The 6th National Waste Summit took place on 26 and 27 November at Croke Park Convention Centre, Dublin. This summit explored the options open to Ireland in the light of the need to fulfil their EU commitment to landfill only one million tonnes of waste in 2010 and only 0.45 million tonnes by 2016. The National Waste Summit, now in its sixth year, is described as “Ireland’s premier waste management conference”.

At the conference, James Greyson of BlindSpot delivered an excellent presentation of interest to those concerned about waste incineration and climate change.

The presentation is available to download.

James talks about precycling.
Precycling is action taken so something doesn’t become waste. Precycling is preparing for not-wasting. The first use of the word ‘precycling’ was in a public waste awareness campaign designed by Maureen O’Rorke for Berkeley City Council in 1988.

Precycling is:
1) Phasing out incompatible materials
2) Arranging that resources can remain as resources
3) Building nature’s capacity to remake resources
4) Meeting more needs with less so everyone can take part

James also refers to the ‘wasteberg’.

The wasteberg is the hidden part of municipal waste. We don’t see the energy it took to make that waste. We don’t see the additional waste produced along the way. We don’t see the energy, emissions and impacts at each stage. The more materials we throw away the more that will need to be replaced, and the bigger the wasteberg up ahead of us. The recoverable energy from waste is a tiny fraction of the whole wasteberg replacement energy. This energy is expensive, so ‘energy from waste’ is like throwing a lot of money into the air and then being pleased if it’s not entirely lost.

And he quotes Biffa “Burning 1t RDF makes 1.91t waste ash, CO2, CO, NOX, exotic pollutants and contaminated water vapour”, noting:

This mass balance doesn’t account for discharges of process water so the total output will be higher. So, far from destroying waste, we can double our waste by burning it. Anyone interested in incinerators should take care to see a report by the British Society for Ecological Medicine, 70 pages and over 300 scientific references. If we wanted something to produce vast quantities of some of the most dangerous compounds imaginable and deliver them into people’s lungs and bloodstream then we need look no further.

On Waste PFI contracts, James Greyson says:

PFI: imagine getting a 30 year mortgage on an unwanted house and having no say in the purchase. This is waste sub-prime. PFI is a great instrument if you want to do 2 things: Eliminate the paying customer from the purchasing decision; and lock in the default waste paradigm for another 3 decades.

Check out this excellent presentation for yourself, and visit another of James’ websites: www.frontofpipe.net

I am sending this montage on to you all so as you can actually see just how ludicrous this idea of this huge incinerator in the centre of our Duchy actually is. The building itself is larger than our Truro cathedral, the chimney is double the height of the Cathedral’s highest tower, and fifty foot, or 16 metres across at the top of the chimney.

Montage

At a hundred and twenty meters or over four hundred feet high this incinerator will be seen, and felt clearly from every point in our Duchy, especially the hotels and schools in Newquay, Penzance, St Ives, Wadebridge, Launceston and Truro.   It will clearly be seen from the A30, A39 and A38 coming into Cornwall, but what is far more important is that dioxins and PCBs PM2.5s will reach all these places and all the milk producing pristine farm land easily.

It takes between seven and ten years for an incinerator to contaminate a huge area around itself.  The higher the chimney the further the contamination will travel, in the prevailing wind.  This is a scientific fact.
Why?  because PM2.5s  are not tested for by the Environment Agency, and they only look for Dioxins at the top of the chimney around every six months or so.

The wind direction in Cornwall is South South West, and North North East equally.   That means that the whole of the Duchy will be contaminated, and after around ten years all food production will be stopped by the Food standards agency. There is no other incinerator of this size on or near farm land anywhere in the UK.  All such incinerators have been built in the poor areas of inner cities around the UK.

I hope that you are willing to publish this montage so as all the people in this Duchy (and beyond) can actually see what is happening in their name.

Yours with thanks.

Miss E Hawken MRSH chair CSWN

Cornwall Sustainable Waste Network

Proposals for new facilities in the U.S. have failed when authorities investigated

North American Power Company Pyrolysis Proposal, Chowchilla, CA—pyrolysis:

Company claimed no hazardous emissions; eventually withdrew permit when asked to back up claim with data.

Alameda Power and Telecom (APT), Alameda, CA—gasification:

APT spent over $500,000 hiring consultants, who assured city officials that gasification would have no emissions and that residents would no longer have to recycle. The Board expressed reservations because of unverifiable data and excluded emerging technologies from further consideration.

Neoteric Environmental Technologies and International Environmental Solutions, Romoland, CA—pyrolysis:

Pilot project using MSW was found by South Coast Air Quality Management District to emit more dioxins, NOx, VOCs, and particulate matter than the two exiting large municipal solid waste incinerators in the Los Angeles area.

Plastic Energy LLC, Hanford, CA—catalytic cracking:

Claimed no emissions; received permits in 2002; in 2004, when challenged, company admitted toxic emissions, admitted previously claimed data did not exist; announced project would be temporarily suspended; have not reapplied for permits.

Global Energy Resources, Sierra Vista, Arizona—plasma:

Claimed no emissions, said they owned and operated similar facilities; when challenged admitted there would be some emissions and it became clear that the company had never operated a similar facility; dropped proposal but is pursuing new locations.

InEnTec Medical Services, Red Bluff, CA—plasma:

Tehama County Air Pollution control District issued permits for facility in 2004 but rescinded permits in 2005 based on a number of findings. Company had claimed there would be “pollution free” but their own test on pilot showed dioxin and other pollutants.

Recent developments

Geoplasma, St.Lucie County, FL—plasma:

This company claimed it would process 3,000 tons of trash per day, but after the County hired a consultant who said there was no proof of the company’s claims regarding very low emissions, the company scaled back their proposal to 200 tons per day. At this writing (October 2008), the County says they will consider a new proposal.

Adaptive ARC, Santa Cruz County, CA—plasma:

In November, 2008, the Santa Cruz Public Works Department ended negations with this company because of doubts about their proposal’s feasibility and air emissions claims.

U.S. Science & Technology, Sacramento, CA—plasma

Sacramento City Council members say that lack of details from the company has “sent up a red flag.” A vote of the Council regarding a contract will take place on Dec.9, 2008. The chief proponent on the Council agrees that the vetting process was “done wrong.”

The Environment Agency is re-advertising and re-opening the consultation regarding an application for a Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) permit [now known as Environmental Permit] for the proposed Newhaven Incinerator.

If you did not submit anything during the first consultation period in August you can do so now. Any comments you have made previously will be carried over to this consultation period.

You have until 5 December 2008 to submit your comments.

Please visit the DOVE letter generator if you wish to do so.

Visit the DOVE website for more…

Zero Waste Alliance UK’s AGM is to be held at the Royal Station Hotel, Newcastle upon Tyne (next door to the Railway Station, turn right out of the Railway Station) at 11.00 am on Saturday, 22 November, 2008. This is the first AGM since Zero Waste Alliance UK became a registered charity. Continue Reading “Zero Waste Alliance AGM on Saturday, 22 November, 2008″ »

Telford’s waste: Up in Smoke?

Telford Friends of the Earth is holding a public meeting on the proposed waste incinerator at Granville with a special guest speaker and representatives from Telford PAIN (Protest Against Incinerator Now). This will be at 7.15 for 7.30pm, Wednesday 19 November, at Turreff Hall, Turreff Avenue, Donnington TF2 8HG. Continue Reading “Telford Public Meeting on Wednesday 19th November 2008″ »

Danny Foulstone of Coventry FoE and CRACIN has informed us of the a short video Coalition for Recycling and Against Coventry Incinerator (CRACIN) have produced, about the issues surrounding the proposed incinerator in Coventry. Continue Reading “CRACIN Video” »

In an e-mail message sent to a respected waste campaigner, the Environment Agency’s Head of Waste (Liz Parkes) confirms the EA’s intention to remove parts of their Position Statement on Energy from Waste that have been shown to be incorrect.

The message states:

Thank you for your e-mail dated 27 October 2008 regarding your concerns over the statement in our position statement on Energy from Waste that municipal waste production is increasing year on year.

I’m grateful to you for bringing this issue to our attention and acknowledge our mistake.

I have asked that the mis-leading information concerning municipal waste arisings in the position statement is removed and an amended statement published on our website.

I can also confirm that we are aware that waste production has been de-coupled from Gross Domestic Product.

I hope this adequately deals with your concerns. Should you require any further assistance please contact our Policy Adviser for incineration Amin Anjum [number available upon request]

Telford Protest Against Incinerator Now (TelfordPAIN) are a group of concerned local residents living in the Telford area who care about their local environment and the air their children breathe. TelfordPAIN’s purpose is to raise awareness and stop the construction of the proposed waste Incinerator, proposed for the existing Granville Landfill Site, less than 2 miles north-east of Telford Town Centre. Continue Reading “PAIN spreads to Telford” »