Join the Global Week of Action to Stop Incineration
Every day, communities around the world suffer the impacts of waste incinerators or so-called “waste-to-energy.” They pollute the air we breathe, burn through public funds, and worsen the climate crisis.
On October 13-16 2026, join GAIA members taking action to demand an end to waste incineration. Together, let’s show our leaders that they can choose a different path– where precious resources are conserved, not burned.
Why is waste incineration so harmful?
- It’s toxic to human health. Pollutants from incineration are associated with cancers, respiratory illnesses, infant deaths, and miscarriage.
- It makes climate change worse. Waste-to-energy is the most carbon-intensive way to manage waste, and releases the most greenhouse gases of any type of energy facility–1.7 times as much as coal-fired power plants.
- It undermines waste reduction. Waste incineration requires large volumes of waste to burn, forcing cities to burn waste that could be prevented, recycled, or composted.
- It’s a waste of money. Waste-to-energy incinerators are extremely expensive to build and operate, making it a risky investment for taxpayers, international financial institutions, and development banks– and draws capital away from proven zero waste solutions.
What should we do with our waste instead?
Across the globe, GAIA members have worked with their municipalities to develop successful zero waste systems that protect our climate, improve community health, save cities money, and create safe and dignified livelihoods– while making incineration obsolete. Over 550 municipalities around the world are already taking steps to transition to zero waste, by:
- Setting a goal to end waste disposal in dumps, landfills, and incinerators
- Holding producers accountable to design out waste and minimize material use
- Encouraging responsible consumption that stays within ecological limits
- Building systems and infrastructure to recover resources at their highest and best use
- Prioritizing social and environmental justice, with a particular focus on waste pickers and frontline communities
Hot off the Press! Global Week of Action Publications
The Burn Book: Incinerators that Threaten the Climate, Public Health, and our Finances
Despite the high-tech name of “waste-to-energy” and its sustainability claims, GAIA’s documentation of the financial, climate, and human health impacts of twenty incinerators worldwide paints a very different picture. Although these twenty incinerators and incinerator proposals ranged across the globe, it told the same story: decades of debt, a dark cloud of air pollution, and the burning of resources that could have been recycled, composted, or prevented altogether.
This toolkit compiles key facts, data and strategies to help communities and organizers understand the impacts of waste burning, challenge proposed or existing facilities, and engage in waste policy and planning decisions.
GAIA Asia Pacific’s Citizens’ Atlas on False Climate and Circularity Solutions found that 42 of 59 World Bank Group projects assessed in Asia Pacific supported incineration technologies between 2015 and 2026. From the proposed Smokey Mountain incinerator in Manila to 12 industrial waste-to-energy plants backed by ADB and AIIB in Thailand, these projects threaten communities, waste workers’ livelihoods, and environmental justice.
Europe already has too many incinerators. This new study by Equanimator for Zero Waste Europe uses the latest Eurostat data (2022) and finds that the EU has around 65 million tonnes of incineration overcapacity.
The report calls for a moratorium on new incineration capacity, EU-level coordination to close old plants step by step, and a change in EU law so that incineration is treated as disposal, not recovery.
Explore Global Week of Action Events
Global Week of Action Map
Find out about Global Week of Action events both in-person and online, and learn more about community campaigns to stop incineration across the world.
Have an event or campaign to submit?
Global Action Lab
The Global Action Lab is a virtual space for community members to learn from one another about anti-incineration campaign strategies, so together we can strengthen the movement away from burning and towards zero waste.
Between Thursday, October 15 and Friday October 16, GAIA and our members and friends will be hosting a series of free online events that are open to the public. Visit our events page to learn more and register!
Want to add your virtual event for the Global Action Lab? Submissions are welcome before September 25.
Take Action
Want to join the Global Week of Action but aren’t sure how? Learn more below about different actions you can take, as well as resources and templates.
Get your anti-incineration campaign on the map
GAIA is mapping community resistance to existing incinerators and incinerator proposals around the world. Have an incinerator/proposal in your neighborhood that you are fighting? Anything that people can do in solidarity with your campaign? Fill out the form below to put it on our Global Week of Action map.
Submit your anti-incinerator campaign
Envía tu campaña contra la incineradora
Share your anti-incineration campaign on social media
Want to create a social media campaign, or highlight the incinerator facility or proposal in your municipality as part of our Burn Book campaign? Check out our resources, suggested posts, and graphics templates to get started.
Create an in-person event
The Global Week of Action is a great opportunity to get more visibility for your local anti-incinerator campaign work. Whether it’s an educational outreach event, press conference, or meeting with local officials, by putting your event on the map you will be joining forces with other communities across the world.
Engage local media
A great way to amplify the impact of your Global Week of Action event is by engaging your local media outlets, especially making sure to emphasize that this action is part of a larger effort happening globally. This can include a press release, an opinion article, or pitch letters.
Best practices for writing opinion articles
Join the Virtual Global Action Lab
Between Thursday, October 15 and Friday October 16, GAIA and our members and friends will be hosting a series of free online events that are open to the public! Learn more below on how to attend, and contribute an online event.
