Asian incineration debate: GAIA calls on Asian Development Bank to halt waste-to-energy investments

03 May 2023 --- The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) is calling for a halt to investments in waste-to-energy (WtE) facilities in Asia, where the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is increasingly promoting incineration as a solution to the region’s pollution problems. GAIA Asia Pacific asserts that unless alternative waste management practices like composting and reuse are prioritized, workers’ rights will be diminished and GHG emissions will increase.

The ADB recently approved an energy policy to support a low-carbon transition by prioritizing reduced waste generation, exploiting reuse and recycling options and then using waste to recover energy or usable materials. 

However, GAIA Asia Pacific’s clean and climate energy campaigner Yobel Novian Putra asserts that the reliance on waste as an energy source will reduce resources for waste pickers, who rely on discarded materials like packaging to make a living. 

“In some cases, the establishment of WtE incinerators can also lead to the displacement of waste pickers from their homes and communities, exacerbating their already precarious economic situation,” he says.  

GAIA says waste picker livelihoods are at threat from incineration practices.Working against waste pickers? 
GAIA Asia Pacific is urging the ADB to prioritize waste management solutions such as composting, recycling and waste reduction programs instead of incineration.  

The organization claims that these solutions reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills or incinerators, create local job opportunities and reduce GHG emissions. These priorities also empower communities to manage waste and support the informal waste sector, creating a more equitable and just transition toward zero emissions.

“Financing for WtE incinerators works against waste pickers. ADB must recognize the rights of waste pickers including their historical, social and economic contributions they provide to society. To date, ADB’s WtE incinerator and waste management projects have not considered the impacts of their interventions on waste pickers’ livelihoods,” says Kabir Arora, national coordinator of the Alliance of Indian Waste Pickers (AIW). 

“Instead, they must support communities’ efforts toward recognition of waste pickers and a full range of programs to ensure that interventions are fair for waste pickers.” 

AIW also stresses that ADB’s just transition program must build and improve systems that waste pickers have already established while guaranteeing better work conditions, social protection, training opportunities, appropriate technology, support for infrastructure and greater job security at all stages of the waste sector. 

Arora adds that waste pickers groups must be part of the design, monitoring and evaluation of projects. 

“WtE incinerators are not a solution to the pressing issues of waste and energy. They release nearly 1.1 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for every ton of waste burnt. In many studies, an incinerator emits more GHG than a coal-fired power plant,” he says.  

Vietnam investments 
Investments are better spent on improving waste picker conditions and training, according to campaigners.ADB recently approved a US$20 million loan for a WtE project in Binh Duong Province, Vietnam “without clearly following the order of priority,” according to GAIA. 

ADB’s previous US$100 million loan WtE project in Can Tho, Vietnam, has failed to comply with its safeguards policy, particularly on dioxins monitoring – a highly toxic substance acknowledged by the Stockholm Convention and the World Health Organization (WHO), says GAIA.  

WtE incinerators are also a replacement fuel in ADB’s Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) for repurposing early-retired coal-fired power plants. WtE plants are designed to operate and burn resources for at least 20 years. They are highly dependent on dry, mostly recyclables, especially plastic derived from fossil fuels, according to GAIA.

“Continued financing of WtE incinerators, carbon storage, and other false solutions is not the path to decarbonization and Asia’s recovery and energy transition,” says the deputy director of GAIA Asia Pacific, Mayang Azurin. “There is no time to waste. It is urgent that we prioritize the health of our planet and communities over corporate interests.”

WtE debate 
While environmentalists say that emissions produced by incinerators pose serious health risks to nearby communities, emitting harmful pollutants such as dioxins, furans and heavy metals, proponents say state-of-the-art technology provides a safe and practical solution to pollution. 

In 2021, a representative of one of the world’s largest cement producers, which uses incineration to power its kilns, said that anyone believing WtE is not a viable solution to the pollution crisis in Asia “believes in fairy tales.” 

A similar conflict arose in London, UK, around the rebuilding of a £600 million (US$751 million) waste incinerator facility. The North London Waste Authority, which is responsible for the rebuild, hit back at critics, saying they use “outlier” studies that “make no link between our facility and negative health impacts.” 

By Louis Gore-Langton