Zero Waste 2020versus

Incineration

Dr Paul ConnettProfessor of Chemistry

St Lawrence University, Canton, NY

Italy, January, 2005

Paul @ fluorideALERT.org

www.no-burn.org

Arguments against incineration

• Toxic air emissions

• Toxic ash

• Extremely expensive

• Extremely unpopular and undemocratic

• A waste of energy!

• There are better alternatives

• Incineration is not sustainable

AIR EMISSIONS

CO2 + H2O

ACID GASES:HCI, HF, SO2

NOx

TOXIC METALS:Pb, Cd, Hg, As, Cr etc

NEW COMPOUNDS:Hundreds of 1) Chlorinated,2) Brominated, and 3) Fluorinated compoundse.g. 1) PCDDs (DIOXINS)PCDFs (FURANS)2) PBDEs (poly brominated diphenyl ethers)3) PFCs (per fluorinated compounds)

MODERNMODERNARCHITECTSARCHITECTSDO THEIRDO THEIRBEST TOBEST TODISGUISEDISGUISE“SMOKE STACK”“SMOKE STACK”

Benzene Depictions

C

CC

C

CC

H

H

H

H

H

H=

C6H6

2,3,7,8-TETRACHLORODIBENZO-P-DIOXIN

2,3,7,8-TETRA CHLORO DIBENZO DIOXIN

2,3,7,8-TETRA CHLORO DIBENZO FURAN

There are 17 extremely toxic dioxins and furans. They have chlorine at the 2,3,7 and 8 positions: 7 Dioxins and 10 Furans

DIOXINS IN OUR FOOD

• Dioxins are fat soluble and persistent and accumulate in the food chain, specially animal fats. Over 90% of our daily dioxin intake comes from dairy products, meat,and fish.

DIOXINMILK

Dioxins - Major Concerns

• Current daily intakes from food exceed European allowable daily intakes.

• Dioxins disrupt several different hormonal systems (e.g. male and female sex hormones, thyroid hormone and insulin).

Dioxins - Major Concerns

• One liter of cows’ milk gives the same dose of dioxin as breathing air next to the cows for EIGHT MONTHS (Connett and Webster, 1987).

• The liver cannot convert dioxins to water soluble products thus they steadily accumulate in human body fat.

• A man cannot get rid of dioxins from his fat BUT A woman can…• By having a baby!

• This means the highest doses of dioxin go to the fetus and have the potential to disrupt fetal development which is under hormonal control.

OUT OF OUR BABIES!OUT OF OUR BABIES!

WE WANT DIOXINWE WANT DIOXIN

Institute of Medicine, 2003

Dioxins and Dioxin-like Compounds in the Food Supply

Strategies to Decrease Exposure

July 1, 2003

Institute of Medicine, 2003

• Fetuses and breastfed infants may be at particular risk from exposure to dioxins due to their potential to cause adverse neurodevelopmental, neurobehavioral, and immune system effects…

Institute of Medicine, 2003

“…recommends that the government place a high public health priority on reducing dioxin intakes by girls and young women in the years well before pregnancy is likely to occur.

• Substituting low-fat or skim milk, for whole milk…and other foods lower in animal fat by girls and young women…”

WE WANT DIOXINWE WANT DIOXIN

OUT OF OUR FOOD!OUT OF OUR FOOD!

Incineration is not good for agriculture

• Incinerators burn the organics which are needed for organic farming.

• Incinerators emit persistent pollutants (like dioxin and toxic metals) which accumulate in food and soil.

Politicians often approve incineration before they have any idea where the toxic ash

is going to go!

MODERN TRASH INCINERATOR

CHUTE

SECONDARYCHAMBER

TURBINE

BOILER

ELECTRICITY

STEAM

TRASH

BOTTOM ASHFLY ASH

TEMP< 200oC

SEMI-DRYSCRUBBER

FABRIC FILTER

WET SCRUBBER

DE-NOX

ACTIVATEDCHARCOAL

Ca(OH) 2 SUSPENSION

AMMONIAINJECTION

GRATES

ASH THE INCINERATOR CRISIS

Catch-22PollutionEquipment

3-(4) TONS TRASH 1 TON ASH

Fly ash fails EP TOX test 100% time Bottom ash fails “ “ “ 38% timeCombined ash fails “ “ “ 47% time

(EDF, 1988)

10% FLY ASH90% BOTTOM ASH

INCINERATOR ASH - Sweden

Incineration is not good for tourism

• Many tourists will be coming from communities which have rejected incineration

Incineration is extremely unpopular

• In the US over 300 incinerator proposals defeated since 1985

• In 1985, NYC wanted 6, but got none! • In 1985, California wanted 35 , but only got 3!• In 1985, NJ wanted 17, but only got 5 and those

5 now have an accumulated debt of 1.6 billion dollars!

• US has not built a trash incinerator for more than 8 years.

Italian taxpayers are being deceived

• The fees to deliver a ton of waste to the incinerator will be more than for the alternatives

• The electricity produced will cost taxpayers three times as much as other sources of electricity - because of an Italian law providing a huge subsidy to incinerators.

INCINERATION BURNS FINITE RESOURCES --

EUROPE DOES NOT RECOGNIZE INCINERATION AS A RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE.

Incineration is a poor investment

• Most of the money spent on incinerators goes into complicated machinery and leaves the community, whereas

• The money spent on the alternatives goes into jobs and stays in the community.

• With incineration, after 20 years all you are left with is a huge pile of toxic ash, very few extra jobs, and

• You will have moved no closer to a sustainable society.

“Even if we made incineration safesafeWe would never make it sensiblesensible.It simply does not make sensespending so much tax-payers’ money destroying resources we we should be sharing with the should be sharing with the futurefuture.”

INCINERATION IS

NOT SUSTAINABLE

UNFORTUNATELYMANY

POWERFUL PEOPLEARE NOT INTERESTED

INSUSTAINABILITY

Their view of the world lookssomething like this…

By the time a high schoolstudent leaves school in the US,

he or shewill have watched over

350,000 TV commercials.

Paul Hawken The Ecology of Commerce.

We are living on this planet as if we had another one to go to

We cannot run a throwaway society on a finite planet

Incinerators simply BURN the evidence of this unacceptable practice

We need to face the real problem…

Our task is not to dispose of waste but to stop making it

Unfortunately, too many European engineers are

getting better and better at tackling questions at the

wrong end of the problem

A “BACK-END” THINKER

1. A CUP2. A BUCKET3. A FOOT PUMP4. AN ELECTRIC PUMP

A “FRONT-END” THINKER !

Waste is not a technological problem

it is an industrial designproblem

We have to design

a

zero waste society

“A Citizens’ Agenda for Zero Waste”

www.GRRN.ORG (ENGLISH)

www.Ambientefuturo.interfree.it (ITALIAN)

VIDEOSpaul@fluorideALERT.orgOn the Road to Zero Waste

Part 1: Nova Scotia, Canada

Part 2: Burlington, Vermont, US

Part 3: Canberra, Australia.

Part 4: San Francisco Bay Area

Pieces of ZeroCollection 1: Leadership and Creativity

MOVING TOWARDS THE FRONT END -we need to design

waste out of the industrial system

ZERO WAST E

NO TO A THROWAWAY

SOCIETY

YES TO ASUSTAINABLE

SOCIETY2020

ZERO WASTEBY

NO TO INCINERATION

NO TO LANDFILL

To achieve Zero Waste

We need three things:

1) COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITY (at back end)

2) INDUSTRIAL RESPONSIBILITY (at front end)

3) GOOD LEADERSHIP

Community Responsibility

• Begins with separation of compostables, recyclables and residuals (e.g. San Francisco).

• Drop off centers for household toxics (e.g. Nova Scotia)

• Centers for reuse & repair (and retraining) of appliances and furniture etc (e.g. Burlington, Vermont)

• Deconstruction -not demolition- of old buildings (e.g. Canberra, Australia)

• Residual screening facilities (e.g. Nova Scotia).

The San Francisco Program

Robert Haley

Recycling Program Manager

Department of the Environment

City and County of San Francisco

San Francisco

• Population = 850,000• Little space• Education has to be done in three languages• Over 50% diversion reached by 2000• 63% diversion reached by 2004• 75% diversion by 2010 (goal)• 100% diversion by 2020 i.e. Zero Waste

The “Fantastic 3”

ALL FOOD SCRAPS, YARD TRIMMINGS AND COMPOSTABLE PAPER GO IN THE

GREEN CART

ALL BOTTLES, CANS AND RECYCLABLE PAPER GO IN THE

BLUE CART

WHAT CAN’T BE RECYCLED OR COMPOSTED GOES IN THE

BLACK CART

PROGRAM BROCHURE OUTSIDE

BUS SHELTER AD

SPLIT COMPACTING SIDE-LOADERS FOR RECYCLABLES AND REFUSE

@ Pier 96

Recycle Central

DEDICATED COMPACTING SIDE-LOADERS FOR COMPOSTABLES

SMALL BUSINESSES ARE COLLECTED WITH RESIDENCES

Compost Facility

RICH COMPOST READY FOR MARKET

ORGANIC PRODUCE RETURNS TO SF MARKETS & RESTAURANTS

Canberra, Australia.

• Canberra (the capitol of Australia) was the first city worldwide to declare a zero waste goal.

• Law passed in 1996: “No Waste by 2010”

NEW ZEALAND

• By 2004 over 60% of the municipalities in NZ had declared a Zero Waste goal by 2020.

Nova Scotia

• 50% waste diverted from landfills in 5 years (Halifax ~ 60%)

• 1000 jobs created since April 1996

• Another 2000 jobs created in industries using separated materials

Materials re-used in manufacturing in Nova Scotia:

• All corrugated cardboard• All newspapers, magazines, & other paper• Some plastics• All waste paint• All organic material• All glass• All tires• Steel goes to Quebec

MORE TOXICS

NON-RECYCLABLE PACKAGINGAND OBJECTS - RESEARCH FOR BETTER INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

RESIDUAL SCREENING & RESEARCH FACILITY

SCREENING FACILITY AT COMMUNITY CONTROLLED LANDFILL

MORERECYCLABLES

DIRTYDIRTYORGANICORGANICFRACTIONFRACTION

INTERIM LANDFILL

BIOLOGICAL STABILIZATION

The message to industry

• If we can’t re-use it, recycle it or compost it

• industry shouldn’t be making it.

• We need better industrial design for the 21st Century.

A comparison

• With incineration

• You convert three tons of trash to

• one ton of ash

• that nobody wants!

With a zero waste strategy

• You convert three tons of trash into:• One ton of recyclables

• One ton of compostables,• and

• One ton of education!

Pay Pay by by bagbag

2. MATERIALS RECOVERY FACILITY

& RE-MANUFACTORING

2. RECYCLABLES1. COMPOSTABLES

COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITY BEGINS WITH SEPARATION

3.RESIDUAL SCREENING & RESEARCH FACILITY1. COMPOSTING FACILITY

LOCAL USE ?

3. RESIDUALS

INDUSTRIAL RESPONSIBILITY

1) Better industrial design

2) Extended Producer Responsibility

3) Clean up manufacturing process

INDUSTRIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ACTION

1) THE BEER INDUSTRY, ONTARIO, CANADA

• Uses refillable glass bottles

• 98% recovered

• Reusable glass bottles 11 cents cheaper per serving than disposable bottles.

• 2000 jobs in collection and cleaning

• No cost to municipality

• Packaging costs internalized

INDUSTRIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ACTION

2) XEROX CORPORATION EUROPE

• Recovering old copying machines from 16 countries

• Over 95% of materials reused or recycled!• $76 million saved in 2000 !!

Pieces of Zero

A piece of zero

• In 2003, Cole’s Bay, Tasmania, became the first town in Australia to ban plastic shopping bags -since then 80 more towns have followed suit.

A piece of zero

Irish Plastic Bag Tax:

• It is estimated that the introduction of a 15-cent environmental levy on plastic bags has reduced… consumption of these bags by about 92 %…Receipts from the levy (in 2003) …amounted to over 12.7 million Euros. …proceeds are used to support waste management and other environmental initiatives... (A survey) indicated that reusable shopping bags are now being used by 90 % of shoppers.

• Ref:  Sustainable Consumption and Production in the European Union, 2004.

Other initiatives

• The COOP supermarket chain near Florence allows customers to refill their own containers with shampoo, detergent etc.

GOOD LEADERSHIP

We need political and industrial leaders who are

visionary

imaginative

creative

and

WHO ARE NOT BORING

Incinerators vs Zero Waste 2020 •Boring - exciting

•one big black box - hundreds of little green boxes

•discourages innovation - thrives on innovation

•back-end solution - front-end solution

•destroys resources - recovers resources

•recovers a little energy - saves far more energy

•little reduction in global - reduces global warming of

warming primary processes

•puts persistent toxins - makes toxics visible - pressure

into the air or ash for clean production

Incineration Zero Wasteno stimulation of local economy

generates many small businesses

anti-democratic democratic

not sustainable sustainable

need lazy decision makers

hard-working decision makers prepared to work with communities

Remember you don’t have to get down to zero to beat

incinerationIncinerators only reduce the

amount of waste landfilled by 70%

“When you build an incinerator, you are Advertizing to the world the you were

Not clever enough - either politically Or technically - to recover your

Discarded resources”

THIS COMMUNITY

IS NOT READY

FOR THE DEMANDS

OF THE 21ST

CENTURY.

God God RecyclesRecyclesThe DevilThe Devil

BurnsBurns

But it is not enough to beat incinerators locally -we need

an effective national and international strategy

ITALY

• Web: Ambientefuturo.interfree.it• Email: ambientefuturo@interfree.it• On this web site:1) An Italian translation of my paper: “A Citizens’ Agenda for Zero Waste” 2) Details on videos. 3) Details on national network. 4) A link to no-burn.org (worldwide campaign

against incineration and for sustainable alternatives)

Worldwide

• Web: no-burn.org GRRN.org

And soon:

• AmericanHealthstudies.orgThis site will have all back issues of WASTE NOT;

details on waste and other videos; scientific details on the dangers of back yard burning; water fluoridation, fluoride exposure and fluorinated pesticides.

DIOXINS IN OUR FOOD

• Dioxins are fat soluble and persistent and accumulate in the food chain, specially animal fats. Over 90% of our daily dioxin intake comes from dairy products, meat,and fish.

DIOXINMILK

Dioxins - Major Concerns

• US EPA estimates that current daily intake represents an incremental cancer risk of over 1 in 1000.

• Current daily intakes from food exceed European allowable daily intakes.

• Dioxins disrupt several different hormonal systems (e.g. male and female sex hormones, thyroid hormone and insulin).

Dioxins - Major Concerns

• One liter of cows’ milk gives the same dose of dioxin as breathing air next to the cows for EIGHT MONTHS (Connett and Webster, 1987).

• The liver cannot convert dioxins to water soluble products thus they steadily accumulate in human body fat.

• The man cannot get rid of dioxins from his fat BUT A woman can…

• By having a baby!

• This means the highest doses of dioxin go to the fetus and have the potential to disrupt fetal development which is under hormonal control.

OUT OF OUR BABIES!OUT OF OUR BABIES!

WE WANT DIOXINWE WANT DIOXIN

Institute of Medicine, 2003

Dioxins and Dioxin-like Compounds in the Food Supply

Strategies to Decrease Exposure

July 1, 2003

Institute of Medicine, 2003

• Fetuses and breastfeeding infants may be at particular risk from exposure to dioxins due to their potential to cause adverse neurodevelopmental, neurobehavioral, and immune system effects in developing systems…

Institute of Medicine, 2003• …The committee recommends that the government

place a high public health priority on reducing dioxin intakes by girls and young women in the years well before pregnancy is likely to occur.

• Substituting low-fat or skim milk, for whole milk…and other foods lower in animal fat by girls and young women in the crucial years before pregnancy…

WE WANT DIOXINWE WANT DIOXIN

OUT OF OUR FOOD!OUT OF OUR FOOD!

Dioxin in cow’s milkpg I-TEQ/g fat (ppt)

• Denmark 2.6• Finland 0.83 - 1.17• France 1.81• Germany 0.71 - 0.87• Ireland 0.08 - 0.51 Average

in Ireland = 0.2 • Netherlands 0.38 - 1.6• Spain 1.2 - 2.0• Sweden 0.93 - 2.0• UK 1.01 Measurements reported in 1999,

(IOM, 2003).

There is very little dioxin monitoring in Italy in cow’s milk

or mother’s milkand

Italian law only requires dioxin measurements on incinerators

once a year!

THE CHAIN OF PUBLIC HEALTH PROTECTIONHAS THREE LINKS.

STRONG REGULATIONS

ADEQUATEMONITORING

TOUGHENFORCEMENT

IF ANY LINK IS WEAK THE PUBLIC IS NOT PROTECTED

Even while Italy proposes to build over 100 new incinerators,

and many in food producing areas, there is no scientific

accountability.This program is not scientific but

political.

Incineration

• Is more about making money for a few people than

• A genuine solution to a serious social problem

THE BAD LAWLe

vel o

f P

ollu

tion

Level of corruption

Level of Pollution

Public participation

THE GOOD LAW

EFFECTING CHANGE

Experts may sharpen the point

But you need the hammer of public opinion to drive the nail home

POLITE PEOPLE

GET

POISONED

ANGRY PEOPLE

GET

ORGANISED !

THREE FINAL MESSAGES• TO CITIZENS• Don’t let the experts take your common

sense away.

• TO POLITICIANS• Put your faith back in people. Stop trying to

solve all your problems with magic machines and overpaid consultants

• TO ACTIVISTS

• Have FUN !!!

The Battle Hymn of Garbage(Chorus)

We don’t want incineration

We don’t want incineration

We don’t want incineration

We know there’s a better way!

The Battle Hymn of Garbage

Mine eyes have seen the garbage

That’s a smoldering on the grate

We must stop incineration

Before it is too late

Unless we wish the dangers

We had better separate

And we must do it now!

The Battle Hymn of Garbage(Chorus)

We don’t want incineration

We don’t want incineration

We don’t want incineration

We know there’s a better way!

The Battle Hymn of Garbage

The state has deemed appropriate

The burning of our trash

And the builders and the owners are just countin’ up the cash

But we citizens believe the move

Is foolish and is rash

And we won’t buy it now!

The Battle Hymn of Garbage(Chorus)

We don’t want incineration

We don’t want incineration

We don’t want incineration

We know there’s a better way!

The Battle Hymn of Garbage

Mine eyes have seen the garbage

That’s a smoldering on the grate

We must stop incineration

Before it is too late

Unless we wish the dangers

We had better separate

And we must do it now!

The Battle Hymn of Garbage(Chorus)

We don’t want incineration

We don’t want incineration

We don’t want incineration

We know there’s a better way!

The Battle Hymn of Garbage

Mine eyes have seen the burning

Of the garbage in our town

Officials built incinerators

While we all just stood around

Now they want to regulate them

Just to keep our voices down

But we won’t buy it now!

The Battle Hymn of Garbage(Chorus)

We don’t want incineration

We don’t want incineration

We don’t want incineration

We know there’s a better way!

The Battle Hymn of Garbage

We urge our legislators

To undo what they have done

And stop incineration

Before more harm is done

We are here today together

In strength and unison

And we must stop it now!

The Battle Hymn of Garbage(Chorus)

We don’t want incineration

We don’t want incineration

We don’t want incineration

We know there’s a better way!

The Battle Hymn of Garbage

While we recognize our landfills

All are swelling with the waste

It doesn’t justify

A bad decision made in haste

Let us put our heads together

So the problem may be faced

And we must do it now!

The Battle Hymn of Garbage(Chorus)

We don’t want incineration

We don’t want incineration

We don’t want incineration

We know there’s a better way!

MUNICIPAL WASTE INCINERATION:

A POOR SOLUTION FOR THE TWENTY

FIRST CENTURYwww.no-burn.org