Re: MSW Incinerators..., dioxin related web sites

[Mitch Rice <mitch@bluemarble.net>]

John, 
I am going to post this excellent message on Mitch's Environmental
Action News at
http://www.envirolink.org/action/news/

Is that ok with you?

I would also like to mention that COPA (Citizens Opposed to PCB Ash) now 
has a website with gateways to over 25 megs of info on pcbs (including
related info on dixion), with info about remdiation technologies, including
all are legal work opposing Westinghouse's remediation, garbage-fueled
incineration. We are working to upgrade the website, it is being converted
from BBS format to the www, most of the info is available from ftp pages.
I am working on scanning the ATSDR's series "Case Studies in Environmental
Medicine", and the pcb, dioxin, and reproductive & developmental hazards
will soon be available at

http://copa.org

and on my pcb page at

http://www.bluemarble.net/pcbinfo.html

Mitch Rice			mitch@envirolink.org
Webmaster  			Enviromental Action News  
  	http://www.envirolink.org/action/news

On Tue, 6 Feb 1996, John Thomas wrote:

> Emmanual, I have read your questions, responses, and further questions 
> that have been posted on the dioxin mail list.  I am responding to you 
> directly, and I am also posting a copy to the dioxin list.  I hope you 
> don't mind.
> 
> I think that everyone is taking this debate from the wrong perspective.  
> I live in Columbus, Ohio.  We have a MSW incinerator that release 982 
> grams per year of dioxin into our environment for the past 11 years.  But 
> living in Columbus, Ohio, in the shadow of such a plant does not make me 
> an expert on waste disposal, nor does it make me a certified scientist to 
> analyse other "high tech" solution to waste.
> 
> What I offer is a different perspective!
> 
> Trash is a low tech problem.  Most municipal waste is made up of 
> packaging materials.  This could be glass jars, tin cans, plastic bags, 
> tin foil, styrofoam, and the rest.  These packages were produced by 
> industry.  Therefore, while municipal waste is generally made up of 
> individual waste, our individual waste is really made up of poorly 
> designed packaging materials produced by industry.
> 
> In our state, many high tech solution to waste have been tried.  Our city 
> alone operated a MSW incinerator from the 40s to the 60s.  After that one 
> went bust for financial reasons, the city built a new one in the 70s.  
> Now we are facing a trash crisis.  But it is not the crisis you would 
> expect.  Ohio has so many landfills and incinerators that there is not 
> enough trash any more to operate any of these facilities profitably.
> 
> Because our community is always looking for more and more trash to keep 
> these high tech solutions running, our city government has had to design 
> a recycling system that would fail.  This means that trash pickup is "free" 
> (paid for from taxes) and pickup is regular.  Recycling costs extra per 
> month and the pickup of recyclables is erratic.  Each house in Columbus 
> has between a 30gal to a 300gal garbage receptical, while each home only 
> gets a small 5gal tub for recycling.  The result of this "recycling" 
> program has been dismal, only 10% of homes participating.  And even with 
> this planned failure, our community does not generate enough trash to 
> keep these high tech solutions operating.
> 
> If our town (or any community) was serious about waste reduction it would 
> require the following:
> 
> 1. no products sold in packaging material that could not be recycled.  If 
> a community's recycling program could not handle a products package then 
> that product could not be sold.
> 2. an increase in re-usable packaging.
> 3. most foods sold in bulk.
> 4. the encouragement of composting of organic materials.
> 
> If these solutions were tried, instead of MSW incinerators or the process 
> you discuss, the waste stream would be dramatically reduced.
> 
> In the states, many MSW incinerators are built to reduce the amount of 
> materials sent to the local landfill.  In almost all cases MSW 
> incinerators need more waste than their local community provides to 
> operate at a profit.  Therefore, waste is brought in from outside.  In 
> many instanced this influx of additional waste means that the volume 
> leaving the MSW incinerator is the same or above the volume of trash that 
> was being disposed of prior to the MSW incinerator being built.
> 
> My suggestion is to avoid listening to these carpet bagging salesmen from 
> Von Roll and the rest.  They do not really want to see a solution to your 
> waste disposal problems.  If you were to truly solve your waste problems 
> these companies would be out of business.
> 
> With Respect, in Gentleness and Peace.
> 
> 
> John Thomas
> http://www.infinet.com/~jnthomas/computer_revolution
> 
> 
>