Industrial waste is poured directly into the sea, urban wastewater is discharged without treatment and oil tankers leave their mark with a trail of pollution. However, matter cannot be destroyed, it only changes its form. The principle effect of incineration is to transform waste into voluminous gases that carry toxic pollutants far and wide and ashes of varying degrees of toxicity. Through incineration, industry and local authorities have found a way to break down bulk wastes and disperse them into the environment via releases to air, water and ash. Incineration is nothing more than a convenient and liability-free way to mask today's waste problems and pass the toxic pollution it creates on to future generations.
Many pollutants released in incinerator stack gases accumulate in and on soils and vegetation.
Some of the more potent of the pollutants, such as dioxins, accumulate in the tissues of cows and other animals that graze on the incinerator-contaminated soils and vegetation. These incinerator-derived pollutants are then passed on to humans that consume the milk, butter, eggs and other products from these animals. Contaminated ash from incinerators is frequently used to manufacture products for the construction industry. It is used as an additive in asphalt, to manufacture cement or to manufacture building blocks. Ash from a municipal waste incinerator in Newcastle, UK, was used to construct paths on local allotments and other land between 1994 and 1999.