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Veolia advertorial response (download here)

 

On World Environment Day, Veolia pushes their  ‘Red Hot Waste Management Plan’ to incinerate our future. 

Victorian communities have been left outraged that The Age has published a full page advertorial opinion piece by Veolia on World Environment Day, that promotes their waste to energy incinerators as a benign clean industry that, “…is just a building with no odours or emissions.”

“ This is completely untrue, and it is deliberately misleading to publish such factually incorrect information.” warns Jane Bremmer, Zero Waste Australia campaign coordinator for Toxics Free Australia.

“All waste to energy incinerators emit persistent organic pollutants (POPs), toxic air pollutants, particulates (micro and nano), acid gases, heavy metals and generate highly toxic ash residues some of which require secure hazardous waste landfills. Indeed this industry and its associated pollution, is the subject of at least three international conventions.”

“Right now in Europe, the latest model waste to energy incinerators, like those Mr Kirkman refers to, have been found to have vastly under reported their emissions and the dioxin contamination in the surrounding environment. 12 million residents in Paris have just recently been advised by French health authorities not to eat their backyard produce as a result.”

“Furthermore, Veolia does not have a good track record here in Australia (landfills) or in Europe where their incinerator operations have been the subject of serious legal cases resulting in prosecutions for failing to report dioxin emissions and contamination of the environment such as in Pietrasanta, Italy.”

“The Victorian government needs to immediately act to prevent this ongoing misinformation campaign and amend their Waste and Circular Economy policies that have been captured by this false and misleading industry narrative.”

“Further, the Federal government must step in and urgently revise our federal waste management policies to remove all policy directions and incentives created by the previous federal government for an industry that is the most expensive and polluting way to make energy and manage waste. We can’t afford Veolia’s Red Hot Plan to burn our finite resources, our climate, our environment, our communities health and our future.”

“There are safer, cheaper and more effective technologies to manage our residual waste. The incinerator sector wants us to believe that Australia’s waste targets cannot be met without waste incineration. As seen in Western Australia, more than 10 years after their approval, these incinerators are still not operating, with both companies seeking (but failing) to exit their contracts. We could have had a Zero Waste City model implemented in the time that has now been wasted on pursuing a dinosaur technology that will undermine Australia’s Circular Economy.” States Jane Bremmer Zero Waste Australia.

For more information: Jane Bremmer 0432 041 397

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