On the Global Day of Action against Waste Incineration the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) made up by 63 associations (including Ecologists in Action) from 88 countries urged the government to support and prioritise waste prevention, reduction, reusing, recycling and composting programmes. These programmes, also known as Zero Waste strategies, should be among the plans financed by funds directed at mitigating the effects of climate change.
This year the Global Day of Action against Waste Incineration coincides with the climate change meeting in Bangkok, Thailand which started on the 28th of September. The new global deal on climate change should support should support the efforts made to reduce waste by financially assisting recovery and recycling strategies.
Ecologists in Action has been pleading for the adoption of Zero Waste plans for years. These plans would be a more favourable option for global climate than trying to dump waste on landfills or incinerators, including the ones that “recover” energy or use the waste as fuel in cement ovens.
Zero Waste strategies have very important benefits for the climate since they conserve resources, save energy and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. Moreover Zero Waste programmes create jobs and strengthen local economies.
Accordingly, a report recently published by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reveals that in the United States 42% of greenhouse gas emissions is related to the manipulation of materials. The study calculates that there would be a significant reduction of these emissions if different policies were put into practices in order to reduce the quantity of waste and improve the design of products facilitating their recycling.
The study demonstrates that it would be possible to avoid emissions equivalent to 150 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year if we could double the recycling percentage of waste proceeding form construction and demolition. If the quantity of packaging could be reduced to half, the emission of 105 million tons of CO2 would be avoided.
Projects like the combustion of landfill gases, the incineration of waste or other kinds of “energy recovery” are incompatible with options such as reutilisation, recycling and composting given that they destroy resources (like paper, plastic or organic leftovers) that meant to be recycled or composted.
In practice, financial investment in landfill sites and incinerators detract funds that could be assigned to reduction, recovery and recycling. The upcoming Climate Summit that will take place in Copenhagen should create financial mechanisms that support the efforts of Zero Waste and direct funds to projects which aim to reduce, reuse and recycle resources.
