Emerging evidence shows that these
hazardous waste incinerators contaminate the food chain and pose health
threats to the consumers who eat food
grown near incinerators. That the incinerators' emissions have a negative
effect on the crops is not well documented and statistically researched, but
is, nevertheless, a fact proved by field
studies and experimental tests.
One of the many problems with
incinerators is mercury, a large part of
which is pushed out into the atmosphere. Where there is an efficient battery collection system in place (as is the
case with a Swiss MSW incinerator), the
mercury levels in the feedstock have
been found to be considerably lower.
Waste incineration is responsible for the
emission of some 20 tonnes of mercury
into the atmosphere per year in
Germany. The behaviour of mercury is,
however, the least understood. One
method to minimise mercury emissions
is by changing the temperature in key
components of the plant, though this is
likely to cause problems with other
emissions.
In India, as in other countries, there
are no laws governing the disposal of ash from incinerators. If this metal-contaminated ash (specially in the case of
industrial indnerators) is disposed off
in landfills, it can result in metal mobilisation que to leaching.
This problem occurs particularly when incinerator
ash is disposed off with
other wastes, Similarly,
disposing off the ash from
MSW and hospital waste
incinerators is a problem,
This ash lands up in landfills and creates an acidic
environment.
Hazardous waste incinerators are supposed to
be different from ordinary
MSW incinerators. Surprisingly, however, hazardous industrial wastes
are routinely incinerated in facilities that are not designed for that
purpose. The problem components of
hazardous waste that is incinerated are
chlorinated solvents, PVC, pesticides and
pharmaceuticals.
Incineration of industrial wastes has
been practiced for the last 50 years, and
early units were based on MSW incineration technology itself. Rotary Kiln units
were the result of poor performance of
ordinary units in dealing with hazardous industrial wastes. The first rotary
kiln type of units were constructed in
Germany.
Water pollution from incinerators is
not generally regarded as an important
problem because of the limited amount
of waste water generated. However,
waste water from municipal waste
incinerator plants is contaminateq with
heavy metals and inorganic salts.
According to an US Environmental
Protection Agency report, "dioxins are
one of the most toxic chemicals known
and exposure to one molecule can be
harmful... Incinerators are the largest
producers of dioxins". There are more
than 210 molecular variations of chlorinated dioxins and furans in effluents of
incinerators. Interestingly, concentrations of dioxins from the same incinerator tested at different times can vary up
to 15 fold. One of the effects of exposure
to dioxins is infertility. It is also known
to cause birth defects and cancer and it
also effects agriculture. For example,
milk from cows grazing near a municipal incinerator in Switzerland contained
dioxin concentrations upto ten times those found in milk from other cows. In
terms of agricultural effects, lead has a
permanent effect on soil contamination.
Humans have secondary exposure to dioxins via milk and eggs.
A recent British study
showed marked concentration of larynx cancer
cases among adults in a
community within two-and-a-half km from a
ctomriiercial waste incinerator.
This awareness about
the environmental devastation caused by incinerators is spreading fast in the
West, and finding more
and more eager ears and
attempts are being made
to search for alternatives.
This anti-incineration movement has led to several international bans. For instance, in 1985, the
government of Sweden implemented a
two year moratorium on the construction of all new incinerators. In May
1992, the company, Chemical Waste
Management, tried unsuccessfully to
persuade communities in Mexico to
accept proposals for hazardous waste
incinerators. These proposals were met
with local opposition. In March 1995,
an ecological group in Chihuahua,
Mexico, protested against a proposal to
build a municipal waste-to-energy
incinerator, promoted by a Canadian
Company -Alberta Special Waste
Management.
In the us, since 1985, two hundred
and eighty incinerator proposals have
been struck down. Despite this, the us
still has twice the hazardous waste
incineration capacity than what is good
for it. There is a five-year moratorium
on waste incineration in Berkley,
California. Waste incineration has been
banned within city borders by the
Philadelphia city council. There was a
law suit against the internal revenue service for allowing the use of tax exempt
bonds for mass burn incinerator plants
in Vermont, us. All the above sited
examples are evidence to the fact that
there is definitely ananti-incineration
movement in the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development countries. It is time cue thought
out whether we should buy from the
West what they do not want in their
own land.