However, after hundreds of years of practice, the waste incineration method has not been accepted by the general public, and its shortcomings are highlighted in its latent pollution is heavier, more expensive, complex operation and waste of resources. Although its pollution prevention and control technology is improving, it is still immature and has not been able to withstand the test of theory and practice.
According to a variety of literature reports, each ton of waste incineration will produce about 5,000 cubic meters of exhaust gas, will also leave about half of the original volume of ash. Waste incineration is only part of the pollutants from the solid state into a gaseous state, its weight and total volume is not only not reduced, but also increased. Incinerator exhaust emissions of hundreds of major pollutants, the composition is extremely complex, which contains many greenhouse gases and toxic substances. Today's best incineration equipment, under normal operation, will also release dozens of harmful substances, only through filtration, water washing and adsorption method is difficult to purify all. Especially the dioxin class of pollutants, belonging to the recognized first-class carcinogens, even if a very small amount can be accumulated in the body for a long time, and its role in the human body so far can not be stipulated out of the role of the threshold value. The toxic and hazardous substances in incineration ash are more numerous and more difficult to deal with. However, the illusion created by incineration is that the converted waste gases are emitted high up into the atmosphere and away from people. Many people do not realize that the pollutants in the atmosphere can be through the bottom of the troposphere (thickness of only 1 to 2 kilometers) back to the regions, the most concentrated pollution is one or two hundred meters thick convection bottom atmosphere, most of the toxic organics and heavy metals sooner or later will come back to your side.
In addition, the incineration method of huge cost and waste of resources is even more unsuitable for our country and many developing countries. Construction of a large and medium-sized incinerator can easily be 1 billion yuan, completed and put into operation after the environmental protection of the treatment cost of about 300 yuan / ton, some cities in China that kind of incineration disposal of a ton of domestic garbage operation, whether it is really according to the environmental protection procedures are questionable in itself. Environmentally friendly incineration treatment method is generally difficult for cities to afford. Its operation requires frequent replacement of filtering and adsorption materials, but also spends a lot of money, often resulting in the operation of arbitrarily simplified loopholes.
In recent years, a wave of anti-waste incineration of the rights of the storm in the global burning, more and more burning. In fact, waste incineration has begun to enter a period of atrophy at home and abroad. Even in Japan, which has the highest concentration of waste incinerators in the world, resistance to waste incineration is widespread, with hundreds of anti-dioxin groups in operation. Even European countries, which set EU standards, have reflected on the situation, shutting down incinerators and enacting burn bans. There are now more than 15 countries and territories that have adopted partial bans on waste burning. There is virtually no market for new waste incinerators in Europe. Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and other developed countries that use incinerators the most and the earliest have long since promulgated the "incinerator ban". Many European countries have pledged to stop emitting any hazardous substances into the environment by 2020. This means that the smoke or ash emitted from incinerators cannot contain harmful chemicals, which is difficult to achieve with current incineration technology.
The United States, which has 6,200 medical waste incineration plants, saw a strong grassroots movement that overturned more than 300 waste incinerator plans, closing 98.1 percent by 2003. Its incineration industry has been virtually defunct for more than a decade since 1996, and the U.S. government has not built a new waste incineration plant in more than a decade.
In the United Kingdom, opposition to incineration has risen in the suburbs of London and in communities such as the Murray Valley and in the Lake Ontario region