Incineration

1
Incineration

• and
• Health Care Waste

2
Internationally there has been a move away from
incineration

• This is true for America, India, Greece, Germany,
  France, Japan, Turkey, Netherlands, Costa Rica
  and the Philippines
• Incinerator companies are taking their technology
  East (Eastern Europe) and South

3
Examples

• Philippines, Clean Air Act (1999), Section 20
• Incineration, hereby defined as the burning of
  municipal, biomedical and hazardous waste, which
  process emits poisonous and toxic fumes is hereby
  prohibited

4

• Rhode Island, USA (1992) State Senate Act 92-S
  2502
• incineration of solid waste is the most costly
  method of waste disposal with known and unknown
  escalating costs which would place substantial
  and unreasonable burdens on both state and
  municipal budgets to the point of seriously
  jeopardizing the publics interest.

5
It is hazardous to the environment and is
therefore not sustainable

• Ash and atmospheric emissions
• Health problems hormonal, immune and
  reproductive systems
• Audit of hospital waste streams conducted by
  groundWork and Health Care Without Harm - 2001
• Release of mercury a major concern
• Ash produced is much more poisonous than the
  waste before it is burnt

6

• Air Quality Bill does not state WHAT particularly
  needs to be measured for!!!
• Not enough reasonable measures
• No timeframes

7
Stockholm Convention

• Incinerators seriously undermine the objectives
  of the POPs treaty
• Stockholm Convention ratified by South Africa
• Incineration identified as principle source of
  dioxins and furans

8
Environmental Protection Agency (1970s)

• The EPA describes it as
• one of the most, if not the most, potent
  reproductive/developmental toxicants known
• Dioxins are classified as persistent organic
  pollutants (POPs) once manufactured resist
  being broken down
• Bioaccumulation up food chain

9

• Air Quality Bill does not deliver on Stockholm
  Convention
• KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health does not have
  one incinerator that meets legal standards
• Civil society has lobbied government to implement
  non-thermal technologies
• Government taken to court by groundWork over
  Ixopo incinerator

10

• Ixopo incinerator largest in KZN poorly managed
• Audit reports showed failure to meet health and
  safety conditions of permit
• - exceeding emission levels prescribed
• - failure to meet required temperature
• (release of dioxins)

11

• April 2002, Civil Society Workshop on Health Care
  Waste and Incineration
• Formulation of Isipingo Declaration
• KZN government policy decision to halt medical
  waste in province
• Two first ever non-thermal treatments were set up
  in KZN

12
Air Quality Bill

• Does not mention the phasing out of dirty
  technologies
• NO emphasis to the selection of clean production
  technologies
• No mention of emission control devices
• Inadequate guidance is given to officials
  entrusted with licensing of industries
• Air pollution control is about technology
  forcing

13
Alternatives to incineration

• Reduce, reuse, recycle together with composting
• Numerous proposals on the table for incinerators
  
• - Burning tyres (Pretoria Portlands Cement)
  
• - Wood, bark, sawdust, sludge (Mondi
• Paper)
• - Hazardous Waste (Natal Portlands
• Cement), etc.
• Halt production of substances that cannot be
  recycled

14

• Waste reduction and separation is important
• Lessons from other countries such as the UK
• Recycling waste e.g. tyres
• - rubber wheels
• - running tracks
• - surface materials for roads
• - backing of carpets and car mats
• Wood and bark composting
• Sadly this Bill gives no empathies to pollution
  minimization

15
Conclusion

• Building incinerators is a reaction to the
  problem of waste management and is not part of a
  sustainable energy policy
• Burning matter does not destroy it. Burning it
  converts it into another form and redistributes
  it in the air, land and water
• We need to move away from waste disposal to waste
  management

16

• The Air Quality Bill needs to be strengthened
  through the following
• It needs to commit to the phasing out of dirty
  technology such as incinerators.
• It also needs to give emphasis to the selection
  of clean production technologies that would emit
  few pollutants than burn technologies

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• It also needs to emphasize emission control
  devices, i.e. scrubbers to reduce pollution
  levels (Section 36).
• Guidance needs to be given to authorities for
  decision making on licensing.