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Howard Winn howard.winn@scmp.com

A meeting of minds

We are waiting with some anticipation for the public forum on Thermal Technology for Waste Management in Metropolises on May 7 where the case for incineration will be put. There will be five speakers including Dr Lee Potts, technical manager (energy) for AECOM, which is the consultant to the Hong Kong government on waste. He has argued in favour of incineration over other technologies such as plasma gasification.

However, elsewhere his firm evidently thinks differently. AECOM has announced that it is to design, build and operate a plasma gasification plant in Britain. In the US, AECOM has declared its enthusiasm for plasma gasification.

It will also be interesting to hear what Professor Umberto Arena has to say. He is a specialist in waste to energy from Second University of Naples. A primary school teacher from Naples has just been announced as one of the winners of the 2013 Goldman Prize for his campaign to oppose incinerators in Naples. As an organising member of Zero Waste International, his campaign to encourage recycling and waste reduction has led to 117 municipalities across Italy closing incinerators and committing to zero-waste strategies. He even persuaded a bishop to declare the use of incinerators to burn waste was “immoral”.

Then there’s Peter Simoes, technical director of Afval Energie Bedrijf. His company operates the world’s largest incinerator which was ranked the 484th most polluting facility in the 2011 European Energy Association report on environmental pollution. It should be an interesting forum.