=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #215
—January 9, 1991—
News and resources for environmental justice.
——
Environmental Research Foundation
P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403
Fax (410) 263-8944; Internet: erf@igc.apc.org
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PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION TAKES
STAND AGAINST INCINERATION OF SOLID WASTE.
The American Public Health Association (APHA) has issued a policy
statement (No. 8911) on the incineration of municipal solid
waste. APHA is a nongovernmental professional society founded in
1872 to represent all disciplines and specialties related to
public health.
Here is the Association’s original statement (except 18
footnotes, which we have omitted):
“The American Public Health Association,
“Recognizing that the United States currently generates about 160
million tons of solid waste a year, that increasing amounts of
waste have been generated every year since 1960, and that this
trend is expected to continue reaching 193 million tons per year
by the year 2000; and
“Recognizing also that one-third of the nation’s landfills will
be full by 1993 and that current and expected regulatory
requirements to upgrade existing landfills will force many to
close; and
“Recognizing the seriousness of the current garbage crisis and
that the withdrawal of federal support, guidance and grants to
states and municipalities since 1980 has led local communities to
the dire situation they face today with local landfills closing
and no alternatives in place; and
“Recognizing that in this crisis situation many communities are
facing enormous and increasing costs for the export of garbage to
other towns and states many miles away and that public officials
are under great pressure to respond quickly to the crisis without
appropriate guidance; and
“Noting that as a result many public officials are embracing
garbage incineration as a solution without recognizing that
incineration is a poor alternative to landfilling as a waste
management option and therefore has significant consequences in
terms of environmental pollution and public health; and
“Noting that there are 111 incinerators burning six million tons
of municipal garbage now and that there could be 300 facilities
burning as much as 25% of the nation’s garbage by the mid-1990s;
and
“Noting with this trend toward incineration that it is important
to address the public health consequences of this choice; and
“Noting that ash residues from incineration contain high levels
of heavy metals and dioxin, frequently failing hazardous waste
testing, and subsequently require landfilling; and
“Noting that inadequate Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
enforcement under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA) has allowed ash handling to pose significant threats to
air and water quality and to human health, especially that of
workers; and
“Noting that significant amounts of lead and other heavy metals
and dioxins emitted from the stacks of incinerators with either
best available control technology (BACT) or the lowest achievable
emission rate (LAER); and
“Noting the evidence of increased emissions of heavy metals into
the environment, their concentration in the food chain, and the
danger to public health; and
“Noting that dioxin uptake and concentration in agricultural
products may pose a more significant exposure than ambient air
concentration, and the failure to include these estimations in
risk assessments for incinerators; and
“Recognizing that many communities across the nation have been
identified as non-attainment areas for ozone pollution under the
Clean Air Act and that large amounts of nitrogen dioxides, which
are ozone precursors, are produced by garbage incinerators and
that many of the non-attainment communities are proposing to
build garbage incinerators; and
“Noting that the Association has previously addressed the
production and disposal of hazardous wastes, as well as the
health risks of lead exposure and hazardous air pollutants; and
“Noting that the EPA’s Science Advisory Board has expressed
concern over the current lack of scientific knowledge concerning
municipal waste combustion and that risk assessment and health
effects prediction cannot be adequately conducted without this
knowledge; and
“Recognizing the global problems of acid rain and global warming
and that combustion sources by their nature produce acid gases
and what are known as ‘greenhouse gases’ and that tough choices
will be necessary to address these problems; and
“Recognizing that 80-90 percent of solid waste could be recycled,
reduced, reused, or composted, therefore the incineration of
garbage is an unnecessary combustion source that should be
eliminated early in any rational program to address these global
issues; and
“Recognizing the value of conserving natural resources and that
considerable quantities of precious resources are currently
wasted in several ways, first by being disposed of, secondly by
taking up valuable space in landfills, third by polluting our air
and our water;
“Noting that the environmental benefits of recycling and reuse go
far beyond the mere management of solid waste, such as in
substitution of secondary materials for virgin resources in the
manufacture of new products which reduces energy and water use
and produces less pollution; and
“Noting also that two billion tons of topsoil are lost each year
to erosion and mismanagement and that 2030 percent of solid waste
is compostable material which after composting could be used to
improve agricultural land; and
“Noting that this Association has expressed concern for solid
waste management as an essential element of environmental health
and pollution control, in addition to the need for conservation
of national resources including energy; therefore
“1. Recommends a federal solid waste policy rooted in resource
conservation and pollution prevention;
“2. Supports sanctions within the Clean Air Act which would place
a construction ban on garbage incinerators within all
non-attainment areas where such incinerators would contribute to
the non-attainment status;
“3. Supports an amendment to RCRA which promotes the use of the
least toxic alternative in product composition, and secondarily
the alternatives which are most reusable, most recyclable, most
durable, or most biodegradable as appropriate. In this context
biodegradability must address the issue of toxic residues
remaining after degradation. This amendment should promote the
minimization of waste at all points of transfer from raw material
to consumer and [sic] product;
“4. Supports legislation which promotes the use of recycled
materials over virgin materials through fees, taxes or price
supports and tax credits, and provides incentives to businesses
that engage in recycling and encourages market development;
“5. Supports federal, state, and local procurement guidelines for
government contractors which enable product life and ability to
be repaired to be considered in procurement decisions;
“6. Supports research in problem areas of waste management such
as battery recycling, household hazardous waste collection and
recycling possibilities, and further research into waste
composition to identify problem items not yet addressed in waste
reduction legislation;
“7. Recommends that the EPA assist local communities to develop
and implement intensive recycling and composting plans to handle
80% of the waste stream through technical assistance, planning
grants, and incentives to successful programs.
“8. Supports the designation of incinerator ash residues as
hazardous unless comprehensive testing proves otherwise;
“9. Supports extensive research and monitoring of existing
facilities to establish a database and develop stringent
regulatory standards; and
“10. Asks the EPA and other research bodies to identify research
and to develop interim guidance for existing incineration which
is protective of public health.”
Get: “Resource and Solid Waste Management,” AMERICAN JOURNAL OF
PUBLIC HEALTH Vol. 80 (February, 1990), pgs. 230-231.
–Peter Montague, Ph.D.
Descriptor terms: american public health asscoiation;
landfilling; incineration; MSW; ash; epa; rcra; heavy metals;
health effects; legislation;