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[GreenYes] Re: INCINERATOR INQUIRY



I too am for the ideal of zero waste, industrial ecology, cradle to cradle,
but it flies in the face of the current econometric monetarist growth
paradigm. In North Ampton, as in other places, they measure commercial
success by the amount of trash they generate.


Working for peace and cooperation,

Mike Morin


----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Muller" <amuller@no.address>
To: "michael cowing" <mjcowing@no.address>; <GreenYes@no.address>;
<mjcowing04@no.address>
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 9:48 AM
Subject: [GreenYes] Re: INCINERATOR INQUIRY


>
> Just a very quick reply:
>
> I know waste disposal can be a specially tough issue for island
> communities, but an incinerator is a very poor idea, will all sorts
> of possibilities for creating health and environmental problems. Air
> pollution, water pollution, ash disposal, real cost, health of
> workers and the general public....all are hard--sometimes
> impossible--to manage and it is not to be expected that Anguilla
> would have the technical and regulatory infrastructure to deal with
> these issues on a continuing basis. Incinerators can be marketed as
> the clever, simple, almost magical solution to waste problems, but it
> never turns out that way.
>
> To respond to just two points you raise: Heavy metals are elements
> and cannot be destroyed at any temperature short of the
> nuclear. Medical wastes tend to be loaded with chlorinated plastics
> that produce dioxin-family compounds when burned. These compounds
> may not be present during high-temperature combustion but may form in
> the off-gasses downstream.
>
> Sometimes the real marketing point on air pollution is some version
> of "put it on the lee side of the island and all the fumes will blow
> away...."
>
> More people can be usefully employed in "zero waste" programs than in
> feeding burners.....
>
> Regards,
>
> Alan Muller
>
> At 12:37 PM 9/6/2006 +0000, michael cowing wrote:
>
>>Dear colleagues
>>
>>I know that the subject of incinerators is an emotive one at the
>>best of times, but I am looking for some advice.
>>
>>I am working as an advisor to the Government of Anguilla (small
>>island in British West Indies) and an international company has made
>>a proposal to provide a small incinerator to dispose of household,
>>industrial and medical waste.
>>
>>It appears a cheap option, but they are not proposing to provide any
>>gas emission equipment to clean the flue gases, advising that at the
>>incinerator's high operating temperatures (close to 1,000 C) , all
>>items of concern such as furans, dioxins and heavy metals are
>>completely destroyed. I am dubious, is this correct ?
>>
>>Also, they advise that it is acceptable to dispose of the bottom and
>>fly ash within the unlined disposal site, which is adjacent to the
>>coast - again I have my reservations, any advice/information would
>>be gratefully received.
>>
>>Mike Cowing.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
> Alan Muller, Executive Director
> Green Delaware
> Box 69
> Port Penn, DE 19731 USA
> (302)834-3466
> fax (302)836-3005
> greendel@no.address
> www.greendel.org
>
>
> >
>



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