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Global Action Against |
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By Environmenal News Service LONDON, UK, June 18, 2002 (ENS) - On Monday, some 125 environmental and citizen groups from 54 countries launched the first Global Day of Action Against Waste Incineration. Events around the world continue throughout the week.
The Global Day of Action challenged governments to put a stop to incineration of waste, which critics say emit deadly toxics, and move towards sustainable waste systems. Friends of the Earth UK (FOE) called on the government to rule out the building of new incinerators and concentrate instead on improving the UK's "woeful" recycling record. Today, a Zero Waste Parliamentary meeting took place in Westminster to launch the Zero Waste Charter and Ten Point Plan supported by Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, SERA, Communities Against Toxics and the UK Zero Waste Alliance. Recycling experts demonstrated how authorities elsewhere in the world are now recycling and composting between 60 percent and 85 percent and moving towards a Zero Waste concept. This means that waste is valued as resources, toxic and non-recyclable materials are eliminated, and products are designed for durability and recyclability. FOE says people fear the impact incineration may have on their health. Claire Wilton, incineration campaigner at Friends of the Earth said, "Communities across the UK are fighting vigorous campaigns to prevent incinerators being built in their area. They are deeply worried about the potential impacts on their health and recognize that burning our waste is harmful to the environment. "The government must get to grips with this problem by calling a halt to new incinerators, reducing waste and dramatically improving our record on recycling," urged Wilton. "Every household should have a doorstep recycling service so recycling is as easy as putting out our rubbish." Although modern incinerators are designed to reduce polluting emissions, they still emit chemicals that cause concern. Smoke, gases and toxic ash can contain dioxins which are harmful even at low levels. The chemicals released from incinerators cause a variety of health problems; immune and reproductive system defects, spontaneous abortions, respiratory diseases, diabetes, hormone disruption and cancers, critics say. Toxic ash left from the burning is disposed of in landfills, warns FOE, where it can release harmful chemicals into rivers and streams. In Sydney, Australia today, Greenpeace accused the federal government of ignoring the Stockholm Convention, a treaty governing the emission of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) by failing to initiate the process of ratifying and passing it into domestic law during the 12 months since it was signed.
Also today, the 6th Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on the Stockholm Convention opened in Geneva. Delegates addressed implementation plans, and developed plans for technical assistance, technology transfer, and capacity building. POPs are chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in fatty tissues and are toxic to humans and wildlife. POPs circulate globally and can cause damage wherever they travel. In the early hours Monday morning in Auckland, Greenpeace New Zealand shut down Waste Resources Limited’ waste incinerator. Three activists scaled the chimney and placed a cap on the stack to prevent the incinerator firing up, before locking themselves to the chimney. “This incinerator is poisoning people and the environment with dioxin, one of the most toxic chemicals known. Dioxins cause cancer, birth defects, diabetes and infertility,” said Sue Connor, Greenpeace toxics campaigner. In a letter to the mayor of Haifa, Israel, Greenpeace Monday warned against the threat to public health if Haifa carries out its plan to build the first municipal waste incinerator in Israel. From the 127 meter high Atakule tower, a commercial tower that is the highest point in Turkey's capital, Ankara, Greenpeace activists from Holland, Lebanon, and Turkey abseiled below the revolving restaurant to hang a huge banner that read, "Ban the Burn." The Lebanese climber, Firas Fayad, said a Greenpeace campaign against incineration in Lebanon led to the closure of two operating incinerators in 1997 with a statement by the Ministry of Environment that incineration is not a solution to the waste problem. During the action in Ankara, Greenpeace lawyers filed a lawsuit in Adapazari, Turkey against the Ministry of Environment demanding that the agency cancel the operation permit of the Izmit Hazardous and Clinical Waste Incinerator in Izaydas. Local residents who face health hazards and displacement from their homes due to the operation of the Izaydas Clinical and Hazardous Waste incinerator showed up to support the Greenpeace actions. On Monday, as part of the global day of action, Greenpeace Nordic revealed that Denmark - considered by many to be champions in incineration - is quietly exporting hazardous waste from incinerators, and dumping it on an uninhabited Norwegian island, Langoya, part of which is a nature reserve. "For years Denmark has fooled the world by faking the merits of its incineration," said Jacob Hartmann, Greenpeace campaigner. "Instead of solving a waste problem by incineration, we are silently creating a new kind of hazardous waste - the ash from incinerators - and pushing it on to our neighbors in Norway." |
The 12 POPs banned by the Stockholm Convention include dioxins and furans, which are unwanted byproducts of waste incineration.
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