Blog
Media release
21/01/26
ACT Government upholds ban on waste incineration
Toxics Free Australia congratulates the ACT Government for upholding its ban on waste incineration.
“This is the right decision at the right time.” States Jane Bremmer, Chair of Toxics Free Australia.
“Australia is facing a barrage of waste incinerator projects across all states, fuelled by a widespread misinformation campaign about their True Toxic Toll.
The Waste to Energy Incinerator industry want you to believe that the only emissions that come from burning hundreds of thousands of tonnes of mixed waste, are a bit of clean steam, harmless salts, inert dusts, and some organic residues.
The truth is that waste to energy incineration emits pollution that is the subject of at least three international conventions due to the global threats posed by Mercury, Dioxin, and hazardous waste ash.
Waste incineration is the most expensive and polluting way to manage waste or make energy and represents a significant environmental injustice for those host communities that are forced to carry the burden of this industrial pollution. Twice as polluting as gas and more than 1.5 times as polluting as coal, this industry is driving the triple planetary crisis.
Australia cannot burn its way out of climate change by building out a largescale waste incineration industry that relies on the calorific value of plastic – a fossil fuel-based material.
The ACT has now sent a strong message to the federal government that waste to energy incineration is not part of Australia’s Circular Economy.
We need federal leadership urgently to reset Australia’s waste management framework on the right path. Without a nationally harmonised waste management framework that excludes waste incineration, Australian communities are being pitched against each other, in the rush to hide incinerator technologies within Circular Economy and Resource Recovery precincts that are being planned for vulnerable agricultural regions. Sustainable Zero Waste policies provide the backbone for a Circular Economy, not waste incinerators.” warns Jane Bremmer, Chair of Toxics Free Australia.
For more information – Jane Bremmer 0432041397
