Taken
from September 2007-November 2007 MRS Newsletter
They’re
at it again. Not that we like repeating ourselves
over and over, but, there is an even bigger push now
to build a trash incinerator or “Waste to Energy”
plant on Maui, and we need to make sure this never
happens! This is the work of people who are not
interested in creating a sustainable Maui, but
instead, by those interested in making as much profit
as they can at the expense of our well being and our
future. It's an ongoing struggle! Industry and
our County and State Governments are not working on
sustainability in any meaningful way, so it is
left to those of us who care about this issue to
stand up and demand what is right. We
covered Incinerators in a previous newsletter,
(Dec.05-Feb 06 ) which goes
into more detail, but the main argument in
favor of incineration says “they” can convert our
“waste products” into “Energy’ and with no
bad side effects...
Sounds
great doesn’t it?!!
…………..BUT…………..The
disadvantages of trash incinerators form a very long
list: (This is only a small sample) a)
Incinerators are extremely expensive (a billion
dollars or more for a 4,000-ton-per-day plant), all
of which the public ultimately pays, whether through
private fees or taxes.
b) Operation of an incinerator creates very few jobs.
c) The energy recovery from incinerators is
relatively small, compared to the energy saved
when material is recycled.
d) It is not easy to burn trash, and
incinerators often need many costly repairs that
aren't anticipated in the initial project budget.
e) Incinerators are inflexible. Once built,
they must be fueled with “waste” for 20 years,
(to justify the cost) making the community's
“trash” unavailable for recycling; at least 80%
of the waste stream can be recycled OR incinerated
but not both.
f) Incineration wastes resources that could
otherwise be reused or recycled; in the case of
plastics, this represents the waste of a nonrenewable
resource (oil).
g) Incineration destroys discarded materials,
which must then be replaced, leading to greater
industrial activity with well-known negative side
effects on the earth's deteriorating environment
(greenhouse effect, acid rain, massive chemical
contamination of air, water, soil, and food, and so
on).
Etc, etc.
We
urgently need letters to our Mayor and County Council
to stop the proposed incinerator.
CONTACTS
___________________
Taken
From Dec 05-Feb 06 Newsletter
Besides global warming to worry about, we now
have to fight our own local government to prevent
them from heating it up even more!
We wrote about this in our last newsletter
also, but there are many people in our state and
county who are working hard to bring incineration to Maui, and we need to stay on top of this.
Proponents of incineration like to call it “waste
to energy”, but the bottom line is that it’s all
about burning reusable/recyclable resources (resources that are becoming more scarce), and promoting a wasteful
lifestyle. It’s
also a lazy, expensive, pass-the-buck to the next generations way to cope with the
issue.
To run incinerators one needs to have a
constant supply of “fuel”, or in our case
-recyclables. The
bottom line is that the vast majority of what is
considered trash, is in fact recyclable.
Unfortunately, instead of trying to increase
the recycling rate, reduce consumerism and our
societies wasteful habits, an incinerator will be
demanding more! One of the incinerator companies is
even proposing to ship “trash” from other islands!
Outrageous!
...
One of the reasons given for an
incinerator/waste to energy or “recyclables to burn” plant is that our energy use is so
high! Which is
true! We all need to reduce our demand for energy in
the first place. A few easy things to do:
Turn down air
conditioners. One thing
I really hate is walking into a store or bank and
freezing! This is Hawaii after all and most of us are
here because we like being warm!!!
Use florescent lights instead of traditional bulbs, it does
make a difference! And turn off lights,
computers, and other
appliances when you aren’t using them!
Have an office or warehouse?
You can order a free energy audit to see
what you can do to make your space as energy
efficient as possible.
Maui Electric Co. offers a free energy audit
program just for that! We all can do more to reduce
our demand for artificial energy. But if we need it
there is no better energy producer than the sun! We
don’t need to burn usable products to create
energy, we already have the best source possible.
Demand that MECO and our
government do even more to utilize solar and
wind energy, not burn our planet, and give us
all more headaches.
CONTACTS
________________________
burn recyclables
You may
have seen in the paper recently that the mayor and
others are promoting a “waste-to-energy” facility
(aka. a trash incinerator).
On the surface, trash incineration looks
appealing, but a deeper analysis shows an industry
that does not solve waste problems, but only makes
them worse in the long run.
Even if
an incinerator could burn 100% cleanly (which they
cannot; they will always create toxins) it encourages
people NOT to recycle - to buy more - and removes
from our community resources that can be repaired or
recycled or reused in other products down the line.
Incineration also has the by-product of letting
people not think about what they are actually buying,
and the consequences of those purchases. Everything
we buy, everything, has a
negative impact on the environment, whether it be
excessive packaging or the item itself. Unless it is
made from 100% recycled post consumer waste, it took
from new trees or other new materials, and any
plastic it contains had to come from an oil field
somewhere. Add
to that the energy it took to make the item, the
transportation and energy it takes to deliver that item - inevitable waste results.
Our society needs to be aware that we do not
have unlimited resources to make all of the things we
consume. Most
of you reading this newsletter already show you care,
but if we allow an incinerator to be built, most
people will believe that it doesn’t matter what
they buy.
Instead of building an incinerator, we should
recycle everything possible, compost all natural
biodegradables, and for everything remaining,
question the need for them and/or look for
alternatives.
We can achieve a zero-waste community if we
put our heads and hearts into it.
Not only is it possible, it’s necessary for
the long term viability of our community.
Allowing an incinerator to be built in Lahaina
will be a major step backwards to creating a
sustainable Maui.
It’s important to contact the Mayor and
County Council to let them know we will not stand
idly by while they jeopardize our environment with
this proposed incinerator.
Mayor Arakawa has already included $600
thousand dollars in the proposed County of Maui
Budget for fiscal years 2007-2011.
So now is the time to really put the pressure
on so we can stop it.
