12-25-2007, 01:54 PM
Just to add to what James and Jerry stated about pollution.
We have a private recycler near my mainland home that has a license to operate an experimental WTE incinerator for university research and under their control. Because they are doing massive pollution monitoring, they test for pollution beyond the standards required for the type of commodities they burn. They have an excellent safety record, but they do shut down often due to the presence of toxic and hazardous particles.
Although they burn selected products like contaminated paper, wood, certain plastic and cloths, because they are taking products from the general public, often banned items enter the fuel source. A cigarette box with old AA batteries can trigger a shut down. Mercury from a light bulb that was smashed over clothing. Drain cleaner left inside a plastic bottle. All these have entered the incinerator even with their increased inspection.
Now imagine an incinerator where the fuel source was raw garbage and they didn’t have the means of inspecting the vast majority of the fuel source. I doubt a municipal WTE program would be so diligent in inspecting the fuel before incineration. As a final thought, by the time the hazardous particles and gases are detected, they are already being released into the atmosphere. In this experimental program, they have the luxury of immediately shutting down the incinerator for examination, and to locate the souce of the banned item, and how it entered the system. Do you think a commercial WTE generator would do that?
We have a private recycler near my mainland home that has a license to operate an experimental WTE incinerator for university research and under their control. Because they are doing massive pollution monitoring, they test for pollution beyond the standards required for the type of commodities they burn. They have an excellent safety record, but they do shut down often due to the presence of toxic and hazardous particles.
Although they burn selected products like contaminated paper, wood, certain plastic and cloths, because they are taking products from the general public, often banned items enter the fuel source. A cigarette box with old AA batteries can trigger a shut down. Mercury from a light bulb that was smashed over clothing. Drain cleaner left inside a plastic bottle. All these have entered the incinerator even with their increased inspection.
Now imagine an incinerator where the fuel source was raw garbage and they didn’t have the means of inspecting the vast majority of the fuel source. I doubt a municipal WTE program would be so diligent in inspecting the fuel before incineration. As a final thought, by the time the hazardous particles and gases are detected, they are already being released into the atmosphere. In this experimental program, they have the luxury of immediately shutting down the incinerator for examination, and to locate the souce of the banned item, and how it entered the system. Do you think a commercial WTE generator would do that?