THE ALTERNATIVE TO INCINERATION MARCH 2010
FIRST ISSUE
The CGCR was set up in April 2006 and has been working ever since to raise awareness and propose an alternative to the incinerator for Parma
Coordinamento
Gestione Coordination Corretta Rifiuti e Risorse di Parma for Correct Waste and Resource Management in Parma Who we are The CGCR is a committee of citizens opposed to the construction of an incinerator in Parma which proposes a realistic and practical waste management alternative. The CGCR is apolitical and pacifist, and finances all its initiatives independently. Our members include lawyers, d o c t o r s , pharmacists, blue and white-collar workers, experts in marketing and communication, teachers, shop owners and entrepreneurs. Each gives his or her own contribution depending on their experience. We are against the logic of the outright “NO” and are aware of the commitments that communities must make to manage their waste. Accordingly
Printed on environment-friendly paper
we have availed of contributions provided by entrepreneurs and experts in the field to create a solution that is tailormade to suit Parma’s needs. Conferences demonstrations
and
In recent months, the CGCR has organised two demonstrations which, on each occasion, recorded a turnout in excess of 1,500 people. We filled the city’s main theatre with a conference on the subject of Zero Waste, which saw the participation of speakers of the calibre of Paul Connett, professor of Environmental Chemistry of St. Lawrence University of New York and a Candidate for the Nobel prize in 2008, Luigi Campanella, President of the Italian Chemistry Society and Gianni Tamino, a biologist from Padua University. Awareness raising Through our Website, and by drafting press releases at periodic
intervals, we have supplied the city of Parma with considerable scientific and technical documentation.
“Dear Mayor Vignali, I’m sorry to learn that Pa rma is considering managing its solid waste by incineration...” Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco Network of contacts We have established direct links with cities that already use correct waste management practices on a day-to-day basis, from Capannori, a small Tuscan town with 50,000 inhabitants, to San Francisco, which has 850,000 inhabitants. Both have successfully adopted the Zero Waste strategy.
Coordination for Correct Waste & Resource Management web: http://www.gestionecorrettarifiuti.it/ e-mail: gestionecorrettarifiutil@gmail.com PAGE 1
The Alternative
The Zero Waste recycling centre
What does it consist of ?
CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION
Is it some miraculous contraption which we put rubbish into so that pure water comes out the other side? No, the last thing we want is to tell you tall stories. But some people would have us believe that when we burn 130,000 tonnes of rubbish a year, all that comes out of the chimney is fresh air! A combination of strategies and technologies
Stop and think about your nonrecyclables rubbish bag: there are materials that are thrown out and sent to the dump or the incinerator which might be reusable. Toothpaste tubes, razor blades, videotapes, CDs, DVDs, rubber gloves, toys and lighters are just a few examples of objects that can be given a new lease of life. The more I recycle, the less I spend In order to improve the amount of waste we recycle in just a few short steps, we need to remove the large municipal bins from the streets and introduce a tariff where you only pay for what you don’t recycle. Broadly speaking, if I produce ten bags of rubbish in a week and only one is non-recyclable rubbish, I will only pay for this bag, but I will not pay anything for the bags of recyclables. This way we reward virtuous behaviour! More recycling = more money The 9 bags of separated waste are sent to various national consortiums that manage waste recycling (CONAI, COREPLA and COMIECO to name a few) which then pay the local Council incentives depending on the quality of the separated
RE-USE CENTER COMPOSTING FACILITY
MATERIALS RECOVERY FACILITY
PUBLIC ENTRANCE RESIDUE FACILITY
The alternative solution combines correct waste management policies with cold waste treatment technologies. First let’s see the plan for a city like Parma in more detail. Increase separate waste collection
CENTER FOR HARD-TO-RECYCLE MATERIALS
PUBLIC EXIT
TRASH & PUBLIC TRASH
ECO-CYCLE OFFICE & EDUCATION CENTER
“..what use is a beautiful house if you don’t have a planet to build it on?” Henry David Thoreau waste. As a result this encourages the virtuous circle.
construction industry. All of this with ZERO emissions!
Just think, in 2009 Parma council lost out on 600,000 Euro in incentives from COREPLA because of the poor quality of the way plastics are separated!
Will we be the first one to use it?
More information and education With proper information and education for citizens, in 6 months we can reach the objective of 80% separated waste, and in the mid-term aim for 90%. THE EXTRUDER But, you might well say, we can’t reach zero, and we will still end up having to burn something. Not quite. The remaining 10% is made up primarily of plastics which can be treated mechanically using a machine called an EXTRUDER. This is something like a meat grinder, which grinds up these materials, making them more uniform and producing a synthetic sand which can be used in the
No, at Vedelago in the province of Treviso, this technology has been put to the service of 1,000,000 users. Other plants are operational at Colleferro (Rome) and Tergu (Sassari, in Sardinia). Is it expensive? No, not compared to the 180,000,000 Euro cost of the incinerator. Parma would need 2 treatment plants, which would cost 10,000,000 Euro in total. But does it take long to install them? No, in 6 months the plants would be up and running, whilst 3 years of work are needed to start up an incinerator. Incinerators are obsolete Enia, Parma’s multi-utility company, embarked on the project many years ago, and the bureaucratic procedure involved will result in it going live in 2012, just as the rest of Europe is abandoning plans for incinerators, opting instead for strategies and technologies that are not harmful to health.
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The Zero Waste strategy for the economic growth of Food Valley “Why build an incinerator when there are valid alternatives?” This crucial question alone is enough to open up a serious discussion about the way we manage our waste in Parma, renowned for being the capital of the Food Valley, an area that boasts outstanding foods of international fame.
Is the Food Valley at risk if there is an incinerator? PARMA’S FOOD INDUSTRY THE MAJOR COMPANIES (Barilla, Parmalat, Rodolfi, Greci, Mutti, Zarotti) THE CONSORTIUMS (Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, Prosciutto di Parma ham, Culatello di Zibello ham, Maiale Nero pigs, Fungo di Borgotaro mushrooms)
Take a look at the figures in the table alongside: food companies are the keystone of life and the economy in this area. The culture and history date back centuries, but would all be at serious risk from health and image-related damage if an incinerator were to be built.
THE SCIENTIFIC ORGANISATIONS (EFSA - European Food Safety Authority, TETA - The Earth-to-Table Consortium)
Let’s try to imagine instead a region whose calling card can declare that “its products come from an area that does not burn its waste”.
THE PROMOTIONAL ORGANISATIONS (Chamber of Commerce, Parma Alimentare)
It is a way of thinking that would trigger a virtuous circle, a new development model, better quality of life for citizens and another good reason for visiting the home of Giuseppe Verdi and good food. A GREEN REVOLUTION
THE FOOD CULTURE (Alma - School of international cuisine, Academia Barilla) FOOD MUSEUMS (Museum of Parmesan cheese - Soragna, Museum of Salami Felino, Museum of Parma Ham - Langhirano)
THE SECTOR IN FIGURES AGRICULTURE (7,500 farms) THE FOOD INDUSTRY (1,400 companies with 15,100 employees) FOOD MACHINERY MANUFACTURERS (850 companies with 8,500 employees) TOURISM (270 hotels, 13,170 beds, 511,447 arrivals in 2007 of which 27% from abroad) Many of these companies advertise their products by linking them to Parma’s name. The site where the incinerator will be built is right next to the motorway. Will the millions of travellers passing each year still think that Parma’s products are wholesome foods?
The flag of change is flying worldwide
A change in attitudes: reducing the amount of waste produced The first and most important step towards successfully managing waste is to reduce the amount produced. Everybody needs to make a commitment: individuals, companies, large-scale retailers, institutions and universities.
All the institutions need do is support this desire for change driven by society and copy the waste management models of communities that have already adopted these practices.
Individuals can start opting for products that only have the amount of packaging strictly necessary, or use selfdispensing refills, thereby giving a clear signal to supermarket chains, which pay close attention to changes in consumer purchasing habits.
After adorning Parma’s balconies and windows, the No Inceneritore (No Incinerator) flags are now cropping up all over the world (in the photos London, Mont Blanc and Paris) http://tinyurl.com/salutinoinceneritore
Companies and universities can design packaging that is easy to recycle, avoiding all coupled materials that are difficult or even impossible to recycle.
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Incinerators: lots of reasons to say no Emissions At least 250 known substances are emitted by incinerator chimneys including dioxins, nanoparticles, PM10, PM 2.5, CO2 and heavy metals. In particular, dioxins are some of the most poisonous substances in existence (to poison an adult man it takes just a few millionths of a millionth of one gram!) Toxic ashes to be disposed of At the end of a waste combustion process, about 30% of the weight of the incoming waste remains in the form of heavy ash which needs to be stored in a dump. In addition to these ashes there is also dust from the filter (known as the flyash which comprises around 3% of incoming waste) which is highly toxic because it contains considerable amounts of heavy metals (Zinc, Lead, Cadmium, Chrome to name but a few) and which should be placed in special dumps. The provincial Waste Management plan does not state where the dump needed to complete the system will be located, but it does state that there will be one.
profits and is contemporarily the manager of the incinerator and the waste collection services alike will not be very motivated to ensure both work efficiently. Paradoxically, the company managing the process will win out with all the refuse taxes it receives, by managing district heating systems and by receiving statal contributions (CIP6). “Nothing is created, nothing is destroyed, everything is transformed” In a chemical reaction, the initial mass is exactly the same as the final mass: if we burn 130,000 tonnes of waste a year (this is the size of the proposed new incinerator) 130,000 tonnes of waste matter will be produced, including: • fumes and dust which will be pumped into the atmosphere (with a fallout radius in excess of 30 km) • harmful ashes which will be placed in special dumps • polluted waste waters which will compromise the water table and soils
THE GIFTS FROM PARMA’S INCINERATOR • 345,600 extra nanograms of dioxins • 3.2 more tonnes of PM10 with district heating scheme running at full capacity • 2,500,000 Euro in health expenditure to treat illnesses caused by the emissions
Incineration is incompatible with recycling Proper waste separation and recycling deprives incinerators of their best fuels: plastic and paper. A company which, by its very nature, must make
Find out more We have used our information channels to produce a vast amount of documentation which you can consult on the web. To follow is a short list: Web site: http://www.gestionecorrettarifiuti.it/ YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/noinceneritoreparma Presentation “Parma at a crossroads”: http://issuu.com/rifiutizeroparma/docs/ parma_at_crossroads Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/ group.php?gid=68379542214&ref=ts No Incinerator petition: http://gestionecorre ttarifiuti.it/emailgcr/ui.php
Map of dairies in the Parmesan cheese consortium in the area around the planned incinerator for Parma
No Incinerator flags, Parma: http:// tinyurl.com/noinceneritoreparma
“Par ma is the last place on earth where you should build an incinerator” Paul Connett, Nobel Prize candidate, 20
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