Filed Under: Environmental Issues | Long Island | Nassau | Solid Waste | Solid Waste

Incinerator Emissions

Although active landfilling of municipal solid waste ended under the 1990 Long Island Landfill Law, solid waste dump sites continue to threaten the environment. Fluids from decomposing garbage leach into the underground aquifer system, and landfill gases released into the air contain toxic chemicals such as benzene and vinyl chloride.

After the 1990 Landfill Law mandated closing many of the Island’s garbage dumps, several large-scale waste-to-energy resource recovery garbage incinerators were built. These facilities were promoted as the solution to Long Island’s waste disposal problem because they process large amounts of solid waste without threatening underground water sources, the primary problem with landfills.

There are, however, concerns about incinerators. Hazardous incinerator emissions are restricted by both federal and state clean air regulations. However, even relatively new incinerators that meet these standards produce emissions that are not regulated and could be hazardous. In addition, the disposal or reuse of the ash produced by incineration, which may contain toxic materials such as lead or cadmium, can cause air, ground, and water pollution.

To run efficiently, large incinerators must burn large quantities of garbage, and these garbage quotas are included in a municipality’s contract with an incinerator operator. Critics fear that because materials with a high BTU value are also highly recyclable, competition is created between incinerators and recycling programs for the same materials. Therefore, the town’s first priority can become filling the contract quota rather than recycling or reducing waste that diverts tonnage from the incinerator. 

Waste in Nassau county that is not incinerated is trucked to landfills out-of-state, for example garbage from Glen Cove, North Hempstead and Oyster Bay is trucked to Pennsylvania. This creates its own set of environmental problems including heavy traffic and diesel pollution from the large number of trucks transporting the waste. The receiving community then has to deal with the environmental downsides of a landfill (see above). 

Trash disposal in Nassau has also been influenced by several court rulings on the subject of whether towns can implement flow control regulation. Under flow control, a private entrepreneur constructs a costly processing or disposal facility; in return, local government passed ordinances requiring all solid waste to be delivered to the new facility. Often the local government signed a "put-or-pay" contract with the facility, under which the locality would guarantee delivery of a minimum volume of waste at a fixed price. Waste-to-energy incinerators, recycling centers and transfer stations were funded by this device. These regulations were challenged under the 'commerce clause' of the United States Constitution as inhibiting inter-state commerce. The courts ruled that municipalities cannot order carters to dump trash at a specified facility. A positive result of the ruling has been the development of greater co-operation between villages in organizing trash collection systems that provide economies of scale. 

TOXIC HOUSEHOLD WASTE

Landfill

Most Nassau towns have a STOP (Stop Throwing Out Pollutants) program for removing dangerous chemicals from the waste stream. The programs normally include items labeled FLAMMABLE, CORROSIVE, TOXIC, POISON, IRRITANT or HAZARDOUS. (e.g. aerosol cans, batteries, drain cleaner, medicines, anti-freeze, furniture polish, paint thinners). The STOP programs consist of periodic dates and times when you can drop-off your pollutants. Check with your town or city for information (see the Town Government chapter). 

With the increasing amount of home electronics equipment e-waste is becoming a significant problem. E-waste refers to old computers, cellular phones, pagers and other electronic gadgetry. In general, computer equipment is a complicated assembly of more than 1,000 materials, many of which are highly toxic, such as chlorinated and brominated substances, toxic gases, toxic metals, biologically active materials, acids, plastics and plastic additives. It is estimated that there are over 315 million obsolete computers in the US, many of which will be destined for landfills, incinerators or hazardous waste exports. Batteries are also a significant environmental concern as they contain heavy metals. Several Nassau county towns have programs to 'take-back' e-waste and turn it over to companies specializing in e-waste recycling. Check with your town for information or to request them to establish e-waste collection.

RECYCLING

Recycling Glass

The most effective way to reduce the environmental side-effects of landfills and incinerators is to divert as much as possible from the waste stream. This can be done through reusing and recycling. Recycling is organized by your city or town. Further information is available in the Town Government Chapter. 

Many Nassau towns and villages have 'leave it on the lawn' or 'don't bag it' policies for garden waste and will not collect leaves or grass clippings.

Composting has been encouraged by several towns and villages over the last several years. Your leaves, grass cuttings and organic household waste just decompose right in the backyard. Contact your town or village for details.

Involved Government Agencies: Waste disposal, reduction, and recycling are the responsibility of town and city governments. However, the state DEC monitors environmental quality issues such as incinerator emissions. 

What you can do:

1. Recycle as much of your household waste as possible
2. Reduce packaging, for example, multi-use bags for groceries
3. Reuse bags, boxes and paper
4. Compost organic waste
5. Contact your town or city for information about safe disposal of hazardous products (see Town Govt. chapter)