Brazil. Espirito Santo state capital Vitoria is looking into the possibility of implementing waste-to-energy technology, which would save money on waste disposal and provide the city with power, Mayor Luiz Paulo Vellozo Lucas said. Mayor Lucas, along with the mayors of Porto Alegre and Aracaju, last year presented a proposal to Brazil's power crisis management committee to create an alternative energies bill/program, including waste-to-energy. (Business News Americas, 22 April 2002)

China. Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, will have its first waste-burning power plant operational by mid-April, city officials said. The $17.6 million power plant is part of the "green aid" program signed by the Chinese and Japanese governments in 1992, by which Japan pledged to accelerate environmental technology transfers to China. (Chinese Mining News, 8 April 2002)

China. Beijing will build a group of new rubbish incinerators and dumping grounds in the next three years while continuing to make efforts toward reducing the amount of trash, according to the Beijing Olympic Action Plan. Beijing, with a population of 13 million, will host the 28th Olympic Games in 2008 under the themes "The Green Olympics, the High-tech Olympics, the People's Olympics". (Xinhua News, 28 August 2002)

Costa Rica. The health ministry has green-lighted state power distributor Compania Nacional de Fuerza y Luz's application to build a $3.6 million waste-to-energy project in Rio Azul, San Jose city. Local waste management company WPP Continental operates the 27-year old Rio Azul landfill, which takes in some 1,200 tonnes per day of waste. (Business News Americas, 15 April 2002)

France. The European Court of Justice condemned France for failing to apply strict environmental controls to larger waste incinerators by legal deadlines set in two 1989 European Union directives. The breaches were still not fully resolved by early this year, while the country now faces new problems regarding smaller incinerators (Environment Daily, 20 June 2002)

India. Following the state's Waste Policy, the Directorate of Urban Local Bodies (DLB) has floated tenders calling for public-private partnership for the treatment and disposal of municipal solid waste and biomedical waste in 20 Class I cities in Rajasthan.
(meetgopalkrishna@rediffmail.com)

Indonesia. Jakarta City Council slammed the city sanitary agency for its lack of seriousness in using incinerators to handle garbage. The Council is disappointed with the agency, which could not meet the demand made by the councillors to immediately operate all of the 10 newly bought incinerators that the city purchased for $372,000. (Jakarta Post, 20 June 2002)

Ireland. The Belgian company Indaver, which is proposing to construct a 90 million Euro hazardous waste incinerator at Ringaskiddy, Cork Harbour, will apply to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a waste license under the Waste Management Act. (Dick Hogan, The Irish Times, 28 June 2002)

Ireland. Minister for the Environment Martin Cullen wants to fast-track plans for incinerators, landfill sites and other waste management facilities by sending them directly to An Bord Pleanala. The Minister made it clear that he personally favoured such a move because it would facilitate a more "fast-track" approach to waste management by reducing the bureaucracy in assessing these proposals. (The Irish Times, 12 August 2002)

Japan. The Environment Ministry has decided to support the generation of thermal energy by burning plastic industrial waste, and plans to establish 150 waste-to-energy facilities by 2010 . The Ministry was originally opposed to the idea of waste-to-energy facilities, which would have competed with wind-power plants and other facilities producing natural energies. However, it began to support such facilities because they believe that such facilities reduce global warming. (Yomiuri Shimbun/Daily Yomiuri, 10 August 2002).

Japan. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was recently awarded contracts to build two municipal waste incinerators in Hanzhou, China and Taiwan, costing between 40 to 80 million US dollars. (WWP-Business Opportunities in Asia and the Pacific, 1 September 2002)

Malaysia. Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said that the government has decided to build an incinerator in Kuala Lumpur in about three years using gasification technology with ash-melting facilities “to manage solid waste more effectively”. (New Straits Times, 2 April 2002)

Mexico. Czech companies may soon be able to launch three specific economic projects in the environment and energy sectors in Mexico, including a municipal waste incinerator in Mexico City that is being proposed by the Vikkovice Company. (CTK Business News Wire, 9 April 2002)

Mexico. US-based Balboa Energy Technologies has presented Mexican tourist town Cozumel its "Bal Pac 2000" thermal converter, which would incinerate waste and at the same time generate electricity. (Business News Americas, 16 July 2002)

Philippines. Environment Secretary Heherson Alvarez issued Memorandum-Circular #5 on 12 July 2002 stating that "any thermal treatment technology, whether burn or non-burn… is allowed to be operated in the country," which, according to environmental NGOs, is inconsistent and in clear violation of the Clean Air Act and the legislative intent to ban incineration. (r_andag@yahoo.com)

South Korea. Residents near a waste incineration station in Pyongtaek, Gyeonggi Province have the highest content of dioxin reported so far in residential areas at home and abroad, reported the Citizens' Institute for Environment Studies (CIES), which is attached to the Korea Federation of Environment Movement (KFEM). Pyongtaek residents have average contents of 53.4 ppt TEQ lipid of dioxin in their blood, which was far .above the average 20-40 ppt TEQ lipid seen in dwellers in other residential areas, and also above 16.6 ppt TEQ lipid shown for those living near Shiwha Industrial Complex in Gyeonggi Province. (Asia Pulse, 1 August 2002)

South Korea. The Ministry of Finance and Economy said that it will offer a 50% tariff deduction for engine controllers and cylinder brackets for liquefied natural gas-fueled vehicles and 66 other import items used for "environmental protection," including incinerators. (Asia Pulse, 13 August 2002)

Sweden. Plans are underway to construct 24 new incinerators over a five-year period due to a landfill directive that came into force in January 2002, which prohibits the landfilling of "burnable" waste. (emma@nordic.greenpeace.org)

Thailand. A Senate panel on waste management recommended that the government build more incinerators to dispose of the country's solid waste, provoking an outcry from local environmental groups. Among the most controversial projects is the planned construction of a $107 million integrated waste management facility for the Bangkok metropolitan area, comprising of recycling and bio-fertilizer units and a gas-fired power plant. (Jonathan Hopfner, International Environment Daily, 7 May 2002)