The protest against a £400m, state of the art incinerator planned for Merthyr Tydfil (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7933320.stm) is only the latest of a series of such campaigns across the UK (e.g. Oxfordshire, Coventry and Kidderminster). The protesters generally assume these plants will be dirty, smelly, dangerous and polluting but this is not necessarily the case. The one planned for Merthyr seems to be intended to burn only material that cannot be recycled or composted. It is possible to design incinerators to be relatively efficient in terms of their released effluent. In some countries (notably the Netherlands), incinerated waste is used to generate electricity. At the moment, the kinds of waste an incinerator could burn, finishes up expensively in landfill. This can also be polluting (e.g. generating the 'greenhouse gas' methane and with material leeching into water bodies). Something has to be done about such waste and perhaps incineration is not always the worst option?
This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Incineration versus Landfill?
The protest against a £400m, state of the art incinerator planned for Merthyr Tydfil (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7933320.stm) is only the latest of a series of such campaigns across the UK (e.g. Oxfordshire, Coventry and Kidderminster). The protesters generally assume these plants will be dirty, smelly, dangerous and polluting but this is not necessarily the case. The one planned for Merthyr seems to be intended to burn only material that cannot be recycled or composted. It is possible to design incinerators to be relatively efficient in terms of their released effluent. In some countries (notably the Netherlands), incinerated waste is used to generate electricity. At the moment, the kinds of waste an incinerator could burn, finishes up expensively in landfill. This can also be polluting (e.g. generating the 'greenhouse gas' methane and with material leeching into water bodies). Something has to be done about such waste and perhaps incineration is not always the worst option?
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