Waste Not! Carroll

From the Carroll County Times,  July 7, 2010

By Gregor Becker

Incinerator costs are a huge issue. Health costs are my concern; difficult to pinpoint, impossible to definitively identify the source. It's futile to assert incinerator emissions are at fault. Indeed, we breathe them now all the time, emissions on the wind from sources near and far.

The three sources of greatest concern are incinerators, coal-fired electric plants and cement kilns. Still, some might say, if we breathe emissions now, why not an incinerator to burn garbage?

The Harford County incinerator emits nearly 200 substances. Only 12 are required to be monitored. Toxins include lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and dioxin, "one of the most toxic elements ever made," according to Stolen Future. These are emitted as fly ash and nanoparticles. These fine particles are easily absorbed through the nose to the brain. They settle on grass that livestock eat and on crops. Particles settle on surface waters. Thus, incinerator emissions move up the food chain. Breathing toxins won't kill you right away. Toxins just add to your body burden.

Montgomery County ships its residue-bottom ash to a hazardous waste dump. We'll use ours as landfill cover at the Northern Landfill. Bottom ash isn't classified as hazardous. The EPA has not attempted to ban a toxic chemical since 1989. That could be a clue.

Massachusetts has had a ban on new incinerators for nearly 15 years. Delaware bans incinerators near schools and hospitals.

You may well wish garbage would just go away; burn it, bury it, you don't care. But if you stop and wonder why we are about to be the first new incinerator in the U.S. in 15 years, or you wonder why some communities have achieved 75 to 95 percent recycling rates, you might pause.

This is our legacy. You can bury our toxins and recyclables or breathe them or you can reduce, reuse, recycle and minimize that legacy. At our house we try not to buy trash such as Styrofoam. It isn't currently recycled, yet takes perhaps 500 years to degrade. We buy eggs from local small farms in recyclable cardboard cartons that are returned for reuse when we get new eggs.

That strategy isn't for everyone. If your supplier understood you might buy more eggs in a recyclable container that could make a difference. This isn't a call for a boycott. It's a wakeup call about our trash legacy for future generations.

Gregor Becker

Westminster