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GAIA CAMPAIGNER Volume 2 Issue No. 1 | |||||||||||||
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The United Nations' World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD or Earth Summit II) will take place
from August 26 - September 4, 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
WSSD will assess the state of sustainable development with a special
view of evaluating these issues in the ten years since the initial
Earth Summit occurred in Rio. As GAIA members know, "Zero Waste" refers
to a range of policies and practices related to materials use and
waste (or discard) management. Rather than viewing waste as an inevitable
burden to be disposed and replaced with virgin materials, Zero Waste
seeks to reduce the quantities and toxicities of materials used,
to increase production efficiency, and to reclaim and utilize discarded
materials. While we realize that communities can not become truly
Zero Waste overnight, we also view it as a direction and a goal.
Zero Waste is a design principle that goes beyond recycling by taking
a 'whole system' approach to the vast flow of resources and waste
through human society. Nationally, holding a Zero Waste Earth Summit affirms the goal of Zero Waste by 2022 adopted in September 2001 at South Africa's first National Waste Summit. Also, as part of this project's legacy to its host city Johannesburg, the investments made in infrastructure and technical training to implement Zero Waste systems will remain in South Africa and will be available to those promoting Zero Waste long after the Earth Summit. GAIA members involved in the extensive preparatory meetings for the broader Earth Summit report a high level of discouragement from environmental organizations involved in the process. Not only has little or no progress been made in reversing the decline of the global environment since the first Earth Summit, but the world's so-called leaders, just don't seem to care. For those concerned about the planet's health - including the health of the 6 billion people living here - addressing the incredible volume and toxicity of waste must be a priority. The out-of-control rate at which we harvest, mine, process, use and discard materials drives the depletion of the worlds' biomass and mineral reserves. The toxicity of the materials we use in industrial production contaminates the discard stream, the environment and our own bodies. It is not only unsustainable, but downright crazy. We are destroying ourselves and the planet upon which life depends. Fortunately, there is another way. And Zero Waste must be a part of any comprehensive solution to the planet's woes. Zero Waste won't solve everything, but it's a major step in the right direction. Ann Leonard is US-based international co-coordinator
of GAIA (aleonard@essential.org). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Will
the World Summit be a Zero Waste event?
< back to contents> It looks like the answer may very well be YES!!
Plans are already underway to "green" the World Summit
on Sustainable Development that will take place in Johannesburg
this August. The South African Government initiated an overall Summit "greening" effort, and has obtained funding for it from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). UNDP and local officials in South Africa are implementing this effort. GAIA members will be happy to know that organizers have already agreed to a number of key recycling practices:
0n December 30, 2001, GAIA upped the ante for this event and officially called upon the UN organizers of the Summit to organize it as a model Zero Waste event. GAIA asked that the Summit reduce the wastes sent to landfills by 90%, and assure that no waste from the Summit go to incinerators. GAIA highlighted how the Rio Earth Summit organizers were criticized for not practicing what they preached and encouraged organizers instead to follow the lead of the 2002 Winter Olympics which had adopted a Zero Waste goal. To ensure a Zero Waste event, GAIA called for key policies to be adopted as soon as possible to govern all logistics of the Summit. In addition to the work already done in coordinating with the hospitality industry in Johannesburg to "green" their operations, GAIA suggested that each facility participating in the Summit needs to have a waste assessment to identify the typical sources of wastes discarded. Once those assessments are completed, an analysis will be required to determine what wastes could be eliminated completely, by using reusable products, or finding another alternative. Zero Waste policies should further guide the purchase of products used at the Summit, to minimize the amount of waste produced, and to purchase recycled content and/or environmentally preferable products. GAIA also suggested that local reuse, recycling and composting programs should be arranged for all discarded materials that cannot be eliminated. GAIA highlighted that some new programs may need to be organized to maximize the recovery of discarded materials. For example, the Winter Olympics established a "Legacy Program" to leave behind composting facilities after the event that were not previously available in Utah. GAIA is working to establish a similar legacy program in Johannesburg for composting programs for discarded food. GAIA's partner in Johannesburg, Earthlife Africa (ELA), is working to follow up with local organizers in South Africa, both with the Civil Society Indaba and the Johannesburg World Summit Company (JOWSCO). GAIA has obtained a grant for ELA to help the Summit organizers in developing and implementing this Zero Waste program. So far, things are going great with this campaign. On March 12, 2002, the Civil Society Secretariat sent a letter to ELA in support of conducting the Summit as a Zero Waste event and stated: "We thank you for the …meeting and presentation on the Principle of Zero Waste for the Summit. We found it to be very informative and believe that this [is] a very achievable process." ELA agreed to provide a strategy that will outline how Zero Waste can be pursued for the Summit, which ELA is now working on. It is expected that the Civil Society Secretariat and ELA will work on implementing that strategy as a joint initiative. In March, GAIA staff also loaded all the key documents regarding this campaign on our website: http://www.no-burn.org/campaigns/Summit.html#4. This has been developed as a direct link for individuals wanting to learn more about the campaign and/or Zero Waste. This has all of the recent campaign news, letters to the UN and related background information. It also includes information on Zero Waste and links to web sites of interest on Zero Waste. It also provides background information on Agenda 21 and environmental problems at the 1992 Earth Summit. GAIA will be updating this website regularly with information about this campaign, and will call upon members to assist in meeting the goal of Zero Waste at the Summit. To start, it would be great to get a dozen or more media editorials from around the world congratulating the Civil Society Secretariat for their leadership on Zero Waste. For more information and to coordinate on that, please contact Michelle Gerster at GAIA at mgerster@essential.org. Gary Liss is GAIA consultant for the Zero Waste Earth Summit initiative (gary@garyliss.com) ¹Preliminary reports from the 2002 Winter Olympics
are stating that they diverted over 95% of their wastes from landfills
and brought no waste to incinerators. Big
South American City Bans Incineration of Medical Waste
<
back to contents> Last February, after several months of citizens'
campaigning, the City Council of Buenos Aires city banned medical
waste incineration. The ban, which is considered by environmentalists
as a landmark, also makes it illegal for local government Greenpeace Argentina and the National Anti Incineration Coalition have been campaigning on this issue for the last 6 months showing the problems created by the incinerators and pushing for the adoption of waste prevention and alternative ways for managing hospital wastes. The wastes referred to in the new legislation are those medical wastes that are not chemically hazardous, i.e. infectious or potentially infectious wastes. Veronica Odriozola is toxics campaigner of Greenpeace
Argentina ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- High-Tech
Toxic Trash From USA Found to be Flooding Asia
The investigation uncovered an entire area known as Guiyu in Guangdong Province, surrounding the Lianjiang River just 4 hours drive northeast of Hong Kong where about 100,000 poor migrant workers are employed breaking apart and processing obsolete computers imported primarily from North America. The workers were found to be using 19th century technologies to clean up the wastes from the 21st century. The operations involve men, women and children toiling under primitive conditions, often unaware of the health and environmental hazards involved in operations which include open burning of plastics and wires, riverbank acid works to extract gold, melting and burning of toxic soldered circuit boards and the cracking and dumping of toxic lead laden cathode ray tubes. The investigative team witnessed many tons of the E-waste simply being dumped along rivers, in open fields and irrigation canals in the rice growing area. Already the pollution in Guiyu has become so devastating that well water is no longer drinkable and thus water has to be trucked in from 30 kilometers away for the entire population. "We found a cyber-age nightmare," said Jim Puckett, coordinator of BAN. "They call this recycling, but it's really dumping by another name. Yet to our horror, we further discovered that rather than banning it, the US government is actually encouraging this ugly trade in order to avoid finding real solutions to the massive tide of obsolete computer waste generated in the U.S. daily. BAN referred to the fact that the U.S. is the only industrialized country in the world that has failed to ratify the Basel Convention, a United Nations environmental treaty which has adopted a global ban on the export of hazardous wastes from the worlds most developed countries to developing countries. Further, the U.S. has actually exempted toxic E-waste from its own laws governing waste exports, simply because the material was claimed to be destined for recycling. BAN and SVTC are calling on the U.S. to follow Europe's example and immediately implement the global ban on the export of hazardous wastes from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries to developing countries and likewise to solve the E-waste problem "upstream" by mandating that the electronics industry institute "take-back" recycling programs, toxic input phase-outs and green design for long-life, upgradeability and ease of recycling. "Consumers in the U.S. have been the principal beneficiaries of the high-tech revolution and we simply can't allow the resulting high environmental price to be pushed off onto others," said Ted Smith, Executive Director of SVTC. "Rather than sweeping our E-waste crisis out the backdoor by exporting it to the poor of the world, we have got to address it square in the face and solve it at home, in this country, at its manufacturing source." For a copy of the full report visit the BAN or SVTC
websites: www.ban.org
or www.svtc.org -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Landfills, Incinerators -
Unsafe for Babies and Children Another study on the effects of landfills - the
EU-funded Eurohazcon research on hazardous waste landfills - appeared
in the Lancet (volume 359). This follows a similar study in October
2001, but ranks the effects at higher rates. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In Chennai, a major port city in southern India,
two sister companies, French multinationals Onyx and Vivendi, are
working at cross-purposes. While Vivendi works to commercialize
scarce fresh water in the city, Onyx collects the city's garbage
and dumps it in one of the most important freshwater ecosystems
in the city. The formula was simple: Exnora's activists would educate residents to form Civic Exnora associations at street level. The residents would pay for a street beautifier (earlier, a ragpicker) to collect their garbage door-to-door everyday. The ragpicker extracts recyclables and reusables from the garbage before transporting the remainder to the municipal transfer stations. Over the years, Exnora had managed to convince several associations to segregate their wastes. Exnora has recently published a manual on setting up zero waste community projects. Just before Onyx entered the picture, Exnora associations covered up to 20 percent of the city by Municipal Corporation estimates. The stage was set for decentralized garbage management, waste reduction, composting and many other progressive initiatives, according to T.K. Ramkumar of Exnora. The scheme had several fringe benefits. Neighbors got together regularly to discuss hygiene and garbage issues of their streets. The infrastructure had been laid to have decentralized composting and zero waste centers. The decentralized composting scheme alone had the potential to divert up to 1500 tons of garbage everyday from reaching the landfill. A few such centers are currently in operation. However, the decade-long effort was dealt a severe blow when garbage collection and disposal was privatized and handed over to Onyx. "Many decentralized Civic Exnoras were shut down. Community structures collapsed. Wherever we had brought in source segregation, things were going haywire because Onyx reverted to collecting mixed garbage," Ramkumar laments. Segregation-at-source is now acknowledged as the most crucial pre-treatment for household discards. This allows for the recyclables to be recycled, the reusables to be reused and the compostables to be turned into organic fertilizer. Most importantly, it reduces the quantity of discards that would end up in landfills. "Onyx earns by volume or tonnage dumped. So [waste] avoidance is not in their interest," says Ramkumar. According to Ramkumar, the privatization of garbage collection and disposal may have made life difficult for ragpickers, especially those who were engaged as street beautifiers by Exnora's street-level associations. "Because of all the resources in garbage, garbage presents an opportunity for low-income people to earn money with low per-capita investment. Where is the need for a multinational company to come to India to collect and dump wastes in an unscientific way," he says.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Army
Abandons Incineration in Colorado, Chooses Neutralization for Chemical
Weapons <
back to contents> The Chemical Weapons Working Group coalition has for years fought the Army's chemical weapons incineration plan and promoted safer technologies for these stockpiled wastes. Currently, four non-incineration technologies are available for destruction of chemical weapons: electrochemical oxidation; neutralization and supercritical water oxidation; neutralization, supercritical water oxidation and gas phase chemical reduction; and neutralization and biological treatment. The benefits of these technologies are low-temperature treatment of chemical agents; containment of toxic by-products; and high destruction efficiencies. In 1996, the Army decided to use neutralization and non-incineration secondary wastes treatment for bulk nerve and mustard agents stored in Maryland and Indiana. The Colorado technology decision is significant in that it represents the first non-incineration plan for chemical agents configured in an assembled weapon. Pueblo, Colorado CWWG member Ross Vincent says, "Incinerator salesmen can no longer argue persuasively that incineration is 'state-of-the-art' -- the best way to dispose of combustible wastes. There are better ways which substantially reduce impacts on public health and the environment." For more information on the struggles and successes in the chemical weapons disposal issue, please contact Elizabeth Crowe at elizabeth@cwwg.org or visit the website at http://www.cwwg.org. Elizabeth Crowe coordinates the US-based Chemical
Weapons Working Group. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Behind the fascination and thrill of the soccer tournament is a serious waste management concern, particularly at the 10 stadiums that will be used for the 32 matches (total seating capacity: 490,207). Being a national passion, Koreans - young and old, men and women - are expected to watch the games and revel, especially when the Korean national team is at the centerfield. Some 400,000 tourists are likely to be lured by the massive publicity and promotion of the first World Cup to be held in Asia. With the goal of reducing waste and ensuring its proper disposal, the Korea Waste Movement Network (KWMN) worked closely with government departments to put into effect some practical waste minimization plans. KWMN's arrangements for a wasteless World Cup began soon after Korea was designated to co-host the games with Japan. It constituted a special team, from its 270 member groups, that launched a detailed study on how waste is generated and managed at the different stadiums. The NGO coalition then approached public agencies, including those in the host cities, discussed their findings and offered concrete recommendations. Between May to December 2001, the KWMN monitored waste management at 9 of the 10 stadiums that were used for the Confederation Cup. Volunteer teams kept an eye on the types of waste produced during matches, its volume and disposal, including promotional and cheering items and disposables used at the cafeteria. Following KWMN's proposal, the authorities adopted several groundbreaking measures. These include a ban on the free distribution of cheering items such as balloons in plastic stick and whistles; a smoking ban inside the stadium; restriction on advertising leaflets to one type per company; prohibition on automatic vending machines in stadium; compulsory announcement of stadium clean-up time; and mandatory installation of separate waste collection bins. The government also agreed to provide thousands of game volunteers and employees with lunch money instead of lunch sets to further discourage the use of disposables. A proposal prohibiting the use of plastic products in stadium restaurants and cafeterias is under review. National and city governments also agreed to use as little paint as possible in the renovation of stadiums, and when inevitable, to use natural paint. Outside the stadiums, KWMN is wooing shoppers to refuse plastic bags and carry their own bags when they make purchases. The 2002 World Cup is not completely a Zero Waste event. But, is definitely a step forward in securing citizen-government cooperation in reducing waste. Suyol Hong works with the Korea Waste Movement Network. For details, write to waterheat@hanmail.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PUTTING OUT THE FLAMES  <
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Argentina. The City Council of Buenos Aires, Argentina passed a law that bans incineration of medical waste in the city. Furthermore, the law prohibits the incineration of waste generated by public hospitals regardless of where it is burned. (Leandro Altolaguirre, comentarios@alihuen.org.ar or Veronica Odriozola,vodriozo@ar.greenpeace.org) Bangladesh. From 1 January 2002,
the Bangladeshi government has decided to ban the manufacture and
use of polythene bags in Dhaka city, in view of their adverse impact
on the environment. Manufacture and use of polythene-made shopping
bags will be banned initially in Dhaka city and then across the
country in phases. (Maqsood Sinha,wastecon@dhaka.agni.com) Canada. A new paint-recycling
program in Nova Scotia will recover thousands of liters of paint
and paint cans and will create employment throughout the province.
Environment and Labor Minister David Mordse announced the paint
recycling program on 27 February 2002. Denmark. Danish Environment Minister Hans C. Schmidt apologizes for illegal plastic waste export to India, for alleged recycling. "This would be the last time something like this has happened," he said. (The New Indian Express, 21 February 2002) France. Liberation, one of the three most important French daily newspapers, featured incineration and dioxins on the cover page and 3 full pages of its 26 March 2002 issue, with quotes from the National Center for Independent Information on Waste (CNIID). The trigger is Albertville, a former winter Olympics town, which has been highly contaminated by a local incinerator. For more information in French, see:http://www.liberation.fr/quotidien/semaine/020326-000002109EVEN.html Malaysia. Recycling, now done
on a voluntary basis, will be made compulsory once laws and regulations
are passed in the future. Housing and Local Government Minister
Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said that once the Common Properties Maintenance
and Management Bill and the Solid Waste Management Bill were passed,
Malaysians would be compelled to recycle. Nepal. The Supreme Court of
Nepal issued a writ of mandamus against dumping of waste in the
highly revered holy Bhagwati River. It took the Court 11 months
to issue a verdict in response to a petition filed by the Forum
for the Protection of Public Interest (Pro Public) on 1 January
2001. New Zealand. On 1 March 2002
New Zealand became the first country in the world to adopt a national
vision of zero waste. The new strategy, subtitled -'Towards zero
waste and a sustainable New Zealand' recognizes the groundswell
of public support that has grown for the adoption of Zero Waste
as a national goal over the last few years (http://www.mfe.govt.nz/new/index.htm). South Africa. Two waste companies in South Africa have turned to non-burn technologies for treating and disposing of medical waste. One company has installed two large autoclaves (from Bondtech, USA). groundWork and HCWH had a big role to play in persuading this company to shift from incineration to autoclaving. The other company is still at the EIA stage for a Logmed system. In the province of Kwa Zulu Natal, Compass Waste has installed the first autoclave in South Africa to deal with Medical Waste. (Linda Ambler,linda@groundwork.org.za) Sweden. Swedish municipalities are preparing for a massive boost in capacity for biological processing of household waste following entry into force on January 1, 2002 of a ban on landfilling of combustible waste. (http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm?action=article&ref=74) UK. Green campaigners welcomed the decision by the Bradford councilors against building new incineration plants, a plan earlier put forward by officers as an option for reducing landfill-bound waste. (Yorkshire Post, 30 January 2002) UK. Action by women gardeners who highlighted toxic ash being spread on Tyneside allotments has led to a national re-think of waste policy in UK. The spreading of toxic ash on allotments across Newcastle landed the City Council with a bill for more than £53,000 after it admitted breaking Environmental Protection laws. (The Journal, 5 January 2002) USA. Recycling professionals,
waste reduction activists and local government officials are urging
the Environmental Protection Agency to rewrite the nation's principal
solid waste law to adopt the goal of zero waste. The EPA´s
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Vision Work Group is holding
public hearings on its recent draft white paper "Beyond RCRA:
Prospects for Waste Materials Management in the Year 2020."
(http://www.wastenews.com/headlines2.html?id=1009488797) USA. HCA, Inc., the country's
largest for-profit hospital chain, has agreed to phase out its mercury-containing
medical supplies by 1 January 2005, and will evaluate reducing other
significant sources of mercury. Signaling a major step forward for
the growing movement within the health care industry to stop mercury
pollution at its source. (www.noharm.org) USA. The owner of Onondaga County's
trash incinerator is facing financial problems that could bankrupt
the company and send ripple effects through Central New York. In
the first local fallout from the collapse of Enron and other energy
companies, Covanta Energy Corp. may be forced into bankruptcy or
to sell assets, financial analysts say. (Herald
American, 3 February 2002) USA. The citizens of Pueblo,
Colorado and the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG) scored a
major victory in their 14-year battle versus incineration. In a
recent decision, the Army, Department of Defense recommends a water
neutralization and biological treatment technology for destruction
of mustard agent projectiles. The CWWG continues to work nationally
to stop incinerators - either operating or under construction -
in Utah, Oregon, Arkansas and Alabama. Please check the CWWG website
for press releases and links to the most current newsclips on the
Colorado technology decision. (Elizabeth
Crowe,elizabeth@cwwg.org)
Australia. Four companies have been selected
to tender for a new "waste to energy" operation at Kimbriki,
Australia, which uses new technologies to avoid putting rubbish
into landfill. China. Incineration may be set to return to Hong Kong, with two of the likely bidders for a new waste disposal scheme in favor of the method, to deal with the region's annual 300 million tons of non-recyclable waste. (South China Morning Post,4 February 2002) Egypt. The Egyptian Minister of State for Environmental Affairs says study is under way to build "environment-friendly" incinerators for hospital waste. (BBC News, 16 March 2002) India. At least 30,000 tonnes of scrap from
the World Trade Center wreckage has been exported from the United
States to Sabari Exim Pvt. Ltd. of Manali, Chennai, India. Greenpeace
India and other NGOs aired their concerns over the potential contamination
of the steel scrap. India. At a time when Indian cities and the rural countryside are reeling under a plastic waste crisis, official import data indicates that India has been a favored dumping ground for plastic wastes, mostly from industrialized countries including Canada, Denmark, Germany, UK, the Netherlands, Japan, France and the United States. (Nityanand Jayaraman,nity68@vsnl.com) India. There are currently three active incinerator proposals in Mumbai. One, in Deonar, has been active for awhile. Another, from Mehta and Associates and the Viorosis Group (USA) proposes to burn 400 tonnes of garbage in a "waste-to-energy" scheme. The third, promoted by Enviro-Vigil, is a proposed medical waste incinerator in Thane. Citizens and the medical fraternity are organizing against this. (Nityanand Jayaraman,nity68@vsnl.com) Iran. France will cooperate in water, wastewater
and electricity projects in Iran, Ireland. Herhof Environmental Ltd., a German
company, has applied for planning permission to construct a "waste
treatment and recycling facility" at Courtlough, Balbriggan.
The proposal appears to be an incinerator in disguise. (Aine
Suttle, asuttle@eircom.net) Japan. The 10th Pacific Basin Conference on Hazardous Waste held in Okayama, Japan on 7 December 2001 issued a declaration that says, "incinerator should be re-evaluated as one of effective hazardous waste treatment options as long as it is designed and operated using appropriate combustion technology. (Masaru Tanaka,maxta@mua.biglobe.ne.jp) Malaysia. A US-based supplier of engineered products and services to clean and restore the environment, announced that its Andersen 2000 Inc. subsidiary in Peachtree City, Georgia received a US$5 million contract to supply a turnkey installed chemical and hazardous waste incineration plant with environmental control systems in Malaysia. (Asia Pulse, 12 March 2002). Saudi Arabia. Andersen 2000 Inc. received a US$2.3 million order to supply medical waste incineration and environmental control systems to a private waste management company in Saudi Arabia, which is building the first "state-of-the-art" medical waste disposal facility in all of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh. (Asia Pulse, 12 March 2002) Slovak Republic. The National Council of Slovak Republic (Parliament) abolished on 20 March 2002 the ban of PVC from 2008 in the Slovak Waste Law. Slovakia was the first state in the world to legislate a total ban of PVC. (Marek Kurinec,des@changenet.sk) South Africa. Plans to convert city waste into electricity and fuel are underway in Cape Town, South Africa. The KwikPower (UK) and Solid Waste Technology Ltd. (South Africa) joint venture includes "waste to energy" gasification, a combustion process that will turn waste materials into biogas before burning. (Linda Ambler,linda@groundwork.org.za) UK. Scottish local authorities are sidelining waste recycling and composting in favor of incineration projects as they draw up draft waste plans, Friends of the Earth (FoE) Scotland commented. The plans are required as Scotland implements the EU's 1999 landfill directive and must set out measures to reduce reliance on landfilling of waste. (Environment Daily, 24 January 2002) USA. The incineration industry is trying
to make a come-back in the U.S. The Senate is currently debating
a renewable energy standard for the country. Unfortunately, industry
would like to include some very dirty sources, including MSW incineration,
as "renewable energy" worthy of receiving tax 
<
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Argentina. The Argentine Association of Doctors
for the Environment (AAMMA), as part of its public awareness drive,
organized on 14 March 2002 a successful conference delving on the
theme "A New Vision on the Medical Waste Problem". As
a member of the Coalición Ciudadana Antincineracion (Citizens'
Coalition Against Incineration), the AAMMA campaigned for the passage
of the Buenos Aires City Council ordinance that prohibits incineration
of hospital waste. Europe. A Declaration addressed to European governments and parliaments, which calls for a Toxics-Free Europe, has drawn broad support from NGOs in Europe and other continents. The Declaration was written in Prague in December 2001 during a meeting of Health Care Without Harm - Europe and AVA. (Jindrich Petrlik, jindrich.petrlik@ecn.cz) Guam, USA. The Recycling Association of Guam (RAG) reported that the GRRP (an incinerator company) is now making another push for their proposed waste-to-energy plant. In a recent media blitz, a radio broadcast from the Hawaii H-Power Incinerator (the GRRP model) explained how clean it runs and how satisfied the City of Honolulu is. The GRRP is now also advertising on a local radio station. Responding to this public relations stunt, RAG arranged for Warren Snow, zero waste advocate from New Zealand, to phone in on a talkshow where RAG's Paul Tobiason and Berrie Straatman were guests. The RAG is actively spreading the word on Greenpeace UK's animated "Incinerator Tour, What They Don't Tell You. " (Berrie Straatman,bnb@ite.net). India. 293 women belonging to various Self-Help Groups around Kovalam in the southern state of Keralam took part in an unparalleled capacity building activities held between January-February 2002 as part of Zero Waste Kovalam initiative. The training events saw women, from age 11 to 58, learning about potential livelihood and employment opportunities from discards and indigenous materials to replace plastics. Trainers from Karm Marg in New Delhi and Uravu in Wynad taught participants an amazing collection of alternative products that can be created from jute, bamboo, coconut, paper and tailor waste. Thanal and Greenpeace India, collaborating with partner groups, organized the training events, which were aimed at empowering women and sustaining the local economy while addressing environmental woes resulting from plastic use. (Jayakumar C.,thanal@vsnl.com) India. DISHA started working on the environmental
problems of the Digha seaside resort late last year, which include
solid waste management and wastewater treatment, plastic litters,
building norms, change over to renewable energy and biodiversity
threats from indiscriminate trawl fishing. So far polybags have
been banned in Digha along with other environmentally sensitive
places of West Bengal. Negotiations are going on with the Digha
Development Authority to develop joint mass awareness campaign on
the polybag ban, which is occasionally violated. Trawl fishing has
also been partially banned. DISHA is in the process of putting up
a plan for solid waste and wastewater management based on zero waste
principles. (Sasanka Dev,fordisha@cal2.vsnl.net.in) Malaysia. The Consumers' Association of
Penang (CAP) is opposed to the state Mexico. Activists from Greenpeace Mexico
trooped to the Semarnat (Environment Ministry) on 8 March 2002 to
ask the Minister to reject a bill on waste incineration. They brought
15 mock coffins in front of the Ministry to press their point against
the cancer-causing waste burners. Mexico/USA. The Texas Center for Policy Studies has been collaborating with an NGO based in Mexico City -- Fronteras Comunes -- and La Asociacion Ecologica Sant Tomas -- a group in the state of Tabasco -- to produce a report on incineration in the state. There is currently a cement plant burning hazardous waste, three plants burning contaminated soils through "thermal treatment" and various medical incinerators operating in Tabasco. A full report will be available in Spanish and a summary report in English in April. Look for them on http://www.texascenter.org/bordertrade. Previous reports in English and Spanish on hazardous waste management after NAFTA and the burning of wastes in cement kilns in Mexico are also available on that website. Philippines. Civil
society urged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to reject the controversial
Jancom contract and resist attempts by powerful incinerator interests
to repeal the incineration ban under the Clean Air Act. The NGO
action comes after a contentious decision by the Supreme Court third
division, which upheld the onerous and discredited contract and
ruled that the incineration ban is not absolute and applies only
to waste burners with pollutive emissions. Philippines/Thailand. The clarion call to prevent toxics pollution and to promote clean production was sounded off in Thailand and in the Philippines by leading experts in the Clean Production discourse. Dr. Kenneth Geiser of the Toxics Use and Reduction Institute (TURI) based at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Ms. Beverly Thorpe of the Clean Production Action Network met with regulators, policymakers, business associations, media practitioners and non-government organizations during a two- week speaking tour (6-15 February 2002), bringing their message to various stakeholder groups in Bangkok, Manila and Cebu, organized by Greenpeace Southeast Asia (GP SEA). (Francis de la Cruz, francis.de.la.cruz@ph.greenpeace.org or Tara Buakamsri, tara.buakamsri@th.greenpeance.org) Also, GAIA and GP SEA, with support from the International
POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) and the Campaign for Alternative
Industry Network (CAIN), organized an international Skillshare on
Clean Production in Chonburi, Thailand from 6 to 9 February 2002.
Sixty-two participants and resource persons from 21 countries completed
the Skillshare - the goal of which was to inform and equip activists
and campaigners with a working knowledge of CP principles, tools,
strategies and applications. The Skillshare enabled participants
to identify opportunities for integrating CP into their current
and future programs. Reflecting on the state of affairs in pollution
prevention in their respective countries, participants pledged to
assert the Community Right to Know and work for policies and programs
to institutionalize Toxics Use and Release Inventories. Resources
and linkages required to assist activists and campaigners in their
CP work were also recognized. A GAIA meeting, attended by existing
and potential members, followed the Skillshare. Taiwan. The Green Citizens' Action Alliance has questioned the need for incinerators in Taiwan. Because of the unexpected success of its recycling programs, there is not enough garbage to burn in the country's incinerators. Environmentalists charge that the situation is forcing the country to generate pollution unnecessarily. (teputc@tpts1.seed.net.tw) UK. Protesters trooped to the House of Commons on 13 March 2002 to ask Parliamentarians to halt the building of a 165,000-tonne incinerator being proposed by waste company WRG on a site at Stoneferry Road in East Hull, UK. Hull City Council turned down the incinerator last December, but the company has appealed and a public inquiry looks likely to begin in the summer. Campaigners want to use the public inquiry to voice their concerns. Friends of the Earth said more than 26,000 people have signed a petition against the incinerator. Louise Arnold, of Hull Against the Incinerator, said: "We don't want an incinerator in Hull. We want the opportunity to recycle waste." (Amanda Brown, PA News, 13 March 2002) UK. The outcome of the most serious dioxin contamination incident in the UK has reached an incredible conclusion. A Crown Court judge decided that for its part in spreading highly contaminated incinerator ash from the Byker Combined Heat and Power plant around Newcastle for 6 years, the operators of the plant, Heat & Power Ltd., should pay a paltry £5,000 fine. The other 'partners in crime,' Newcastle City council, were fined £25,000 with both parties sharing costs of £35,000. "It's amazing how anyone participating in spreading thousands of tons of incinerator ash containing heavy metals and dioxin around a major British city for 6 years can walk away with such piffling fines" said Ralph Ryder of Communities Against Toxics (CATs). For full story see ToxCat vol.4, no.1 January-February 2002. (Ralph Ryder,ralph@tcpublications.freeserve.co.uk) UK. Zero Waste UK held
its first national conference on 16 February 2002 at the University
of Sussex. The conference featured the work of principal US and
British academics and entrepreneurs engaged in Zero Waste, including
GAIA members Bill Sheehan, GrassRoots Recycling Network, Jeff Morris,
Sound Resource Management Group and Paul Connett, Grassroots and
Global Video. Detailed summary of speakers' presentations is available
from CATS. USA. Within sight of sprawling Kodak Park,
activists urged state and federal health authorities on 19 March
2002 to step up health studies of the area around the Northeast's
largest chemical industrial complex. The Citizens' Environmental
Coalition (CEC) and 65 others groups, some from as far away as India,
signed letters sent to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry and the state Department of Health. "We feel
there is a need for more studies" by independent non-government
experts, said Mike Schade of Buffalo, western New York director
of CEC, a statewide group based in Albany. (Corydon
Ireland, Democrat and Chronicle, 20 March 2002) USA. Cancer Action NY has filed a Petition for Review in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, requesting judicial review of US EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman's denial of a Clean Air Act Section 303 petition calling for certain actions directed at the elimination of dioxin releases/open waste burning. (Donald Hassig,canceraction@hotmail.com) USA. Kodak Kids Clean Air Campaign calls for a statewide day of action on 25 April 2002 to protest Kodak's toxic emissions. (www.cectoxic.org) USA. The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition participated in a well-attended press conference in Sacramento on 26 February 2002 with Senators Byron Sher and Gloria Romero to announce the filing of two new bills designed to provide solutions to the e-waste crisis in California. The Coalition is also 1) working with more than 20 groups in a new national network, the Computer Take Back Campaign, 2) building a national grass roots campaign to establish producer responsibility for the entire life cycle of hazardous products, 3) promoting national solutions to e-waste, and 4) developing policy and market-based campaigns in several keys states. The SVTC is likewise making a major impact in the ongoing national dialogue where it serves on the steering committee and represents environmental organizations from around the country. (Ted Smith, tsmith@svtc.org) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- REPORT REVIEW Zero Waste Manual. Exnora International, a GAIA member based in Tamil Nadu, India, has published a manual on grassroots Zero Waste initiatives. Exnora, which stands for Excellent, Novel and Radical, is a broad-based NGO committed to community service, civic involvement and environmental protection. To get copies, write to exnora@vsnl.com. Incinerator Animation. Greenpeace UK has produced an animated illustration of how a municipal solid waste incinerator operates entilted "The incinerator tour: What they don't tell you." To view this animation, go to http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/incineratortour.htm . Video Film. "Nagara-Nyrmalya", a short video film, addresses the complex issues involved in solid waste management and the problems faced by "Pourakarmikas" (solid waste workers, also known as "Safai Karmacharis") in their efforts at maintaining healthy communities. The film is in Kannada language with English subtitles and runs for 11 minutes. For more details, contact the Environment Support Group (ESG) at esg@bgl.vsnl.net.in The ESG, a non-profit group, encourages communities in Bangalore, India to work with solid waste workers in maintaining healthy and clean neighborhoods. Video Documentary. "On the Road to Zero Waste," a video co-production of Grassroots and Global Video and the GrassRoots Recycling Network, chronicles the progress towards Zero Waste in Nova Scotia, Canada. Contact ggvideo@northnet.org for details. Report on Bhopal. "Surviving Bhopal, Toxics Present - Toxics Future," published by Srishti, as part of the ongoing Bhopal Fact Finding Mission. The report is a study on the environmental contamination around the vicinity of the Bhopal disaster site, and a contextual analysis of the environmental policy and legislative response of the Indian State. For information, write to srishtidel@vsnl.net Report on Zero Waste UK. The UK could be
a rubbish-free zone according to a revolutionary new report 'Zero
Waste' by leading waste expert Robin Murray. The report, published
by Greenpeace UK, explains how Britain could maximize recycling
levels, change product design to eliminate waste and find innovative
new uses for the rubbish we generate. The study also details the
government policies and finance needed to make Zero Waste a reality.
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EDITORIAL BURNING
ISSUES Citizen Initiative for a Wasteless
2002 World Cup Co-Editors: Writers/ Contributors:
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