Consider alternatives to mega-incinerator, plead Broga residents
Claudia TheophilusPublished: Jan 25, 2005 5:26 PM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 6:21 PM
Anti-incinerator proponents have asked Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to seriously consider alternative waste disposal methods that have been successfully tried and tested in more developed countries.
Anti-incinerator opponents have outlined their case in a memorandum to the premier for waste disposal methods other than incineration.
Anti-incinerator proponents have asked Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to seriously consider alternative waste disposal methods that have been successfully tried and tested in more developed countries.
Semenyih/Broga No Incinerator pro tem action committee member Dr Amir Hisham Hashim said Malaysia should follow the current trend that is seeing a move away from incineration.
"(The trend is) due to the high cost associated with operating and maintaining (an incineration) plant," he said in an eight-page memorandum that was submitted to Abdullah on Jan 12.
In addition, scientists have realised that incineration creates more problems than are solved, for example, on issues such as the storage of toxic bottom-ash.
Amir Hisham, who owns a house in Taman Tasik Semenyih located less than one kilometre from the proposed controversy-ridden 1,500-tonne incinerator plant, said several alternatives are available.
Among them are waste streaming, mechanical and biological treatment, use of paper over plastics and the undertaking of responsibility for garbage generated within each municipality.
The Department of Environment (DOE), he said, has violated existing laws by granting approval on May 28, albeit conditional, for the environmental impact assessment (EIA) study carried out in relation to the project.
Amir Hisham said DOE director-general Rosnani Ibarahim had told Broga villagers at a previous meeting that she would be the first to reject the EIA report if the incinerator was sited in a water catchment area.
"Based on our research, the location has been determined to be in a water catchment area but the EIA was still approved," he said.
"(In fact), the EIA (also failed) to take into account guidelines prohibiting development on hill slopes with a gradient of more than 25 degrees due to the risk of landslides."
Absence of data
Amir Hisham, an engineering lecturer at a local university, said there were insufficient details on Japan's fluidised-bed gasification and ash-melting technology slated for the RM1.5 billion incinerator.
"The EIA report does not have long-term data on the technology to approve it as this is a very recent technology ... operational for only two years in Japan.
"The safety assurances so far has come from the contractor, a party which is keen to sell its product to the Malaysian public."
He said in Japan where there are strict environmental laws, Ebara Corp has been known to break the laws and fined millions of dollars.
"We raised this with Housing and Local Government Minister Ong Ka Ting who promised to look into it. It's been two years now and there has been no feedback on the probe."
He noted that the ministry, which is the project proponent, has been unable to give similar assurances.
"The EIA report also did not address the deterioration of the plant's pollution control apparatus nor did it specify any maintenance schedule or accountability of the operator in the event of a leakage," said Amir Hisham.
Size matters
Furthermore, he said, the report did not specify any safety mechanism which can detect incinerator emissions.
The EIA, he said, failed to address the disposal of the highly-toxic scrubber water into the local ground water system which is a potential hazard to the environment.
"The report did not give clear directives on the issue of disposing the bottom-ash by-product, another highly-toxic substance.
"But the DOE did something good by recognising the toxicity of the bottom-ash and rejecting the dumping of it in the area (by rejecting the sanitary landfill proposed nearby)," he added.
Elaborating on the bottom- and fly-ash, Amir Hisham said most toxins particularly dioxins were formed at this stage.
Although most of the fly-ash can be trapped before exiting through the chimney, he said the accumulated levels of escaped fly-ash could pose a danger due to the sheer size of the plant.
He also noted that the highly-toxic bottom-ash is treated in some countries as seriously as nuclear waste.
"Our concern is that the bottom-ash will be piled on open ground prior to disposal and blown to our houses less than two kilometres away.
"And since proper disposal of bottom-ash is expensive, we are concerned that the operators will try to save cost by neglecting the necessary precautions."
To illustrate the size of the Broga plant, he said that in many countries, a 400 tonne/day capacity incinerator would be classified as large.
"This means the Broga would be equivalent to four big incinerators at the same location. The negative effects are unknown as incinerators of this size and type have never existed in great numbers."
In 1998, he said, public pressure and a proposal by the World Health Organisation had prompted the Japan government to shut down more than 2,000 incinerators.
It also reportedly earmarked US$690 million the following year for monitoring and other projects to tackle dioxin contamination.
Semenyih/Broga No Incinerator pro tem action committee member Dr Amir Hisham Hashim said Malaysia should follow the current trend that is seeing a move away from incineration.
"(The trend is) due to the high cost associated with operating and maintaining (an incineration) plant," he said in an eight-page memorandum that was submitted to Abdullah on Jan 12.
In addition, scientists have realised that incineration creates more problems than are solved, for example, on issues such as the storage of toxic bottom-ash.
Amir Hisham, who owns a house in Taman Tasik Semenyih located less than one kilometre from the proposed controversy-ridden 1,500-tonne incinerator plant, said several alternatives are available.
Among them are waste streaming, mechanical and biological treatment, use of paper over plastics and the undertaking of responsibility for garbage generated within each municipality.
The Department of Environment (DOE), he said, has violated existing laws by granting approval on May 28, albeit conditional, for the environmental impact assessment (EIA) study carried out in relation to the project.
Amir Hisham said DOE director-general Rosnani Ibarahim had told Broga villagers at a previous meeting that she would be the first to reject the EIA report if the incinerator was sited in a water catchment area.
"Based on our research, the location has been determined to be in a water catchment area but the EIA was still approved," he said.
"(In fact), the EIA (also failed) to take into account guidelines prohibiting development on hill slopes with a gradient of more than 25 degrees due to the risk of landslides."
Absence of data
Amir Hisham, an engineering lecturer at a local university, said there were insufficient details on Japan's fluidised-bed gasification and ash-melting technology slated for the RM1.5 billion incinerator.
"The EIA report does not have long-term data on the technology to approve it as this is a very recent technology ... operational for only two years in Japan. "The safety assurances so far has come from the contractor, a party which is keen to sell its product to the Malaysian public."
He said in Japan where there are strict environmental laws, Ebara Corp has been known to break the laws and fined millions of dollars.
"We raised this with Housing and Local Government Minister Ong Ka Ting who promised to look into it. It's been two years now and there has been no feedback on the probe." He noted that the ministry, which is the project proponent, has been unable to give similar assurances.
"The EIA report also did not address the deterioration of the plant's pollution control apparatus nor did it specify any maintenance schedule or accountability of the operator in the event of a leakage," said Amir Hisham.
Size matters
Furthermore, he said, the report did not specify any safety mechanism which can detect incinerator emissions.
The EIA, he said, failed to address the disposal of the highly-toxic scrubber water into the local ground water system which is a potential hazard to the environment.
"The report did not give clear directives on the issue of disposing the bottom-ash by-product, another highly-toxic substance.
"But the DOE did something good by recognising the toxicity of the bottom-ash and rejecting the dumping of it in the area (by rejecting the sanitary landfill proposed nearby)," he added.
Elaborating on the bottom- and fly-ash, Amir Hisham said most toxins particularly dioxins were formed at this stage.
Although most of the fly-ash can be trapped before exiting through the chimney, he said the accumulated levels of escaped fly-ash could pose a danger due to the sheer size of the plant.
He also noted that the highly-toxic bottom-ash is treated in some countries as seriously as nuclear waste.
"Our concern is that the bottom-ash will be piled on open ground prior to disposal and blown to our houses less than two kilometres away.
"And since proper disposal of bottom-ash is expensive, we are concerned that the operators will try to save cost by neglecting the necessary precautions."
To illustrate the size of the Broga plant, he said that in many countries, a 400 tonne/day capacity incinerator would be classified as large.
"This means the Broga would be equivalent to four big incinerators at the same location. The negative effects are unknown as incinerators of this size and type have never existed in great numbers."
In 1998, he said, public pressure and a proposal by the World Health Organisation had prompted the Japan government to shut down more than 2,000 incinerators.
It also reportedly earmarked US$690 million the following year for monitoring and other projects to tackle dioxin contamination.
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