The Observer Government plans to burn household waste in incinerators rather than recycle it will produce so much toxic pollution it will cause almost 9,000 deaths. The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions is committed to building more than 70 incinerators, which its own estimates suggest will cause at least 350 deaths a year for the next 25 years. There are now only 15 solid waste incinerators in the UK, but the Government will increase that to 87 in a bid to reduce the amount of rubbish that has to be buried as landfill sites are used up. They emit fine particles of heavy metals, including cadmium, which causes lung and kidney disease, and mercury, which attacks the nervous system.
Dust particles from the burnt rubbish exacerbate asthma, chronic bronchitis and heart disease.
The burning of plastics produces dioxins, some of the most toxic chemicals known. An American study to be published shortly will show that 7 per cent of cancers are associated with dioxins - around 80 per cent of which come from incinerators. Research earlier this year suggested that, between 1974 and 1987, children who lived within three miles of an incinerator were twice as likely as others to die of cancer. The older generation of incinerators have already been replaced with new, cleaner technology,' he added. A recent DETR report predicted that 50 tonnes of nitrous oxides would on average lead to one death.