China’s Incinerators Loom as a Global Hazard

China’s garbage-burning incinerators have become a contentious issue not just for local residents in an uproar over the smoke, but also for communities and lakes halfway across the world. China’s gigantic economic growth has spawned a monumental garbage problem. And with China’s landfills nearing capacity, the alternative has been to employ incinerators. But the incinerators across China and even within individual cities have been built with a wide range of pollution standards due, in part, to bureaucratic infighting. The pollution limits range from those as strict as in the US or Europe to allowing some emissions to be up to ten times international standards. Resolving China’s garbage disposal problem is a global issue because, according to some estimates, one sixth of the mercury falling on North America’s lakes comes from Asia – China in particular. Moreover, dioxin, another highly contaminating emission, is also produced by incinerators and could potentially be transmitted across long distances if it follows a path similar to other chemicals. But incineration is not all bad: burning garbage can provide electricity and it reduces landfills. Still, incinerators are only one challenge: China’s household trash burning and the lack of a propensity to recycle remain a concern. In the end, how China treats its backyard will likely affect the rest of the world’s. – YaleGlobal