Concerns that an industrial scale garbage incinerator might be built in Duke Point persuaded organizers of an international environmental conference to come to Nanaimo.

The Alternatives to Incinerators Landfills; Zero Waste International Alliance Conference and Dialogue started Thursday at the Coast Bastion Hotel. The annual conference attracts environmentalists from around the world, with an emphasis on science to reduce the carbon footprint of humans on the global environment.

“One of the issues our international committee was very concerned about (is) British Columbia seems to be the battlefield for zero-waste right now,” said Barb Hetherington, conference chairwoman and Gibsons resident.

Zero waste supporters have a global goal to end all disposal of solid waste in landfills or incinerators, through a combination of diversion, through the so-called three Rs — reducing, re-using and recycling items humans has buried or burned for centuries.

Reducing requires a long-term process of public education to change behaviours that led to waste of limited resources and pollution. Recycling is an incremental process that each community takes on.

Nanaimo residents already divert almost 70 per cent of their household waste from the regional landfill in Cedar, through recycling and composting.

But as communities get closer to 90 per cent diversion, it becomes increasingly difficult. Many products, such as running shoes and certain other manmade materials are not easily reused or recycled.

When incineration proponents suggest burning garbage to extract energy, the international Zero Waste community worries about what Hetherington calls “green-washing” of the brand of zero waste.

“B.C. is a very green province. We have an incinerator industry that’s really targeted British Columbia, so selling incineration as zero-waste and this is a Band-aid solution. It is a polluting solution. It has nothing to do with zero waste — it’s a disposal option.”

The three-day conference covers a range of topics around the theme of how to get closer to the zero waste target. Organizers acknowledge getting there won’t be easy, but say it’s achievable.

The idea is good . There toss volcano every day, it appears to be an ideal natural elimination of garbage incinerator. However, I know you want to, but that there is kind of the center of the crater lake of lava lovely. Like some of the shield volcano in Hawaii, they will spray lava slowly to the ground, burning garbage seems very appropriate.

But in fact most of the volcanoes on Earth is called stratovolcanoes, they occasionally have lava flows, but once the heat is too high inside the volcano, the lava “exploding”, but said that the explosion on the explosion. Take one of the Kilauea volcano, the 20th century it erupted 45 times, still often eruption (Figures are it erupted April 23, 2015 in, HVO / USGS). If you’re close to bring garbage thrown into lava, volcanic ash in the distance, just a splash of lava and toxic gases can make you die of.
We want to deal with waste is not insignificant. Said generation American, four pounds per person per day and a half of garbage a year is 250 million tons. If we want to deal with volcanic waste, we need to first lock on the appropriate active volcano, put the garbage there. Few people live near an active volcano, delivered to the garbage will spend a lot of time, money and fuel. You always have to worry about people throwing trash or garbage truck safety.
You have to know that when touched to a large number of normal garbage magma may explode instantly. In 2002, researchers in Ethiopia will be a 30-kilogram bag of garbage thrown into the crater, the result was shocking to see the spectacular explosion. And that package is only equivalent to the United States four garbage home half of the week garbage “yield.” Scientists also observed scene rockfall fall when the lava lake in Hawaii, lava spilled 85 meters of altitude, lava splashing into distant fence and scientific network cameras. So go down garbage, a little too risky.
Not to mention that all the gas you when burning garbage in the volcano, the generated directly into the atmosphere, resulting in a lot of air pollution. And today’s formal regulatory incinerator has systems to ensure that garbage incineration smoke treated before entering the atmosphere. System to prevent the spread of major pollutants is ozone, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide.
Human civilization can not be manufactured pieces of debris are thrown into the volcano, there is another reason. That some of the more specialized waste, such as medical waste or nuclear waste, they tend to be particularly dangerous thing. The volcanic lava in a temperature of approximately 700 to 1250 degrees Celsius, which is of course very hot, but the temperature is not enough.
So, with volcanoes act as a garbage incinerator is probably slightly wrong. But still this sentence: a good idea. Please continue to think, to act as a viable method envisaged transfer of volcanic waste incinerator.