I am writing to express my disbelief that, despite the reams of documentation showing that burning garbage is the least efficient, most polluting and expensive method of solid waste disposal, some …
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I am writing to express my disbelief that, despite the reams of documentation showing that burning garbage is the least efficient, most polluting and expensive method of solid waste disposal, some Sullivan County officials continue to push for waste-to-energy incinerators as a silver bullet solution for the solid waste tsunami currently engulfing Sullivan County and surrounding areas.
Incinerating garbage is a double calamity. It produces forever chemicals that permanently pollute land, air, water and the environment, while destroying the two highest sources of income revenue for county residents and businesses, namely tourism and second homeowners. Who is going to buy a house and raise a family in a place where you can see, smell and taste the pollution all around you? Waste-to-energy incineration will quickly kill this golden goose as people leave the area in droves.
One of Sullivan’s largest solid waste haulers, Thompson Sanitation, recently ran a notice commenting on the skyrocketing cost of trash disposal, and rightly observed that the way to deal with the garbage dilemma is to reduce the amount of garbage we make, not burn it into a toxic sludge. There are better and less costly ways to reduce our waste, such as a 25% to 30% reduction of total waste volume, via self-sorted pre-cycling, as is being practiced in Wayne County, PA. Dumping single stream and restoring individual pre-sort and recycling will reduce pollution and the volume of solid waste in Sullivan County. It is a simple equation: more recycling equals less trash and pollution. And it maybe even help save the Earth.
Star D. Hesse
Narrowsburg, NY
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