CAP: Phase out waste incineration

By NG SU-ANN

THE Government should phase out all forms of waste incineration by 2020, said Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) president S.M. Mohamed Idris.

If the European Union and the Philippines could manage their waste without incineration, Malaysia with its Vision 2020 should not use this obsolete, dirty and unsafe technology, he said.

“Malaysia must make waste reduction, reuse and recycling the cornerstone of its policy on waste management and zero-waste its target,” he said at a CAP forum on incinerators recently.

His speech was read out by his vice-president Mohideen Abdul Kader.

Idris said there was suffi- cient evidence to show that no matter how innovative or ad-vanced or in whatever other guise, incinerators inevitably produced toxic emissions, ashes and residue.

“There is enough scientific evidence implicating the impact of incinerator-driven dioxin releases on human health and well-being,” he added.

He suggested municipal recycling programmes include composting garden waste and imposing “pay-as-you-throw” garbage collection fees.

An American presenter, Gree-naction for Health and Environ-mental Justice director Bradley Angel, said there were several companies which claimed that their incinerators had zero emissions, were pollution-free and could convert waste into renewable energy.

“However, when we asked them for details and evidence, they could not produce them,” he said, adding that no technology could make everything disappear.