Incineration vs landfill

I probably should explain.


Ms Sloop Junior (9) had homework that included getting information from the Internet comparing incineration and landfill methods of waste disposal. And without handing her a Greenpeace 145 page pdf file I couldn't find much information that wasn't highly partial. I just thought maybe one of the erudite crew would save my blushes.

Alas Ms Sloop is now long in bed and had to suffice with a brief synopsis from Britannica on-line.


SJB

is ask the poor buggers who have a land fill imposed on their neighbourhood!

New Labour think that landfill is great, particularly for nuclear waste judging by their recent shift in policy on energy!

Sorry for digressing, I really don't know the arguments for and against landfill and I agree that, for what is a major environmental contamination issue, too little public information and debate is addressed to the general public.

Peter

As far as I can remember, bearing in mind this is some of the arguments and not all...

Landfill is an easy convenient way to dispose of your waste. Until you run out of big holes in the ground that is. Landfill sites have to be very carefully implemented so as to protect the local watercourses from leachate. Leachate is a toxic goo that landfill eventually releases. It contains heavy metals, toxic chemicals and if not sealed in can make it to the water table or into the local soil crops etc. Landfill is localised pollution and what it will be like in 200 years time is not known.

Incineration on the otherhand has to be very strictly monitored to prevent the release of dangerous pollutants to atmosphere, dioxins being one. It is possible for a well maintained well regulated and well run incinerator to produce very few emissions due to the use of gas scrubbing technologies. Incineration also has a benefit that it can produce power for local use (converting heat to steam etc). Incinerators will by the nature of being air pollutors pollute much furthaer afield eg the classic british power stations producing acid rain that damaged the forests in scandinavia.

IMO a modern incinerator, well run and well regulated is a better solution than landfill.

The best solution has to involve waste minimisation by recycling/responsible packaging.

There are undoubtedly more pros and cons but these are the ones that I can readily remember.

Sorry if its too late for the homework


Tony

Thanks for that,

much more informative than Encyclopedia Britannica let me tell you.



SJB

Incineration for all its final sounding suggestion can also produce around 5% metal recycling as well as these do not burn up so can be extracted.

Listening to radio four the other day, it would kind of appear that the big burn when all is said and done is not as bad as was originally thought.