Building incinerator In the booklet Explanatory Booklet for the Proposed Integrated Waste Management Facilities, the government announced the overall waste management strategy and a specific action plan to tackle the imminent waste problem in Hong Kong in a comprehensive and timely manner. It included modern facilities for waste treatment that is building incinerators. The government has chosen two potential sites. The contraction and operation of incinerator will be following the European Union standards. This specification, as the most stringent ones, has been developed to regulate emissions from the facilities to ensure that the incinerator will not pose health risk to nearby residents during operation. The incinerator will be designed …show more content…
The unavoidably adverse effect of the construction of incinerator on the environmental aspect raise lots of concern. The environmental groups put their emphasis on the side effect to the marine ecosystem during the manufacturing of the incinerator. The habitat of Chinese white dolphin which is listed in the “Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance,” white-bellied sea eagle and Hong Kong blind sink which is an endemism in Hong Kong will be approximately affected or even destroyed. The hesitation of the creation of pest is also raised. (Building the Incinerator in Shek Kwu Chau – Environmental Group Reprimand “There is NO DOUBT It will Affect the Habitat”). In the booklet Explanatory Booklet for the Proposed Integrated Waste Management Facilities, the government also admits that the construction will “result a permanent loss of the habitat for Chinese white dolphin.” (Explanatory Booklet for the Proposed Integrated Waste Management Facilities, …show more content…
She notes that the waste volume decreased significantly even while both population and gross domestic product increased after the scheme implemented. Her example of Taiwan can demonstrate “reduction at source” is the root solution to solve the waste problem. With the purpose of settling the waste problem, the Hong Kong government seems to be seeking solutions actively. The government, however, is neglecting the key element of the problem. It is noticed that either setting up the incinerator or expanding the landfill area are only methods tackling the problem at the surface, but not the root. Although the government claims that she has “learnt from the experiences of other metropolises in the region at a similar stage of economic development,” (Green Hong Kong February 2011. 1) which are Taiwan, Japan and Singapore, it is actually misleading the general public. The above-named countries are not using incinerators as their “only” treatment, nor even a “main option” of waste management, it is observed that there are lots of policy to coordinate with. They are using, instead, “Producer Responsibility Scheme.” By a close coordination of the
Imagine yourself in the middle of a rainforest, listen to the sounds around you, smell the fresh air, hear the wildlife; take that image and get rid of the trees around you, the sounds of wildlife, and the smell of fresh air. Instead of a rainforest you are now in the middle of a seemingly endless sea of trash and waste. The fresh scent in the air gone, the sprawling land of greenery and trees gone, and the sounds of the forest is reduced to the sound of heavy machinery trying vainly to reduce trash into smaller more compact waste.
Consequently, new techniques to deal with garbage have been attempted.. Recycling is but one example of a solution. Through recycling, old products like aluminum cans and glass bottles would be made into new products. While recycling has enjoyed success in the United States, many question its efficiency. Other suggestions range from shipping garbage to other areas to incineration. All these proposals to the garbage problem go under such scrutiny and examination in an effort to achieve some perfect solution to the disposal problem.
The US is the number one producer of garbage all over the world, consuming 30% of the planet’s resources and producing 30% of all its wastes. The number is surprising considering that the US is home to just 4% of the global population. As the world modernizes and the population grows, producing more waste, waste management programs need to improve. Many are pointing to San Francisco because the city achieved an 80% landfill diversion rate, the highest in the nation. Furthermore, the city has set a goal of zero waste by 2020, meaning that no material goes to landfill or high-temperature destruction. Although specific programs many not be suitable or appropriate to imitate in other parts of the world, San Francisco has become the nation’s leader and model city for waste management and recycling in the US due to its unique geographical characteristics, mandatory recycling laws, public participation, and efficient recycling system.
Although the concept might seem easier to implement, numerous outstanding grievances hinder its implementation. From the research conducted, there are both internal and external hindrances in the society that would affect it implementation. After the implementation of the ideas, there would be both short and long-term effects in the society. There would be improved way of life as well as a conserved environment free from unregulated waste disposal. The implementation would be done in phases depending on the workload in each
A garbage crisis is at hand. As a nation, we have begun to worry that the growing mounds of wastes will only continue to increase as the means of disposal become further restricted. Government agencies and public officials are urgently trying to find a solution. The waste dilemma has become the centerpiece of the politics of garbage.
New York City is one of the biggest and most influential cities in the world. With a visible impact over the entire US, and perhaps the entire world, New York stands as one of the two only cities in the world (with London) recognized by the Globalization and World Cities Network (GaWC) as an “Alpha + + city”, described as a city “vastly more integrated with the global economy than any other cities” (The World According to GaWC 2012). To this day New York City continues to grow and further expand its influence over the rest of the world, continuously attracting more businesses and workers to The Big Apple. Although New York is a world pioneer in countless industries, there are others that need to catch up, namely the waste and garbage disposal industry. The rapid growth of the city’s consuming habits and population has left the industry behind, leaving the outdated methods of collection and disposal trying to play a game of catch-up that is negatively affecting the city’s growth potential. For New York City to continue with its pattern of population, economic and influence prosperity and growth, the government and private sector must come together to change every step of the cycle involved (from the buying of the product to its last stop before being dealt with) to create a more sustainable and more long-term orientated strategy to fix this growing problem.
Trash burning plants and landfills contribute to pollution. By focusing on recycling, reusing and composting, the need for trash burning plants and landfills will be eliminated and therefore the level of pollution will be reduced. Public health also can be improved, by eliminating trash burning sites and landfills and reducing the potential spread of disease. Landfills are not safe locations, so the general safety of the population also should be improved. By eliminating the need for landfills, more land will be available for positive use. Recycling plants will be needed as well as locations to share no longer wanted items to be reused by others. Composting can be done on a local level and even completed on one’s property if room exists. The proposed waste solution will have a positive impact on our city and the benefits far outweigh the
Incinerators should be on the low end of possible uses of waste. The first option in what should be done about waste is reduce. If individuals keep creating more and more waste without trying to cut some out, it will be a vicious cycle that never ends. The next step in the waste hierarchy is reuse. To reuse means to use a product or material again without really changing it chemically. Some examples of items that can be reused include: plastic bags, jars, newspapers, packaging materials, and even wood. These are items that can be found around a person’s home and instead of throwing it away after the first use, it can be reused for other things or donated for someone else to use. The third step in the waste management hierarchy is recycling. Recycling is the process of collecting and reprocessing materials to make them suitable for reuse. If the first two are done correctly in the series of solid waste management, then by the time recycling comes into play the items have already been used multiple times and has already saved time and money. The fourth step in waste management should be turning waste into energy. This is when the incinerator comes into play but still is not the last step. The final step in the waste management process should be the landfill. This takes up the most space and takes a long time, if at all, for waste to
Generally people do not think about how much they waste as a human. As they go through their daily routine, they rarely stop to think about the things that they waste on a daily. Recently, the amount of waste humans create on a daily basis has been unbearably overwhelming. The United states is running out of ways to dispose of all the waste humans create. Waste is an issue that causes many problematic issues in the world, that has longing effects. Many individuals must realize that waste is a huge issue and one must be conservative to manage waste.
Burning waste is not good at all for human health. It’s disturbing smell cause by burning plastic, rubber and some other artificial object can cause lot of trouble...
One of the most usually used methods for disposing E-waste is to bury it. Mining voids or borrow depths can be used in land filling. E-wastes ending up as landfills may release pollutants to the environment after some years by natural ways. Leaching some wastes such as batteries may possibly release acids and heavy metals like: mercury, nickel, and cadmium. Moreover, E-wastes landfills may pollute groundwater (Schmidt, 2002; Yang, 1993). Diffusing to the land, polluted water will mix with other water sources such as rivers and streams hence reaching animals and humans (Kasassi et al., 2008). Organic and decayed materials in landfills decompose and penetrate through the soil as landfill leachate containing high concentrations of polluting substances
Policy is needed to regulate which course of action should be taken and how it should be implemented. Because of this, many plans and policies revolving around the management of solid waste have been put in place. Sometimes however, a particular policy can have its shortfalls, potentially resulting in its negative aspects outweighing the positive ones. According to the Conference Board of Canada Report, “Canadians dispose of more municipal solid waste per capita than any other country” (2013). Solid waste management in particular, involves many aspects, ranging from packaging waste, food waste, etc. (White & Franke 1999), hence, the following analysis revolves around household and commercial waste – referred to as Municipal Solid Waste (White & Franke. 1999) – in the Greater Vancouver Regional District. Municipal waste is a major health and environmental concern as it contributes to numerous problems like habitat destruction, surface groundwater pollution, and other forms of air, soil, and water contamination. Waste disposal methods like incineration create toxic substances, and landfills emit methane, which contributes to global warming. According to the Zero Waste Objective Report, “The impact of climate change and the increasing awareness of the role of “waste” and “wasting” in the production of greenhouse gas emissions is a constant environmental pressure… (2009). This leads to an increasing limitation of government to prevent and control the volume and toxicity of products in the waste stream and a growing need to shift responsibility to the product manufacturer.
Traditional methods of waste disposal have proven to be ineffective and have caused harmful effects on the environment. The most popular and inexpensive way to get rid of garbage is burial, but burying your problems does not necessarily mean getting rid of them. Landfill sites pose as severe ecological threats as these mass garbage dump yards overflow with trash and frequently contaminate our air, soil and water with hazardous wastes. About 400 million tons of hazardous wastes are generated each year1. A large-scale release of these materials can cause thousands of deaths and may poison the environment for many years. For example many industrial companies around the world cannot afford to enforce the strict pollution regulations set by many developed countries. This usually forces these types of companies to move to developing countries where pollution regulations are very lenient. These developing countries knowingly accept environmentally hazardous companies usually because they are in desperate need of employment. The harmful effects of these companies were clearly illustrated in the 1960s and 1970s when residents living near Minamata Bay, Japan, developed nervous disorders, tremors, and paralysis in a mysterious epidemic. The root was later found to be a local industry that had released mercury, a highly toxic element, into Minamata Bay. The disaster had claimed the lives of 400 people1. Since 1970 you can bet that a lot more than 400 people have died as a result of waste disposal. If the type of waste disposal were cheaper and effective we wouldn’t have to deal with waste problems, which still plague mankind today.
The United States produces “about 8.25 billion tons of solid wastes each year” (Russell 1). People do not realize the impact they have on our planet and environment. When people throw anything in the trashcan, they are contributing to the destruction of our planet. The number landfills in the United States are decreasing, but the amount and volume of waste being thrown into the new landfills is increasing (Russell 4). Because of this escalating amount of garbage, Methane which contributes to global warming is an outcome of these landfills (Russell 7). As a result, our planet is suffering because of this epidemic. The garbage being put in the landfills could be recycled, but not enough businesses, ...
Row, J., (2010). Pros and cons of incineration for landfill relief. Bright Hub. Retrieved: November 11, 2010, from: http://www.brighthub.com/engineering/civil/articles/89810.aspx