The global warming effects of CO 2 will also be considered, as well as the workers and public accidents along the cycle. Other impacts such as noise or visual impact will not be assessed due to their local nature. This explains the large damages per t of pollutant emitted. However, it is not really sensible to consider the change of the location, since MSW plants are usually installed near, or inside, large cities. Therefore, since the damages per t of pollutant will be high for most cases, the only way of reducing the damages caused by atmospheric emissions of waste incineration is to reduce emission factors, by improving the environmental performance of the technology.
Technology is also responsible for the high damages caused by global warming.
If better conversion technologies were used, with higher efficiencies, global warming damages might be reduced. It has to be noted that here MSW have not been considered as renewable, that is, carbon neutral, what is sometimes the case. An important remark to be made is that the effect of dioxins is quite small, contrary to what might be expected according to public concern. These would be the conclusions of the assessment of waste incineration as an energy source. However, that should not be the only point of view.