Today is the Global Day of Action Against Waste Incineration, organized by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives.

Communities across five continents including 78 groups from 25 countries will celebrate with street actions, public conferences, special radio programs, and the launch of letter writing campaigns. The day of action coincides with the UN-sponsored talks on climate change that commenced this week in Cancun, Mexico. Incinerators are a major source of climate pollution, but waste reduction strategies aimed at achieving "zero waste" have significant climate benefits. By conserving resources, saving energy, and cutting greenhouse gas emissions, San Francisco, California provides a model with its goal of zero waste and currently achieving 77 percent waste diversion that has created over 1,000 local jobs.

"We are happy to be part of this international day of action because connecting with other communities who have experience fighting waste incineration has been a big help in our fight against the expensive and shortsighted proposal from Metro Vancouver," said Ben West, Healthy Communities campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.

"We have launched a letter writing campaign today to the new B.C. Minister of the Environment, Murray Coell, to ensure that he knows people in Metro Vancouver don't want their money spent on building new garbage burning facility," said West.

In recent years, communities around the U.S. and Canada have succeeded in preventing an influx of new toxic pollution and green house gases by confronting some of the world's dirtiest corporations in their backyards. As a result, no new waste incinerator has been built in North America in over a decade. Dozens of proposals to burn municipal waste, tires, and biomass have been stopped, and the world's largest waste incinerator, in Detroit, was recently shut down. But dozens of other communities continue to fight existing incinerators and new proposals, including in Metro Vancouver.

A new U.S. Energy Information Administration report lists incinerators as the most expensive way to create energy. At an estimated $8,232 (US) per kilowatt, incinerators cost two times as much as coal plants and 60 percent more than nuclear energy. Incinerator operating and maintenance costs are more staggering: ten times more than coal, and four times more than nuclear. This is why incinerators require public subsidies and economic incentives to operate.

"This report illustrates why we simply cannot afford incineration as an energy or waste option," stated Monica Wilson of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. "Incinerators pose serious economic and health risks for communities, while burning precious resources, wasting jobs and destabilizing the global climate."

Such high costs have placed many communities in serious financial straits. The Detroit Covanta incinerator cost local residents more than a billion dollars over the last 20 years and the Pennsylvania State Capitol, Harrisburg, is currently facing bankruptcy due to the costs of building and upgrading a Covanta waste incinerator.

Along with high costs, public opposition to incineration has largely been fueled by community health concerns. Incinerators release cancer-causing pollutants and many are located in poor communities where residents have much higher rates of asthma and other respiratory illness than elsewhere. Covanta Energy, the world's largest incinerator company, was recently sued by the Connecticut Attorney General for toxic emissions from its Wallingford, Connecticut facility. Covanta also recently settled a legal challenge from the Ironbound Community Corporation of Newark, New Jersey for local health impacts.

"Incinerators produce more carbon dioxide per unit of energy than coal power plants," said Ben West. "While we are fighting to protect the health of our own communities, we are keenly aware that these polluting industries place the entire planet in peril. Community based solutions like shutting down incinerators and shifting to zero waste planning are the best ways to cool the planet," said West.

Contact:

Ben West, Wilderness Committee, Healthy Communities Campaigner, 604-710-5340

Ana I. Baptista, PhD, 973-589-3353 x213 or abaptista@ironboundcc.org: regarding a recent settlement against Covanta for environmental emissions violations from Covanta’s Newark, NJ, USA incinerator. This facility burns almost a million tons of garbage a year, half of which comes from New York City. Environmental & Planning Projects Director, Ironbound Community Corp, Newark, NJ.

Taryn Hallweaver, 207-712-6351: regarding incinerator proposals that leave communities breathing easier in Taunton, MA, USA and Atherton, MA, USA. Toxics Action Center, Boston, MA.

Chrisoula Marangoudakis, 413-636-5218: regarding a community campaign against a proposed incinerator in Springfield, MA.