
since metal supplements are part of human’s normal diets. This causes an
environmental concern and this work has important ramifications both in
technical and regulatory decisions.

Copyright 2004 Elsevier Ltd.

Incineration and Human Health

Jun 14th, 2012
by Editor.
No comments yet

Download PDF : incinerator+journal+article

DOE’s Dispersal of Radioactive Waste into Landfills and Consumer Products

Jun 13th, 2012
by Editor.
No comments yet

Download PDF : outofcontrolreport

← Earlier Posts Newer Posts →