Environmental groups petition EPA to require additional reporting of WTE emissions

Environmental groups have petitioned for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require companies to disclose the chemicals discharged from waste incinerators and plants that transform plastic waste into fuel, Reuters reports.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Energy Justice Network filed the petition with the agency April 3, claiming that chemical emissions from 400 incineration, gasification and pyrolysis, or advanced recycling, facilities are not required to be reported to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).

The TRI was created as part of the 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act and currently contains information on 770 chemicals from different industries to provide local communities with information about toxic chemical releases and waste management activities.

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“Waste incinerators are typically among the largest industrial air polluters in their cities and counties, yet this info is invisible in this popular disclosure tool,” says Mike Ewall, executive director of the Energy Justice Network, adding that minority and low-income communities are most at risk.

The groups say they are concerned the ash generated after incinerators burn solid and industrial waste contains undisclosed toxic chemicals and heavy metals like mercury and lead and ends up placed on top of landfills, which can “blow into local communities.”

The groups say the agency did not respond to a letter they sent last October, raising concerns about the potential health impacts of incineration.

Waste Today has reached out to the EPA and the Waste-to-Energy Association, a trade organization representing waste-to-energy companies and communities that rely on conversion facilities, for comment regarding the matter.