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incineration — English
A controlled combustion process to reduce the volume and/or the mass of waste material. Two distinct types of waste material are routinely incinerated, namely municipal solid waste and hazardous waste (see “hazardous waste”). Remember that the most important rule of environmental management is that “there is no away“, meaning that neither energy nor matter can be destroyed, and incineration simply reduces the volume of the waste, and the residuals, namely heat, gasses and ashes must still be disposed of. Incineration is a specialised, costly waste reduction process, requiring special kilns and an expensive plant, a huge input of energy to attain the optimum temperatures, special filters, scrubbers and resins to prevent the release of toxic gasses into the atmosphere and avoid poisonous air pollution, and special disposal facilities for the residual ash. In many developed countries, the waste heat of combustion is used for domestic heating. Owing to a lack of the required expertise and the costs involved in the process, incineration is far less often used in developing countries. Waste disposal is a specialisation field in environmental management, and it is rarely completely covered by the environmental management acts of any country. Even in South Africa with its exemplary environmental management legislation, hazardous waste disposal is covered by separate, very specific legislation.
