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What are incinerators?
Incinerators are ovens with
chimneys. To incinerate means to burn something until only ashes are left
over. Incinerators burn waste (rubbish) to ashes. The can be very simple
drums, or machines which cost millions of Rands.
Incinerators are used
to burn:
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household rubbish
-
industrial waste (from factories)
-
medical waste (from hospitals)
In South Africa, medical waste
incinerators are the most common type of incinerators. There are also some
industrial (or hazardous) waste incinerators. In SA there are very few
incinerators for household waste.
Different names for different types of incinerators are: plasma arc; waste-to-energy;
cement kilns; and rotary kilns.
Does burning make waste
go away?
Some people think that when
you burn waste you destroy it. This is wrong. When you burn rubbish it
doesn’t go away, it changes into something else.
Incinerators change waste
into:
Incinerators change waste
into poison in the air |
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Toxic gases (poison in the air)
and tiny bits which float into the air and make it dirty (air pollution)
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Toxic ash and other leftover pieces,
which must be, buried underground, which can make nearby soil and water
dirty or poisonous (soil and air pollution).
What is wrong with incinerators?
1. Air Pollution
All types of incinerators
cause air pollution. One incinerator can put as many as 190 different chemicals
into the air. Many of these chemicals are very dangerous to our health.
Some chemicals can cause cancer.
There are many ways to make
incinerators send out less pollution, but there is no way to stop all pollution.
2. Incineration can
make people sick
Incinerator workers and people
who live near to incinerators have more health problems. These people get
sick easily and they have a high risk of getting cancer. They also may
find it difficult to get pregnant and have children.
Many of the substances which
come out of incinerators are very poisonous. These chemicals can enter
our bodies when we breathe in polluted air, or when we eat food that has
been contaminated (touched by dirt or poison). For example, these chemicals
can settle on grass, and then cows eat the grass. When we drink the cows’
milk or eat beef, these chemicals enter our bodies.
3. Dangerous ash comes
out of incinerators
The ash which is left over
after waste has been burned in an incinerator is much more poisonous than
the waste before it was burned. This is because new substances are made
when the waste burns such as dioxins, furans and heavy metals. This means
that incinerator ash still has to be thrown away safely on a special dump
for dangerous waste (hazardous landfill site).
4. Incineration does
not help people to make less waste
Incinerators need quite a
lot of waste everyday to keep working. This does not encourage people to
make less rubbish. People should be trying to throw a fewer things away,
so that we do not have a problem trying to get rid of all our rubbish.
5. Incinerators are
expensive
Incinerators are very expensive
to make. They are also expensive to keep running. They do not make jobs
for people in our communities. A lot of money is paid t o large private
companies or companies from overseas who operate the incinerators. Often
this money comes from taxes paid by ordinary people.
There are other ways to deal
with waste which can make jobs for people in our communities, such as separating
and recycling waste. Money spent like this stays in the community.
6. Most incinerators
are in poor areas
Incinerators are usually built
in poor communities. In South Africa these are usually black communities.
This is because incinerators make pollution. People who are wealthy and
educated know that pollution is unhealthy. It is easier for companies to
put incinerators in communities where people do not know about the danger,
or do not have the money or resources to fight against the incinerator
company. This is called environmental racism.
What do incinerator companies
say?
Incinerator companies
that incinerators reduce the volumes of waste. This is not true. If you
put together all the ash, leftovers and dirty air coming out of an incinerator,
you would find just as much waste as you put the incinerator.
You will find as much waste
as you put the incinerator |
Incinerator companies also
claim that incineration is cheaper than putting the waste in a proper landfill
site. This is only true when the incinerators are very old or very cheap.
The older and cheaper the incinerator is, the more poisonous pollution
it will make. The air pollution will affect the health of the community
a lot of money in terms of visits to doctors and buying medicine. |
WHAT DO GOVERNEMTNS SAY?
Many countries do not
want to incinerate (burn) waste anymore because of all the problems with
incinerators. The Philippines government has banned incineration. In America
far more incinerators are being closed than are being built. The South
African government has said that we should stop using incinerators, and
find different ways to deal with waste.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
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Waste avoidance
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Waste reduction
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Recycling
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Re-using
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Composting
Peeple who make the things we
buy in shops need to stop using substances which cannot be recycled, reused
or composted. Products should be designed to be reused instead of thrown
away.
Other safer technologies for
treating waste to make it less toxic, such as microwaving and steam sterilization
for medical waste.
WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO?
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Fight against the development
of incinerators in your neighbourhood
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Join community organizations which
are against incineration
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Go to public meetings and speak
out against incinerators
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Teach people no to burn
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Buy products which can be re-used
or recycled and not get thrown away
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Wherever possible, reuse, recycle,
and compost your waste
Sources: Incineration and Human
Health by Pat Costner et al, 2001
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