Garbage Burning

Although the United States incinerates only about three percent of its municipal waste in modern resources recovery facilities, garbage burning is expected to increase substantially over the next several years because landfill space is disappearing. At the same time, concerns about emissions and residue from garbage burning, particularly dioxin, a highly toxic substance, have led many communities to oppose the building of garbage-burning plants “in their backyard.”

Questions about the potential benefits and about the environmental and social problems that garbage-burning plants may cause have led many people in the U.S. concerned with resource recovery to look to Europe for information about solid waste management practices and perspectives. This is so because of Europe’s long experience in burning large volumes of garbage to produce energy in densely populated regions. Most importantly, it has often been argued explicitly or by implication that garbage burning in Europe is “safe.” Otherwise, how could it be going on there for so long and how else could these plants be so readily accepted by European communities?

ВАРІАНТ IV