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April 2004, USA, Manila. On the eve
of Earth Day 2004, a global environmental health
coalition today launched a report that promises
a sustainable remedy to the rising waste problems
in developing countries. The report Resources
up in Flames: The Economic Pitfalls of Incineration
versus a Zero Waste Approach in the Global South
was released by the Global Alliance for Incinerator
Alternatives (GAIA), who challenged policy makers
to redirect the millions of dollars lined up
for incinerators into waste prevention and reduction
and zero waste systems. Says Ann Leonard, GAIA
Co-Coordinator: “Incineration encourages
a one-way flow of materials on a finite planet.
It makes the task of conserving resources and
reducing waste more difficult, not easier. Policy
makers and citizens need to work together to
advance sustainable community-based solutions,
without incineration. ” |
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According
to Resources up in Flames, prepared by the Institute
for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) in Washington,
D.C. for GAIA, municipal solid waste incinerators—no
matter where they are built—have numerous
liabilities. In addition to generating pollution
and harming public health, they: |
At
least 16 jurisdictions worldwide have banned
or restricted municipal solid waste incineration.
Chicago, California’s Alameda County,
and Rhode Island are U.S. examples. The Philippines
is the first country to explicitly ban all types
of waste incineration.
Brenda
Platt, Co-Director of ILSR and the primary author
of the report, asks: “Why invest millions
of dollars in a technology that at the end of
30 years leaves you with a pile of potentially
toxic ash, when that same money could be redirected
to readily available cheaper and safer options
that create many more jobs, new businesses,
and wealth for local communities.” The
report indicates that just sorting recyclables
alone in the U.S. can sustain at least 11 times
the number of jobs as incineration on a per-ton
basis.
While the report introduces the concept and
need for zero waste planning and highlights
the growing worldwide zero-waste movement and
numerous examples of communities embracing such
an approach, it emphasizes that non-burn alternatives
are within reach of communities today and can
pay immediate economic dividends. In the global
South, where organic material—yard trimmings
and food scraps—is the single largest
component of the waste stream, appropriately
designed composting programs will be the easiest,
quickest, and least-expensive method to divert
discards from disposal.
Resources
up in Flames: The Economic Pitfalls of Incineration
versus a Zero Waste Approach in the Global South
is a 75-page report, supported by more than
100 footnotes. It contains hard-hitting facts,
model programs, and failed incinerator examples.
The first half of the report is devoted to the
economic problems posed by incinerators and
includes a section on how to evaluate a planned
incinerator. The second half focuses on non-burn
alternatives readily available, and concludes
with a 10-step plan for getting starting on
the path toward zero waste at the local level.
The report is available as a PDF file on GAIA’s
web site, located at http://www.no-burn.org.
It is being translated into more than a dozen
languages. Resources up in Flames is the third
report published by GAIA since it was formed
in December 2000. GAIA released The World Bank
Group and Incineration: Bankrolling Dirty Technologies
in 2002 and Waste Incineration: A Dying Technology
in 2003.
GAIA
is an international alliance of community-based
organizations, research and policy advocacy
institutions, citizen pressure groups and other
nonprofit organizations and individuals working
to end the burning of all types of discards
and to promote clean production, zero waste,
and sustainable waste management systems. It
has offices in Quezon City, the Philippines
and Berkeley, California. For more information
on GAIA, log onto its web site at www.no-burn.org.
Media contacts:
Gigie
Cruz/Abigail Jabines, GAIA Secretariat, Manila
Philippines - gigie.gaia at no-burn.org
Tel: + 63 2 929 0376,
Fax: + 63 2 436 4733 Mobile: + 639205956958
for US Press Monica Wilson,
GAIA, Berkeley- mwilson at essential.org
for Latin American Press Cecilia Allen, GAIA,
Argentina - cecilia.allen at no-burn.org
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