Thanks to Annie Young for reminding us of the dangers of incineration.
During the 2003 legislative session, the Association of Minnesota
Counties pushed for bills that defined garbage burning as "green
technology". Incineration is the furthest thing from green! The
County likes to tout its air pollution control technologies, but these advanced
scrubbers only increase the toxicity of the ash.
It seems like we are past due for a reexamination of our solid waste
policies. The incinerator bonds will be paid in full within 15
years. Let's start planning now for that time and begin to
gradually phase out use of the downtown garbage burner.
Frank Hornstein
State Representative
District 60B
Southwest Minneapolis
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 11:12
PM
Subject: [Mpls] Downtown
Incinerator
As a person who is not sure where Hennepin County issues should
go but because the downtown incinerator and several medical incinerators are
in Minneapolis it seemed appropriate to let the e-list know about this
action all over the world yesterday. I know that some of you worked on
this issue many moon's ago in the 80's. My regular day job is working on
environmental health issues and the last few paragraphs of this article were
of most concern to me and should be to you. Take heed and action if you
so choose. Just as an FYI, there is a new Environmental Justice
Coalition coming together based on the northside and the incinerator is one of
several issues they are addressing. Join that group as they worry about
the environment here in Mpls., this coming Thursday night - 6-8 o'clock at the
Urban League offices on Plymouth Ave.
Annie Young
East Phillips
Environmental Coordinator, Women's Cancer Resource
Center
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JULY 14, 2003
2:15
PM
CONTACT: Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
Monica Wilson 510-524-4000 x104
Global Protests Against Incineration Signal
Death Knell for Deadly Technology New report Shows Dramatic Decline in U.S.
Incinerator Industry MANILA / GENEVA / BERKELEY - July 14 - More
than 235 groups from 62 countries today took action against waste incineration
to serve notice to their governments that time is running out on the
controversial technology despite vigorous attempts by the incineration
industry to repackage their burners as renewable energy or modern thermal
systems for waste disposal. Citizens' assemblies, direct actions and diverse
forms of community education and mobilization are happening worldwide in the
biggest day of action ever against waste incineration and for healthy and
sustainable alternatives.
A new GAIA report released today shows
substantial declines in the number of municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerators
and medical waste incinerators in the United States. From a peak of 186 MSW
incinerators in 1990, only 112 remain. Even more dramatic is the decline in
U.S. medical waste incinerators, from 6200 in 1988 to 115 in 2003. The new
report lists state and local bans and moratoria which prohibit and limit
incinerators in communities around the U.S. Concerned citizens around the
United States are condemning efforts in the U.S. Senate to classify this dirty
technology as "renewable energy" in the 2003 Senate Energy Bill.
"With
growing desperation to ensure the survival of their dying industry,
incinerator pushers are scrambling to repackage and reinvent their
technologies using various forms of greenwashing including referring to
incinerators as clean, renewable energy sources or claiming to have 'new'
variations like pyrolysis or gasification for the same old and discredited
process," said Ann Leonard, Co-Coordinator of the Global Alliance for
Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), which unites over 375 groups and communities
fighting to end wasting and burning, from 77 countries.
The combined and
simultaneous protest actions around the world mark the observance of the 2nd
Global Day of Action against Waste Incineration, by far the most massive
demonstration of public opposition to incinerators on a global scale.
Spearheaded by GAIA, the yearly anti-incineration day of action intends to
highlight the health, environmental, economic and social problems associated
with waste burning and other polluting waste management practices, and at the
same time promote safe and sustainable alternatives for preventing waste and
managing society's discards.
GAIA today released the report "Waste
Incineration: A Dying Technology," which explains why incinerators are an
unsustainable and obsolete method for dealing with waste. The GAIA report
concludes that incineration is a dying technology. As a waste treatment
technology, it is unreliable and produces a secondary waste stream more
dangerous than the original. As an energy production method, it is inefficient
and wasteful of resources. As an economic development tool, it is a
catastrophe, which drains money out of local communities and creates scarce
and often dangerous jobs.
"Today's actions are clear manifestations of the
growing global resistance against incinerators and other dirty forms of waste
disposal. With the possible exception of nuclear power, perhaps no other
technology has stirred up such inflamed defiance from citizens and communities
the world over. For this and other good reasons, governments around the world
should pay heed and start implementing safe and sustainable alternatives to
incineration," said Von Hernandez, GAIA Co-Coordinator.
Public opposition
has killed many proposed and existing incinerators worldwide. For instance, a
massive grassroots movement has defeated more than 300 municipal waste
incinerator proposals in the United States in the last 15 years. In Japan, the
most incinerator intensive country, public pressure has resulted in over 500
incinerators being shut down in recent years. Jurisdictions in 15 countries
have passed partial bans on incineration and one country, the Philippines, has
banned all incineration.
Today's actions also coincide with the first
day of the Seventh Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC 7) meeting of
the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). The
Convention aims to eliminate the most persistent toxic substances known to
science, including the cancer-causing dioxins and furans.
The
Convention identifies all waste incinerators, including cement kilns burning
hazardous wastes, as major sources of dioxins and furans and polychlorinated
biphenyls or PCBs and recommends the use of substitute techniques to avoid the
generation of these unintentionally produced pollutants. The United Nations
Environment Program (UNEP) reports that incinerators account for 69% of dioxin
emissions worldwide.
This year's action surpasses the number of
participating groups from last year's Global Day of Action that drew 126
groups from 54 countries. ###
NOTE
The GAIA Report "Waste Incineration:
A Dying Technology" is available for free download at www.no-burn.org The Report discusses the
problems with waste incineration and explains viable alternatives to this
outdated method for dealing with waste. The report further talks about the
expanding repudiation of incineration across the globe, including incinerator
bans and moratoria imposed in several places. Neil Tangri, formerly of
Essential Action USA wrote the report for GAIA.
###
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