Incineration

Trash incineration is the most polluting and expensive way to manage waste or to make energy. It’s dirtier than burning coal and is most damaging than simply landfilling trash. For every 100 tons burned, 70 tons are injected into the air as air pollution and the other 30 tons become toxic ash that is buried in landfills, making the landfills smaller, but more toxic. It’s not the size of landfills that is harmful, but their toxicity. There is not a shortage of landfill space in the region. Rather than use incineration to reduce waste going to landfills, a Zero Waste system can make landfills smaller and less dangerous by redesigning products, reducing waste and packaging, reusing materials, recycling, composting, and processing waste properly before landfilling the small amount remaining.

Read more about incineration and how it’s harmful to people’s health and how it contributes to environmental racism.