[greenyes] ALERT: garbage incineration is not renewable energy

["Monica Wilson" <mwilson@no.address>]

Dear colleagues,

KEEP INCINERATORS OUT OF GREEN-E'S "RENEWABLE ENERGY" STANDARDS

As mentioned on GreenYes earlier today, it is critical that public agencies,
organizations and individuals submit comments to Green-e, a renewable energy
certification program, by Oct. 19, 2005 to urge them to
**exclude municipal solid waste combustion and gasification as renewable
energy**

BACKGROUND
Green-e is holding a public comment process for National Standards for its
Renewable Energy Certification Program. The proposed National Standards
specifically EXCLUDE combustion of municipal solid waste (MSW) as
"renewable." But during the first comment period, the incinerator industry
urged Green-e to INCLUDE MSW combustion as "renewable." In response to the
industry's comments, Green-e staff now recommend that MSW gasification (a
form of MSW incineration) be included.

During this second comment period, we are asking businesses, public agencies
and organizations to urge Green-e to keep MSW combustion and gasification
OUT of their renewable energy standards. For more information about the
Green-e process please see: http://www.green-e.org/standards/national/
*The deadline for comments is Wednesday, October 19, 2005*


SUGGESTED COMMENTS (please personalize your comments)

*	municipal waste combustion and gasification should not be considered
renewable energy
*	recycling discarded materials saves 3 to 5 times more energy as
could be made by combusting the same materials
*	waste combustion and gasification both create toxic air pollutants
(including dioxin) and both create contaminated byproducts including ash,
slag and liquid residues 
*	note if and how this is important to your
business/agency/organization
*	please consider also urging the exclusion of landfill gas as
"renewable" (subsidies for landfill gas are subsidies for the waste
industry)
*	thank Green-e for this opportunity to give stakeholder comment
You may find more suggested comments below in a sign on letter sent last
year by 37 U.S. organizations and businesses urging federal, state and local
agencies to exclude waste incineration, gasification, and pyrolysis from
renewable standards. 


HOW TO SUBMIT COMMENTS 
a. download and save this Word document from Green-e website:
http://www.green-e.org/pdf/National_Std._Green-e_2nd_Comment_Ballot.doc
b. fill in your contact information
c. insert your comments in the form under Item 1 (Municipal Solid Waste)
d. email the document to the address on the form
(siobhan@no.address)


More Information
Gasification: http://www.bredl.org/pdf/wastegasification.pdf 
Combustion: http://www.no-burn.org/resources
Energy: Letter below


Thanks to Alan Muller for bringing this to everyone's attention!
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Monica Wilson

--
Monica Wilson
GAIA: Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives / Global Anti-Incinerator
Alliance, http://www.no-burn.org
1442A Walnut St #20, Berkeley, CA 94709 USA
+1-510-883-9490  ext. 103, mwilson@no.address

***********************************************


[The following was sent September 2004 to all states from 37 U.S.
organizations and businesses]


Sign-On Document 
Urging U.S. Federal, State, and Local Agencies to Exclude Waste
Incineration, Gasification, and Pyrolysis[1] from Qualifying as a Renewable
Source of Fuel and Power


 

Whereas:

 

Waste incinerators (including waste pyrolysis and gasification systems) are
net energy losers when the embodied energy of the materials burned is
accounted for;  

 

Recycling materials saves three to five times the amount of energy as
incinerating these same materials would generate;

 

For every ton of material destroyed by waste incineration, many more tons of
raw materials must be mined, extracted, processed, or distributed to
manufacture new products to take its place;

 

Waste incineration encourages a one-way flow of materials on a finite
planet, thus making the task of conserving resources and reducing waste more
difficult, not easier;

 

If the U.S. incinerated all of its municipal solid waste, it would
contribute less than 0.4% of the country's energy needs;

 

Waste incineration represents the most polluting solid waste management
technology;

 

Waste incineration systems (including waste pyrolysis and gasification
systems) emit dioxins, furans, and other persistent pollutants, and the
detrimental health impacts of pollutants released by waste incinerators have
been well documented;

 

Incineration is expensive and does not eliminate or adequately control the
toxic emissions from today's chemically complex municipal discards;

 

Even new incinerators release toxic metals, dioxins, and acid gases;

 

Far from eliminating the need for a landfill, waste incinerator systems
produce toxic ash and other residues;

 

One alarming new trend is the increase in projects to use incinerator ash
and disperse it throughout the environment;


Maximizing energy recovery is technologically incompatible with reducing
dioxin emissions;

 

Waste incinerator systems rely on minimum guaranteed waste flows, thus
directly promoting continued waste generation while hindering waste
prevention, reuse, composting, recycling, and recycling-based community
economic development; and

 

Waste incineration costs cities and counties more and provides fewer jobs
than comprehensive recycling and composting, and prohibits the development
of local recycling-based businesses.

 

 

Therefore we urge U.S. federal, state, and local agency officials to:

 

Exclude "waste," "waste resources," "waste incineration," "pyrolysis," and
"gasification" from qualifying as renewable or sources of renewable energy,
fuel, or power in renewable portfolio standards, renewable energy
solicitations, renewable energy grant/loan programs, green or clean power
programs, biomass energy programs, and other related programs, regulations,
legislation, and policies; and

 

Exclude "municipal solid waste" from the definition of "biomass" in
renewable energy standards, procurement policies, and other related
programs, regulations, legislation, and policies.


  _____  

[1] For this sign-on document, waste incineration refers not just to
mass-burn and refuse-derived-fuel systems, but to any type of thermal
treatment system for discarded materials that wastes resources and emits
pollutants.  These include technologies based upon combustion, pyrolysis,
and thermal gasification.  Like combustion, pyrolysis and gasification
systems produce dioxins, furans, and other persistent pollutants.
Gasification and pyrolysis of municipal solid waste are classified as
"incineration" by the European Union.  This document does not refer to
landfill gas or to biological treatments.