Stop Waste to Energy incinerators in NSW
Petitioner:
Dr Roslyn Irwin
| Member:
Saffin, Janelle
| No. of Signatories:
1,550
| Date closed:
09/04/2024
To the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly,
We the undersigned petitioners bring to the House’s attention our strong objection to proposals for Waste to Energy Incinerators (W2Es) in NSW for the following reasons:
• Waste management using incineration comes with significant impacts on our health, climate, environment and future generations. Even the best practice models in Europe emit significant volumes of toxic air pollution, greenhouse gases, persistent organic pollutants, microplastics and hazardous ash waste over their lifetime.
• Any such project will expose our communities, homes, schools, meatworks, farms and the natural environment to this pollution. This will result in a heightened risk of cancer, miscarriage, infant deaths, developmental delays, reproductive issues, heart disease and respiratory problems.
• Other impacts include significant economic impacts on more sustainable land uses in regional NSW, especially in the tourism and agricultural sectors.
• W2E incineration produces significant greenhouse gas emissions. Their development would be inconsistent with our government’s commitment to net zero.
• W2E incineration is a linear waste management technology incompatible with the NSW Circular Economy Policy. Claims that it is part of the circular economy, or that it is better than landfill, are greenwashing.
• There are safer, more effective ways to manage residual waste in NSW.
We, the undersigned petitioners ask the Legislative Assembly to call on the Government to demonstrate leadership in waste management as an essential community service by implementing an immediate moratorium on all proposed W2E incinerator projects and introducing legislation to prohibit W2E incineration anywhere in NSW.
