Incineration is one of the most debated technology in the EU for managing waste. From one hand it is credited of energy recovery, from those waste not recyclable, and of reducing both the amount of waste disposed of and the related emissions from landfills. From the other hand incineration of waste faces with strong opposition in many EU areas for, among the others, two main reasons: potential negative effect on waste recycling; health impact. In particular health impact is one of the most concerning aspect preventing the building of new plants. The present study focuses the attention of the evolution of technical and legal aspects concerning the gaseous emissions from waste incineration in the EU. The study highlights that starting from the 1980 there was detected a growing interest in reducing the pollutant concentration in the flue gases of waste incinerations as a consequence of a growing concern on both health and environment. This stimulated a continuous technological progress in both combustion processes and flue gas treatment technologies that reduced in a relevant measure all those pollutant charged to have negative impacts on health. Data showed a reduction in the global amount of dioxin and heavy metals emissions > 80% achieved in the last 30 years. Global emissions of other pollutant remained quite constant even if the amount of waste incinerated and the number of plants was increased noticeably.

Emissions from the Incineration of Municipal Solid Waste

Maria, Francesco Di
Writing – Original Draft Preparation
2022

Abstract

Incineration is one of the most debated technology in the EU for managing waste. From one hand it is credited of energy recovery, from those waste not recyclable, and of reducing both the amount of waste disposed of and the related emissions from landfills. From the other hand incineration of waste faces with strong opposition in many EU areas for, among the others, two main reasons: potential negative effect on waste recycling; health impact. In particular health impact is one of the most concerning aspect preventing the building of new plants. The present study focuses the attention of the evolution of technical and legal aspects concerning the gaseous emissions from waste incineration in the EU. The study highlights that starting from the 1980 there was detected a growing interest in reducing the pollutant concentration in the flue gases of waste incinerations as a consequence of a growing concern on both health and environment. This stimulated a continuous technological progress in both combustion processes and flue gas treatment technologies that reduced in a relevant measure all those pollutant charged to have negative impacts on health. Data showed a reduction in the global amount of dioxin and heavy metals emissions > 80% achieved in the last 30 years. Global emissions of other pollutant remained quite constant even if the amount of waste incinerated and the number of plants was increased noticeably.
2022
9781003231608
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11391/1535393
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact