US garbage incinerators are failing to eliminate ‘forever chemical’ air pollution, experts warn | US news
Public health advocates and independent experts warn that the nation’s incinerators are largely failing to eliminate Pfas’ “forever chemical” air pollution, largely putting people living in low-income neighborhoods at risk.
The powerful waste management industry is increasingly highlighting incinerators as the solution to virtually indestructible Pfas waste and a new industry trade group report Minnesota’s incinerators claim is decreasing forever reduced chemical emissions by 99.6%. Other incinerator operators I did similar discount claims.
The report also comes amid fights over the closure of incinerators Miami, Philadelphia And baltimoreand a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency for what it called a weak update to emissions standards for facilities that do not include Pfas. Approximately 100 municipal or hazardous waste incinerators operate across the country, including seven in Minnesota.
The new Minnesota report is riddled with bad assumptions, incomplete data, misleading language and fails to conduct appropriate testing, according to analysis by the advocacy group Zero Burn Coalition and reviews by independent burn experts.
Instead, advocates say the Minnesota facilities are likely poisoning surrounding neighborhoods with a cocktail of Pfas and other dangerous pollutants that garbage burning often emits.
The report “deceives the public into thinking” [incineration] “It’s safe,” said Nazir Khan, executive director of the Minnesota Environmental Justice Desk.
“This garbage becomes a problem that the poor and marginalized have to deal with with their own bodies,” he added.
The industry trade group Minnesota Resources Recovery Association (MRRA), which wrote the report, said in a statement that Zero Burn’s analysis raises some valid points but “does not support the conclusion that Pfas emissions originate from the source.” [Minnesota incinerators] probably unsafe”.
PFAs are a class of at least 16,000 compounds most commonly used to make products water, stain, and oil resistant. These have been linked to cancer, birth defects, reduced immunity, high cholesterol, kidney disease, and a host of other serious health problems. They are called “forever chemicals” because they do not break down naturally in the environment.
PFAs are concentrated in municipal landfills because they are so widely used throughout the economy and in consumer products. When waste is burned, chemicals can be released into the air. The compounds are designed to be resistant to heat and destruction and are extremely difficult to destroy on an industrial scale.
“I am not aware of any industrial-scale commercial incinerators that could solve this problem,” said Michael Youhana, an attorney for the nonprofit Earthjustice. incinerator problems.
Recent research has shown that airborne exposure to chemicals poses more risks than previously thought, although regulatory agencies are just beginning to establish health standards.
The MRRA report was developed in response to state regulators’ request for information on Pfas emissions. The authors wrote that their findings suggest “little or no inhalation health risk is associated with the six Pfas compounds emitted” in Minnesota.
But opponents say people are exposed to more than the six regulated compounds and that the report’s findings appear designed to forestall new regulations. Denise Trabbic-Pointer, a former DuPont Pfas scientist who now consults on incineration issues, called the MRRA report “a pretty weak study.”
“I don’t know how they can say ‘99% reduction,’ because there’s too much missing data to make that claim,” Trabbic-Pointer said.
The industry report states that incinerators burn at or above 850C (1,562F); That’s high enough to “initiate the degradation” or “promote the degradation” of Pfas, but Trabbic-Pointer said the scientific consensus is that the chemicals require much higher temperatures to be destroyed. He added that using language such as “promoting degradation” does not mean completely eradicating Pfas.
“You can’t just ‘promote the degradation’ of Pfas, you have to fully mineralize it and prove that you’ve done that,” Trabbic-Pointer said. “I’m sure that headline will appeal to people and they’ll think, ‘This is great,’ but there’s still a health threat,” he added.
Incineration generally converts Pfas compounds into smaller but still toxic byproducts that are not measured in the test or cannot be measured by most tests. The MRRA has only checked for about 50 Pfas compounds when at least 16,000 are available, and hundreds are regularly used commercially.
The issue was revealed in a Pfas air emissions test the Guardian carried out with academic experts near a factory in 2023. He found tests similar to those used in Minnesota’s undercounted Pfas. The Guardian test detected 76 times higher levels of Pfas markers in the air than more limited tests used by industry.
Zero Burn notes that the EPA is even questioning the use of incineration for Pfas in 2024: “Confidence in the reliability of this technology to control Pfas releases is low because sufficient data are not available.” The agency wrote:
Zero Burn wrote that there was a “major gap” in toxicity assessment due to a lack of health information for 16 of the 22 Pfas found in emissions from incinerators.
Zero Burn also alleges that the state’s advisory respiratory health standards are too low, well below the EPA’s drinking water limits when converted to air. In Minnesota, when EPA limits apply, airborne levels exceed standards by up to 17 times.
Industry science also fails to take into account the health risk of simultaneous exposure to multiple Pfas and other hazardous chemicals released by incinerators at staggering levels, Zero Burn said.
The MRRA said that, unlike Zero Burn, it failed to conclude that the levels were unsafe and questioned advocates’ math. “[Zero Burn’s] “An analysis that extrapolates risks from recommended drinking water standards is also not a risk assessment,” he said. MRRA added that the levels it measured in the stack were no higher than the levels in the fence line neighborhood where people were exposed.
Still, people living around the facilities are exposed to dangerous chemicals, advocates say. Minnesota and local governments have made no commitment to address this problem or close facilities. The report will almost certainly be used in the ongoing fight, the lawyers added.
“This is part of a broader history of deception and attempts to mislead the public and elected officials,” said Doug Gurian-Sherman, lead author of the Zero Burn analysis and a former EPA official. “This is a clear example of environmental injustice.”
