Incinerators have long been controversial. At the moment, they are the cheapest and most affordable way to process waste, but far from the safest. 70 tons of garbage appear in Russia annually, which must be removed somewhere. Factories become an outlet, but the Earth’s atmosphere is exposed to enormous pollution. What waste incineration plants exist and is it possible to stop the epidemic of waste in Russia?
History of occurrence
Since the people began to lead a sedentary lifestyle, the population of cities and villages has recognized the problem of waste disposal. All the garbage produced by people had to be somehow taken away from the place of residence, because it significantly affected health. Nowadays, when industry and consumption are developing more and more, the inhabitants of developed countries throw about 400 kg of garbage. In third world countries, this figure is half as much. Mankind knows several options for waste disposal:
- burning;
- instillation;
- processing.
Naturally, recycling is the most environmentally friendly and correct for the future way. That's just the cost of it at times more. In each yard, on each street, special trash bins should be installed with separation for different materials (plastic, glass, paper, food waste). Processing plants also require large material costs.
At the same time, landfilling and burning of garbage are the most “dirty”, but also the simplest solution. The costs of these methods are minimal, but there is much more harm from them. In Russia, about 2% of garbage is burned each year, and 4% is recycled, all the rest goes to landfills.
Pros and cons
Perhaps, it will be difficult to find advantages in heat treatment plants. And yet they are. Firstly, this is a decrease in the area of garbage contaminated territories. If you add up all the waste in Russia, you get an area equal to Cyprus. Impressive, right? Incinerators help recycle at least part of this huge garbage.
But the disadvantages of these enterprises can not be counted. The most important is environmental pollution. In order to clean the air with impurities of harmful substances and heavy metals, you need expensive equipment. Gases usually go through two stages of preparation:
- Sedimentation chamber.
- Battery Cyclone.
The degree of air purification reaches 95%. Why, then, in the whole world are trying to get rid of factories working on this principle? The fact is that dioxins, which enter the atmosphere together with smoke, cause diseases such as cancer, pneumonia and other deadly diseases. Around the garbage factories, the number of locals who have come to hospitals with endocrine, immune and reproductive problems is increasing sharply. And unfortunately, at this stage in the development of mankind, such cleansing barriers have not yet been invented that could get rid of dioxins.
Moscow
Incinerators in Moscow are simply necessary. Every day, the city produces tons of garbage that must be disposed of somewhere. All the garbage dumps closest to Moscow are already clogged, the city continues to grow, and the waste with houses "rushes" towards each other. What plants are located in Moscow?
- Garbage processing plant on the street of Podolsky Cadets.
- Incinerator No. 2 on Altuftevskoe highway.
- Plant number 4 and Ecologist in Rudnevo.
The government is facing a difficult task. On the one hand, disastrously little money has been allocated for the construction of the “right plants”. Simply put, there is simply nothing to build them on. On the other hand, more and more protests among residents of Moscow are caused by processing plants, the territories of which are almost closely built up with new buildings.
Incinerators in the suburbs
In 2016, the Clean Country project was approved. Its meaning lies in the construction of new factories in the Moscow region. There are four of them planned:
- Solnechnogorsk district;
- Voskresensky district;
- Noginsk district;
- Naro-Fominsky district.
However, environmentalists are protesting in front of such a "Clean Country". The fact is that, although scientists have not issued an unequivocal prohibition verdict, it will be impossible to calculate the harm from the plants. Too many factors cannot be taken into account: wind behavior, climate, precipitation, amount of waste. If circumstances turn out unfavorably, problems from such a project can be felt by all residents of the Moscow Region.
Greenpeace does not recommend living less than five kilometers from the plants. And to be directly next to it without protective masks can be no more than half an hour. Nevertheless, many residential buildings will fall into the zone of influence of factories. And if the wind rose drives the smoke away from them the other way, circumstances may be even more sad.
Lyubertsy
An incinerator in Lyubertsy has long been a concern for residents of the area. Many deceived equity holders believed a sweet-voiced advertisement about an "environmentally friendly" space in which everyone would feel as comfortable as possible. But the tale was a hoax. For many years in Lyubertsy there were irrigation fields, where the entire sewage system of Moscow flowed.
In addition, there is a thermal power station and an oil refinery nearby . But this is not all: waste from the Moscow Ring Road and Novoryazanskoye Shosse also do not add health to residents. But the saddest thing is two waste incinerators in Lyubertsy, which are located directly on its territory. A lot of new buildings in the area fall into the affected area.
Incinerator No. 4
The waste processing plant located in the Rudnevo industrial zone in Lyubertsy is Moscow's largest waste incinerator. A day, he receives about 700 tons of garbage, that is, about 30% of the total waste of the capital. Right next to it is another plant called Ecologist. Medical waste, pet carcasses and medical confiscation are brought into it for burning.
Directly next to these enterprises are Kozhukhovo residential buildings, kindergartens and social institutions. Residents of the Lyubertsy district have long been trying to reach out to the authorities, but so far their requests have not been answered.
Garbage Processing Plant No. 2
Incinerator No. 2 is located in the Altufevo area. Its distinctive feature is the location inside the array of residential neighborhoods. The relative proximity to the center of Moscow and the direction of the wind rose together suggest that the plant is poisoning a significantly larger number of people than everyone else.
Garbage at the plant is burned mainly at night. Many residents complain of shortness of breath and disgusting odors. Young families with children who bought apartments in the area are already considering moving to the Moscow region. Repeated petitions calling on the government to close the plant until they found reciprocal support.
Ways to solve the problem
After all the information read, despair involuntarily rolls over - how can ordinary people fix all this without any power and leverage? But you can do it.
- Engage in garbage sorting. Yes, that sounds corny. But the future of our planet depends on each of us. If the majority of Moscow residents begin to collect garbage separately, the government will be forced to set up factories for separate processing. And business will move from a dead point.
- Do not discard batteries, equipment, or lamps. In Russia, it is still not forbidden to burn all these dangerous substances. Therefore, they go to the furnace along with relatively safe household waste. But when they burn, very toxic substances are released that have a detrimental effect on health. Now in every large village there are special boxes for collecting hazardous raw materials, into which you can send your bulbs, mercury thermometers and used equipment.
- Take an active citizenship. No need to think that you are not concerned with the problem of recycling. The construction of a plant in St. Petersburg was canceled precisely because of large-scale protests. The future is in your hands.