A global anti-incinerator movement is urging the government to stop any incineration technology from being implemented in Malaysia.

Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (Gaia) international co-coordinators Ann Leonard and Von Hernandez said modern incinerators are the most expensive approach to waste management.

Prohibitive costs

Gaia, with its twin, the Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance, comprises 360 non-profit grassroots groups and individuals from 66 countries, including Malaysia.

It seeks to phase out all forms of waste incineration and promote clean production, zero waste and sustainable waste management.

"Construction alone can (run into) hundreds of millions of US dollars," they said in a joint statement issued from Gaia's Manila-based international secretariat today, with copies to The Star, The Sun and New Straits Times .

"Incinerator companies and international financial institutions have devised various complicated financing schemes to lock governments into long-term payments, which have often proven disastrous for local governments."

They were responding to reports o­n the RM1.5 billion mega-incinerator project proposed in Broga. The project has been dogged by controversy over the soundness of Japan's latest 'zero emission' technology as well as the source of funds.

Leonard and Hernandez said many US towns had been driven into debt because of incinerator projects.

Toxic materials

Leonard and Hernandez said incinerator operators often face technical problems and fail to reach the designated operational standards. Even the standards themselves are inadequate to ensure protection of public health or the environment, they claimed.

"The 10 municipal waste incinerators in Britain combined exceeded their emissions limits 533 times in a single year. Residual incinerator ash contains many toxic materials and presents a grave public health threat," they said.

In addition, incinerators are a major source of mercury, a powerful neurotoxin which impairs motor, sensory and cognitive functions, and causes or exacerbates a wide range of health problems.

"Acid gases such as hydrogen chloride, hydrogen flouride, hydrogen bromide and sulfur oxides can damage incinerators, primarily by corroding air pollution control equipment, and are also precursors of acid rain.

"Incinerator emissions have also been shown to be mutagenic... they alter human DNA."

Leonard and Hernandez, quoting the United Nations Environment Programme, said incinerators were the leading source of dioxin - the most toxic man-made substance known - into the global environment.

"A newly-published study of adolescent children living near two incinerators found elevated levels of PCBs, dioxins and metabolites of volatile organic compounds in their blood."

They said this could lead to delayed sexual maturation, delayed breast development in girls and genital

development in boys, and reduced testicular volume among boys.

Call to government

The study also found that incinerators in Japan were estimated to cause 93% of dioxin air emissions, followed by Switzerland (85%), Britain (79%) and Denmark (70%).

Leonard and Hernandez quoted the 1999 European Dioxin Inventory that "despite considerable effort having been spent during the last years to decrease the emissions from municipal waste incinerators, this source type still dominates the input of (dioxins) into the atmosphere".

They said: "We encourage Malaysia to follow the example of zero waste approaches which have been implemented in several Third World cities, including Cairo (Egypt), Curitiba (Brazil) and Mumbai (India).

"(These cities) have succeeded in composting and recycling the vast majority of municipal discards, and proven capable of reducing waste going to landfill by as much as 85%.

"We call upon the Malaysian government and its business and funding partners to stop the destructive practice of incinerating waste and shift instead to least-cost waste prevention systems that conserve and enhance environmental justice and sustainable development for Malaysia."

Comprehensive approach

Leonard and Hernandez said adopting a zero waste approach not o­nly maintains valuable resources in municipal waste within the local economy but also creates job opportunities in many sectors.

They said Malaysia needs to have a comprehensive approach towards clean production in manufacturing facilities to avoid being stuck with the environmental, public health and economic burden of industrial and municipal wastes.

The proposed incinerator project, which will affect some 80,000 people from 25 housing estates in Broga, Semenyih, Kajang and Beranang, has faced stiff opposition from residents.

The pro tem action committee is especially concerned with the possible impact o­n a reservoir dam, given the fact that the proposed site sits smack in the middle of the Semenyih river basin which is a major water source for millions of households in the Klang Valley.

The government has been accused of breaching existing legal and procedural requirements, especially in awarding the contract to Japan's Ebara Corporation even before the environmental impact assessment study has been done.