Subscriptions are free. To subscribe, E-mail the words . . A new industry is growing up to replace hazardous waste incineration. Incineration isn't dead by any means, but it is expensive and it has aroused citizen opposition everywhere. Citizen opposition, in turn, has forced the government to investigate incineration carefully, and the evidence indicates that incineration is a dirty, dangerous technology that creates at least as many problems as it solves.
Bioremediation IS a good idea, at least in principle.
But, like anything else, bioremediation can be done badly, or carelessly, or even dangerously. These molecules are made up of simple elements like hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur which are not, by themselves, very toxic. In short, they become toxic. Some organic molecules are millions of times more toxic than any of the elements from which they are formed. The goal of an incinerator is to break the chemical bonds that hold large organic molecules together, to break them down into their constituent elements, thus detoxifying them.