It also announces new reports as they appear. The ash issue is crucial to the future of incinerators. Today Americans produce about 160 million tons of MSW each year. Incinerators reduce the volume of garbage that has to be dumped. Unfortunately, there is considerable evidence that MSW ash is more toxic than the garbage from which it was derived.
Incinerators reduce the volume, but they increase the hazards.
Dioxins and furans are examples of chemicals created inside an incinerator. In the late 1970s, the EPA developed a test for deciding whether a particular waste is toxic or not. Disposal in a hazardous waste landfill is very expensive. For years, people have been dumping MSW ash into ordinary landfills without doing the EP tox test. If MSW ash has to be disposed of as a hazardous waste, the economics of municipal incineration cease to make sense.