The debate about comparing the dangers of waste incineration to those of fireworks was reopened following a BBC Politics Show programme, and an industry-sponsored ‘urban myth’ has now been dispelled. No more can waste company project directors and local authority assistant directors peddle the line that: “…health problems associated with new waste management facilities are far less than those that are created…from Bonfire night or barbeques”* without being taken to task by members of the public.
So, what about this claim that barbeques can kill? Well, I suppose that if you were burning PVC in your bonfire or on your barbeque that would be very dangerous! For an excellent and entertaining depiction of the dangers of PVC, please visit: http://www.pvcfree.org
The focus then shifts to fireworks, with the Environment Agency’s (as yet) unsubstantiated claim that “during the Millennial celebrations in London the emissions from one 15 minute, 35 ton firework display equalled 120 years of dioxin emissions from the SELCHP waste incinerator”. Sometimes this is even stretched to ‘prove’ that one fireworks display is worse than all incinerators put together. Nottinghamshire County Council’s website [http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/home/environment/recycling/pfiwaste/pfifaq.htm] patiently explains to us that: “The Environment Agency estimates that in a year the whole Energy Recovery industry produces about one-sixth of the dioxins produced by one 5th November Bonfire Night.”
The Director of the Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment is quoted as saying: “…more dioxins were emitted in one hour by the Millennium fireworks than will be produced by all the UK’s incinerators in 120 years… dioxins are no longer a problem in modern incinerators… more dioxins are given off by the domestic gas cooker” [http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/archive/news.jsp?story=5327&page=2].
120 years? Maybe not quite that long. The 120-year estimate would have been based on spot checking incinerator emissions, while studies show that spot checking underestimates emissions, by as much as 50 times! Our 120 years is quickly reduced to 2.4 years.
This still raises many questions, not least of which:
Are fireworks really so dangerous? And if so, what is being done about replacing dangerous ingredients with safer ones? Isn’t that the Environment Agency’s job?
As a fellow campaigner put it: “Why did this allegation from the Environment Agency and NSCA persist at all, being so counter-scientific? And if the EA really believed it, why did they not press for dioxin-creating compounds to be taken out of fireworks?”
Why are these claims used at all, when common sense tells us that even if fireworks are bad, it does not follow that waste incineration is safe?
The first question can be partially answered by the conclusion of a report suggesting that increased background concentration detected on Bonfire Night are due to bonfires, not fireworks**. As fireworks are made from mineral salts, paper and card, they cannot produce the dioxins that result from burning compounds containing the required benzene.
The other questions are open for comment…
Tune in sometime in the future, when other waste industry and Waste Authority myths are dispelled, such as:“There is no scientific evidence to suggest that modern incinerators are potentially hazardous to the environment or human health.” [Nottinghamshire County Council website]
And the notion that monitoring will somehow prevent emissions. Compare, for example, Nottinghamshire county council’s claim that: “With respect to Energy Recovery Facilities the emissions from the chimney stack are continually monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. For the proposed facility consideration will be given on how best the public can have access to these readings and one issue currently being considered is to use the internet to allow access to Real-time information…” with the Crymlyn Burrows incident where this ‘proven technology’ set fire to itself [see http://www.noburner.org.uk/pages/incinerator_case_studies.htm].
*Nottinghamshire County Council’s Assistance Director for Transport and the Environment sent me (and dozens of others who has written to him) a standard letter that included the assertion that: “…health problems associated with new waste management facilities are far less than those that are created by many industrial processes that are accepted by the community on industrial estates throughout the Country, or from Bonfire night or barbeques”.
The first obvious question that arose for me was: What industrial processes are taking place in our communities that are more dangerous than incineration?
**Fleischer et al [Fleischer O., Wichmann H. e Lorenz W. (1998) ‘Release of Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-Dioxins and Dibenzofurans by Setting Off Fireworks.’ Chemosphere, vol. 39, Nº 6, pag. 925-932:], for example concluded:
Concerning the emission of PCDD/F, the majority of the investigated pyrotechnic products proved to be harmless. The typically very small amounts of contaminations are only transferred from one sink (raw materials, paper) into another (ashes, residues). The extremely toxic 2,3,7,8 TCDD could not be detected in any of the samples. No indications were found that PCDD/F emissions from fireworks may cause air pollution. We expect that the increased background concentration detected by DYKE and COLEMAN [P. Dyke, P. Coleman, Dioxins in ambient air, bonfire night 1994, Chemosphere 34, 1191-1201 (1997) ] was mainly due to bonfires, not to fireworks.
Even when lacing fireworks with PCP and other pre-cursors they were unable to generate significant quantities of dioxin.
