GLOBAL
ALLIANCE FOR INCINERATOR ALTERNATIVES (GAlA)
Global
Anti-Incinerator Alliance
INCINERATOR BANS AND MORATORIA
ARGENTINA:
2006: The city council of General Pueyrredon, in Buenos Aires province,
banned the construction of waste incinerators.
2005: Rosario city, province of Santa Fe, banned medical waste incineration.
The ordinance also makes it illegal for the city to contract incinerator
companies from other cities.
2005: Buenos Aires city approved a Zero Waste law that includes a ban on
municipal solid waste incineration, including waste to energy.
2004: Villa Allende, a city in the province of Cordoba, banned the construction
of waste incinerators and crematoria. In 2005 it also banned the entrance of
hazardous waste to its territory.
2004: The municipality of Villa Nueva, in the province of Cordoba, banned the
construction of incinerators and crematoria within the urban area, and zones of
future urban growth.
2004: The city council of Crespo, in the province of Entre Rios, outlawed the
construction of waste incinerators, including waste to energy plants, within 10
km from the urban area.
2004: The city of Totoras, in the province of Santa Fe, banned medical waste
incineration. The ordinance also banned the entrance of this type of waste for
treatment or disposal purposes.
2004: The city of Esquel, province of Chubut, banned waste incineration. The
ban also applies to pyrolysis, gasification, plasma arc and waste to energy
technologies.
2003: The city of Tres Arroyos, in Buenos Aires province, outawed the
construction of waste incinerators.
2003: The city Council of Granadero Baigorria, Santa Fe province, outlawed
medical waste incineration.
2002: The Buenos Aires City Council passed a law that bans incineration of
medical waste. This includes medical waste generated in the city and sent outside
for treatment.
2002: The City Council of Villa Constitucion, Santa Fe province, banned the
construction of incinerators.
2002: The City Council of Coronel Bogado, Santa Fe province, banned the
construction of incinerators.
2002: The City Council of Marcos Juarez, Cordoba province, outlawed the
construction of incinerators.
2002: The Municipal Council of Casilda, Santa Fe province, banned hazardous
waste incineration for 180 days. The resolution was extended for another 180
days in November 2002.
2002: The municipality of Palpala, in Jujuy province, banned the construction
of waste incinerators for medical and industrial wastes
2002: The City Council of Capitan Bermudez outlawed all type of waste
incineration.
2001: The province of San Juan banned crematoria in urban and semi-urban areas.
BRAZIL:
Municipality of Diadema , State of Sao Paulo: 1995 - Approves a law banning
incinerators for municipal waste. The city council states that the waste
problem should be tackled using reduce, reuse, and recycling policies.
CANADA:
Ontario: 2001 - Province of Ontario enacts a hazardous waste plan that includes
the phase-out of all hospital medical waste incinerators.
CHILE:
Banned incineration in several metropolitan areas of the country in 1976.
Resolucion 07077 issued 28 Sept 1976 in Santiago Chile.
CZECH REPUBLIC:
The town of Cepi (district Pardubice) bans construction of new waste
incinerators.
GERMANY:
North Rhine/Westfalia: 1995 - The largest, most populated and most
industrialized state in Germany bans municipal solid waste incinerators.
GREECE:
Approves legislation in 1994 declaring it illegal to bum hazardous waste in
waste-to-energy plants. In 2001, the Minister for the Environment formally
declared a policy of prohibiting municipal waste incineration.
INDIA :
Incineration of chlorinated plastics is banned nationally. The city of
Hyderabad in the state of Andhra Pradesh bans on-site hospital waste
incineration.
IRELAND:
Although no formal ban is in place, Ireland closed all of its medical waste
incinerators in 1999.
JAPAN :
In 1998, the Ministry of Health and Welfare revised the laws to allow disposal
of PCBs using chemical methods. While there is no formal ban on incineration of
PCBs, there is an informal proscription of incineration.
MALTA:
All public and private hospitals are to eliminate clinical waste incineration
by 2001.
PHILIPPINES:
In 1999, the Clean Air Act was passed which bans all types of waste
incineration. The law extends to municipal, medical and hazardous industrial
wastes. The Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 further strengthens
this ban with the promotion of proper segregation, collection, transport,
storage, treatment and disposal of solid waste through the implementation of
best environmental practices in ecological waste management, excluding
incineration.
SLOVAKIA:
Banned waste importation for incineration in 2001.
SPAIN:
Regional Government of Aragon bans hospital waste incineration.
UNITED STATES: STATES
Delaware: 2000 - State prohibits new solid waste incinerators within three
miles of a residential property, church, school, park, or hospital.
Iowa : 1993 - State enacts a moratorium on commercial medical waste
incinerators. Moratorium still in place. Moratorium does not extend to
incinerators operated by a hospital or consortium of hospitals.
Louisiana: 2000 - State revised its statute Title 33 which prohibits
municipalities of more than 500,000 of owning, operating or contracting garbage
incinerators in areas zoned for residential or commercial use.
Maryland : 1997 - State prohibits construction of municipal waste incinerators
within one mile of an elementary or secondary school.
Massachusetts : 1991 - State enacts a moratorium on new construction or
expansion of solid waste incinerators. Moratorium still in place.
Rhode Island : 1992 - State bans the construction of new municipal solid waste
incinerators. First state to enact such a ban.
West Virginia: 1994 - State bans the construction of new municipal and
commercial waste incinerators. Permits pilot tire incineration projects.
COUNTIES
Alameda County, California: 1990 - Voter initiative passes "Waste
Reduction and Recycling Act" which bans waste incinerators in the county.
A later court ruling limits the ban to the unincorporated areas ofthe county,
however, there are no Operating municipal waste incinerators in Alameda county.
Anne Arundel County, Maryland: 2001 - County bans solid waste and medical Waste
incinerators.
CITIES
Athens, Maine: Passed in March 2007 an ordinance that bans the incineration of
construction and demolition debris, and a number of other Maine towns are
looking at adopting a similar ordinance.
Brisbane, California: 1988 - City bans new construction of waste incinerators.
Chicago, Illinois: 2000 - City bans municipal waste incineration. The ban
extends to burning waste in schools and apartment buildings.
San Diego, California: A city ordinance stipulates that waste incinerators
cannot be sited within a certain radius of schools and daycare centers, which
results in no eligible land being available for incinerators.
Ellenburg, New York: 1990 - Town bans waste incinerators.
New York City: 1989 - Banned all apartment house incinerators by 1993. By 1993,
all 2,200 apartment house incinerators that were in operation in 1989 were shut
down.
MORATORIA:
Several US states, including Arkansas, Wisconsin and Mississippi, have enacted
moratoria on medical or municipal waste incinerators that have since expired or
been lifted. The US EP A enacted a nationwide, 18-month freeze on new
construction of hazardous waste incinerators in 1993. Two unsuccessful bills
were introduced in the US Congress during the 1990s to enact a moratorium on
new waste incinerators. Other examples of incinerator moratoria include:
1982: Berkeley, California passes a ballot initiative banning garbage burning
plants for five years. The moratorium allowed the city to develop recycling
programs which became national models.
1985:Sweden implements a 2-year moratorium on new incinerators.
1990: In the Flemish speaking part of Belgium, public pressure results in
as-year moratorium on new municipal waste incinerators.
1992: Ontario, Canada bans new municipal incinerators. In 1996 a new
conservative government overturns ban.
1992: Baltimore, Maryland passes 5-year moratorium on new municipal
incinerators.
INTERNATIONAL
In 1996 the Protocol to the London Convention banned incineration at sea
globally.
In 1992 the OSP AR Convention banned incineration at sea in the north-east
Atlantic.