The rapidly increasing rate of waste generation has become a significant environmental issue and is likely to persist for the foreseeable future. According to UNEP (2024), global annual waste generation is projected to rise to 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050. This underscores the urgent need for sustainable waste management strategies that aim to reduce waste production while effectively addressing unavoidable waste. Different countries have adopted diverse approaches to waste management, including recycling, composting, incineration, and landfilling, each with its advantages and disadvantages. This article focuses on the implications and potential consequences of using incinerators, particularly in developing countries like Nigeria, which recently partnered with a Dutch company to establish a waste-to-energy incinerator in Lagos State.
My visit to the MVA Pfaffenau Incinerator, a waste-to-energy plant in Austria provided a deeper insight for my opinion on this piece. The Incinerator processes 700-800 tonnes of waste daily, converting it into energy to power thousands of homes. It’s an impressive example of how modern technology can be used to generate electricity while managing waste. However, upon visiting the facility and examining its operations more closely, I couldn’t help but question whether incineration is truly the sustainable, long-term solution to waste management, especially in developing countries like Nigeria.
As incinerators are increasingly promoted as the “next big solution” in waste management, their environmental impact, economic viability, and long-term sustainability deserve a critical look. What seems like a modern solution for waste management may, in fact, create more problems than it solves, particularly in countries struggling with waste infrastructure, emissions control, and economic challenges.
The Environmental Impact: A High Price for Energy?
Austria’s MVA Pfaffenau Incinerator is designed to process substantial volumes of waste while producing heat and electricity for thousands of households. However, this comes at a considerable environmental cost. Despite employing advanced technologies that reduce emissions by 90%, the facility still releases pollutants that surpass the World Health Organization’s (WHO) acceptable standards, particularly dioxins—highly toxic by-products of incineration. Over its 30-year lifespan, the incinerator is estimated to emit between 3 to 9 million tons of CO2 equivalent. With three additional incinerators operating in Austria, this approach clearly contradicts the European Union’s decarbonization goals. Although measures have been taken to minimize pollution, incinerators remain significant sources of air pollution, releasing carbon dioxide, particulate matter, and other harmful chemicals that pose long-term risks to human health and the environment.
In countries like Nigeria, where air quality is already a pressing issue, the potential dangers of incinerators are even more pronounced. For example, Lagos, which produces an estimated 10,000 to 13,000 tonnes of waste daily, recently approved its first waste-to-energy incinerator through a €120 million investment by the Dutch company, Harvest Waste Consortium. The project aims to address the city’s waste management challenges while contributing electricity to the grid. However, concerns about its environmental impact persist. The facility is expected to incinerate approximately 3,000 tonnes of waste per day, potentially leading to increased emissions if not properly managed. In the absence of stringent environmental regulations and regular monitoring, this technology risks exacerbating existing environmental problems rather than resolving them.
The Problem of Overconsumption: Incineration and Waste Dependency
Incinerators like the MVA Pfaffenau facility depend on a steady and uninterrupted flow of waste to keep operations running smoothly. The problem here is clear: incinerators rely on the very thing they claim to solve—excessive waste generation. In fact, the plant even maintains a reserve waste storage facility in case the supply runs low. This creates a paradox where the very technology that’s meant to reduce waste ends up encouraging more of it. In a society where overconsumption is already a problem, having an infrastructure that relies on continually increasing waste generation further perpetuates this cycle.
In the case of Nigeria, the situation becomes even more complex. Nigeria, with its rapidly growing population and expanding urban centers, is already struggling with waste management. Lagos, for instance, is grappling with how to deal with its ever-growing waste stream, and the introduction of incinerators could, ironically, encourage further consumption to ensure that incinerators stay operational. Moreover, with the lack of robust recycling systems in place, waste reduction efforts will be hampered by the widespread adoption of waste-to-energy plants that simply “dispose” of waste rather than tackling its root causes—unsustainable consumption and poor waste management practices.
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Job Creation vs. Job Quality: Incinerators vs. Recycling
Incinerators pose a greater social disadvantage compared to other waste management practices like recycling. The average employment rate for an incinerator facility is typically low, with the MVA Pfaffenau facility, for example, employing only about 50 people. In contrast, recycling programs, especially those focused on informal sector engagement, provide far more employment opportunities. In Nigeria, initiatives like WeCyclers, a social enterprise focused on recycling in Lagos, have created over 1,000 jobs across the waste management supply chain. These jobs are not just in the collection of recyclable materials but also in the sorting, processing, and selling of recyclables.
Recycling also has the added advantage of encouraging a circular economy, where materials are reused rather than burned. This model not only creates jobs but also fosters a more sustainable approach to waste management. However, incinerators, by their very nature, encourage a “take-make-dispose” model that undermines recycling efforts, reducing the overall number of jobs available in waste management and the potential for resource recovery.
Emission Reduction Policies: A Future Challenge for Incinerators
As global regulations around climate change become stricter, the economic viability of incinerators is increasingly uncertain. The European Union’s Emissions Trading System (ETS2), which places a price on carbon emissions, is an example of how stricter emission reduction policies can impact the profitability of incinerators. These policies are designed to encourage industries to adopt cleaner technologies, and incinerators—especially those in developing countries like Nigeria—may struggle to meet the increasingly stringent requirements without substantial investments in emissions control technologies.
In fact, the cost of meeting such standards could render incineration a more expensive waste management option than other alternatives, like recycling or composting. This could lead to higher per capita waste management costs in cities like Lagos where incinerators will be situated. If these costs are passed onto residents or businesses, it could exacerbate existing economic challenges.
Lack of Transparency: Risks to Public Health and the Environment
One of the most concerning aspects of incineration, particularly in developing countries, is the lack of transparency in emission measurement and reporting. Many incineration plants do not accurately track or disclose harmful emissions, particularly those related to dioxins, furans, and other highly toxic substances. This lack of transparency is not only a public health risk but also undermines efforts to ensure that incinerators are complying with environmental standards.
In Nigeria, where environmental regulations are often poorly enforced, the risks associated with incineration could be even more pronounced. Without a reliable system for monitoring and reporting emissions, local communities may be exposed to dangerous pollutants without adequate safeguards in place. The long-term health impacts of exposure to these toxins, particularly for vulnerable populations, are not well understood but could be devastating.
Incineration vs. Circular Economy: A Missed Opportunity for Sustainable Development
The principle of a circular economy is reducing waste before reusing resources, and recycling materials. Incineration, by contrast, undermines this model by encouraging the constant creation of waste in order to fuel the plant’s operations. This approach fails to address the root causes of the waste crisis and perpetuates a linear model of resource use. Instead of focusing on reducing consumption and improving recycling, incinerators simply burn waste to produce energy.
For Nigeria and other developing countries, the focus should be on building sustainable, long-term waste management systems that prioritize waste reduction, recycling, and resource recovery, and in the process fostering resource efficiency and creation of job opportunities for communities. The World Bank states that circular models hold the potential of creating up to 20 million jobs globally. This highlights a great economic benefit to utilize from waste management while addressing the issue in a more ethical manner. Technologies like composting, anaerobic digestion, and even decentralized recycling systems should be advanced as part of a broader waste management strategy.
Incinerators may offer a quick fix for waste management challenges, but they come with significant environmental, social, and economic costs. While they can generate energy, they also contribute to harmful emissions, encourage overconsumption, and undermine the principles of the circular economy. For developing countries like Nigeria, where resources are limited and the need for sustainable solutions is urgent, investing in more transparent, socially responsible, and environmentally sustainable waste management practices is crucial.
Lagos’ incineration experiment is just one example of a broader trend towards “technological fixes” that may not fully account for the complex realities of waste management in developing economies. Rather than investing heavily in incinerators, countries should focus on building comprehensive, sustainable waste management systems that prioritize waste reduction, recycling, and environmental health. This approach will create more jobs, protect the environment, and promote long-term sustainability.
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