Incinerator

[Royall]

This was posted on the HPP information site. Some may be interested in this. Click link below for more posted there on this subject.

http://hppneighbor.proboards30.com/index.cgi?board=General&action=display&thread=1152380442

QUOTE:

Update on incinerator.
The County Council Environmental Management Committee will be meeting Tuesday, August 22, at 2 p.m.
The garbage incinerator is on the agenda (as "Solid Waste Reduction Facility". The meeting is at the County Building, Aupini Street.
Problems with garbage incineration include: toxins (especially dioxin), wasting recyclable resources, a history of serious financial problems for other communities, and the companies that are proposing the Hilo incineration have a long history of legal problems (violation of environmental regulations, commission of felonies, etc).
I have more details, including references, for any one who would like to know more.
Meanwhile, PLEASE notify Council Member Gary Safarik (961-8267, gsafarik@co.hawaii.hi.us) that the proposed garbage incinerator is not acceptable.


Royall

What goes around comes around!

[mella l]

Oh great, good luck with this! Hey we could turn Hilo into Kona, Gog = Garbage gases, instead of VOG = Volcanic gases.

Way to go Royall, thanks for sharing this with us.

mella l

[Carolann R]

HeeeHeee Mella! So whaddya tryin' to say?!


Carrie

"The opportunities to reach into the lives of others in an inspiring way arise in countless ways every single day..." Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

http://www.hellophoenix.com/art

[mella l]

Ok guess that should have been GAG, Garbage air gases!

Well I don't know but it seems to me that many areas concerned about the quality of the air, that have control of that quality, or strive to, do things a little differently, than burning garbage.

I'm not sure it is the best thing, but here we take old gravel pits and pile in the garbage and drive D9 cats over and over it and make these compact mountains of the sludge and such. Then we mine the gases off the garbage. Of course this is just garbage, all paper products, plastics, glass and metal are already removed and recycled. Green waste is used for compost and returned to nurture the soil.

In Florida where the ground water table is very shallow, they also build Mt. Trashmores after recycling any reusable waste.

Poor Kona if the east side starts burning garbage.

mella l

[Les C]

I haven't read the proposal, but what if they burned the garbage to generate electricity and had scrubbers on the exhaust to clean it up? I don't know much about these technologies, so this may be a naive notion.

Les

[David D]

All manufacturing processes have their benefits and drawbacks. The key points are benefits over drawbacks, reliability of the process, and accountability. The solution, what ever it might be, to the garbage problem is NOT going to please everyone. And all potential solution should be given a fair shake during the evaluation process.

[Mahiai]

So what was the result of this meeting Aug. 22nd? Hopefully no incinerator.

[james weatherford]

The proposed incinerator for Hilo is intended to generate electricity.
Safe? Well, six states have banned incinerators. Not one new incinerator has been built in the USA in more than 10 years.
Pollutants generated are dioxin, mercury, lead, cadmium (very nasty stuff!). Pollution control is attempted, and testing is done once per year, with lots of notice that allows anyone who wants to to reduce likelihood of a bad test. Experiences in other communities have included inadequate maintenance that allowed toxic emissions, financial problems due to much higher than expected costs, and 'corporate citizens' from afar that could care less about what the local community wants. Incineration creates a disincentive for recycling -- contract requires a minimum amount of garbage to be delivered or the County is penalized financially.
Fair shake for all alternatives? Hello! This is the County Council with some certain individuals that just love projects with contracts going out to companies eager to reward those who help...
The proposal process was twisted from the outset to arrive at incineration.
How do I know? I was working at the County Council last year when the process was begun.
Options? Plenty of other communities have found better ways; and some progress is now being made at the grassroots here to get alternatives off the ground (more on this in the coming months).
Status of Hilo incineration proposal: The three companies are writng up their proposals, due in November. Project selection in March and Environmental Impact Statement to follow.
Opposition grows with awareness.
A getting-longer-every-day email list is keeping updates going out. Send my email address a message and you can be added.
Bottom line: incineration is about greed and corruption; and we can do better.


James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park

[HADave]

We experienced the very issue you are discussing now in our previous home town in Maine. It was the State's first cancer cluster as a direct result from incinerator ash and ground sludge generated from a local landfill, granted one on the main contributors was a Paper Co., but, They, went on to prove that much of the sludge They disposed of could not have been a cause of the many terminal issues being developed by families living in the area. I'll include a link to some reporting, it lead to such conditions as cancer, brain tumors, seizures etc in both children and adults. Fortunately landfills and incenerators are now a thing of the past but it was very sad to hear the stories of the families as everyone involved did their best to turn a deaf ear with only one concern, not our fault! Please folks do all you can to end the use of these means of disposal as history from our home town proves it very hazardous.

http://lists.essential.org/dioxin-l/msg01201.html

Good civic minded folks sometimes don't think it is possible that others might put very scary stuff in their trash just to avoid a little red tape or following of the rules....but it happens

Aloha HADave

[aline]

I hope everyone will work to stop an incerator from going in. We have had such bad experiences in Maine, like Dave said also the smell from our plant called Merc rafts through the city and it smells just like garbage. That should be real appealing to the people living and visiting Hilo. Cheaper electricity, maybe unless you take into account the health costs associated with breathing problems,cancers, and who knows what else and I'm sure it will certainly generate a lasting aroma for the tourists to talk about