Dieter Schrenk
Food Chemistry and Environmental
Toxicology
University of Kaiserslautern
2004
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Municipal waste is incinerated (burned) in order to
- reduce volume (by more than 90%)
- produce energy
Products are:
- Bottom ash (non-toxic material used in road
construction etc.)
- Filter ash (hazardous material)
- Gas (cleaned in gas filtration facility)
- Energy
- Iron (collected by magnetic collectors)
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Theoretical impact on health:
- via emissions (from the stack); health effects in residents
living in the vicinity?
- via fly ash (hazardous material); health effects in people
involved in transport or storage; in residents living close
to the storage facility/landfill?
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Attempts to measure effects on health
I.
Analysis of the health status in the vicinity before
operation starts
-
Mortality (number and cause of death)
-
Morbidity (incidence of certain diseases brought into relation to chemicals such as respiratory diseases,
cancer etc.)
-
Environmental levels of certain toxic compounds
frequently suggested to originate form incineration
such as dioxins, mercury, PCBs etc.
-
Modelling/prediction of the maximum levels of such
chemicals in ambient air or soil during operation of
the incinerator taking unfavourable weather
conditions into account
Risk assessment
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Attempts to measure effects on health
II.
Monitoring after operation has started
-
Monitoring of the emissions (levels of toxic
compounds at the stack)
-
Option: Monitoring of levels of certain toxic
compounds in the vicinity
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
I.
Solid particles
-
Dust, particulate matter (mainly carbon, oxides,
salts) containing metals (toxic metals: cadmium,
lead, arsenic, mercury) and dioxins/PCBs
II.
Gases, gaseous compounds
-
Sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide,
chlorine and hydrogen chloride, fluorine and
hydrogen fluoride, volatile PCBs, volatile mercury
-
other organic and inorganic compounds of minor
toxicity
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Dioxins
Are organic chemicals formed, e.g., during thermal
processes in the presence of organic matter, oxygen,
chlorine and a catalyst
Dioxins comprise a group of 29 chemicals. Most of them
have never been produced on purpose but are
formed during chemical processes
Dioxins are highly toxic a led to intoxication episodes (e.g.
in Seveso, Italy)
Dioxins can accumulate in the food chain and are found in
the human body and in mother’s milk
The levels of dioxins in the environment and in mother’s
milk have declined of the last two decades
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Best estimates for 2000 (EPA Inventory of Dioxin and Furan Emissions in Ireland)
% Contribution to total air emissions
100
80
60
40
20
0
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Best estimates for 2010 (EPA Inventory of Dioxin and Furan Emissions in Ireland)
% Contribution to total air emissions
100
80
60
40
20
0
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Best estimates for 2000 and 2010 (EPA Inventory of Dioxin and Furan Emissions in
Ireland) in g/annum
Air
2000
2010
34
30
Water
2.2
0.3
Land
57
79*
*including 18 g Dioxins/annum mainly in filter ash!
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Dioxin levels in fish (ng TEq/kg)
Sample
Ireland*
Reference level (country)
wild salmon
1.07  0.33 (2002)
farmed salmon
4.10  1.09 (2002)
16 - 38 ng/kg fat (U.K.)
farmed trout
1.36  0.37 (2002)
0.29 - 3.1 ng/kg (England)
Mackerel
0.59 -1.07 (Adriatic sea)
*Food Safety Authority of Ireland (2002) in ng TEq/kg wet weight
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Dioxin levels in dairy products (ng TEq/kg fat)
proposed guidelines in Germany
< 0.9
target value
> 3.0
investigate source and start measures to
minimise release. Recommendation not the distribute
product directly to the consumer.
> 5.0
product no longer marketable
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Dioxin levels in dairy products (ng TEq/kg lipid)
(background levels)
Sample
cow’s milk
Ireland
Reference level (country)
0.16-0.50*(1996) 0.65  0.29 (France)
0.15-0.41*(2000) 0.74  0.41 (USA)
dairy products
0.45 - 1.1 (Germany)
*Irish EPA surveys
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Dioxin levels in dairy products from
North Rhine - Westphalia
I-TEq (ng/kg milk fat)
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
Irish EPA survey 2000
0.00
1990
1994
1998
year
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Milk and dairy products*: Dioxin levels in Irish products are significantly lower
(by about 50%) than in the U.K., Germany, or Italy (countries with a long history
of heavy industry and highly industrialized areas with high population density)
Fish**: Average dioxin levels in Irish farmed salmon are about twice as high as in
wild salmon (source: feed). Similar findings in Norway, Canada etc.
But: Since no additional dioxin load will be measurable in the vicinity of a
modern MWI, an increase in background dioxin levels in fish, dairy products etc.
can be excluded.
**Report by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, 2002
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
Old incinerators (inadequate filter technology):
-
enhanced levels of certain toxic chemicals
originating from the incinerator were found in the
environment including biological samples such as
cow’s milk. No human health effects could be linked
unequivocally to these levels.
Modern incinerators (adequate filter technology)
-
no impact on the (existing) levels of certain toxic
chemicals is found in the vicinity. No human health
effects can be expected. ‘Reports’ on such ‘possible’
effects are not scientifically sound (Findings could
not be attributed to a chemical or could originate
from hundreds of other sources).
Schrenk 2004
Waste Incineration: Questions
U.K. Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food,
Consumer Products and the Environment (COC):
‘The Committee was reassured that any potential risk
of cancer due to residency (for periods in excess of 10
years) near to municipal solid waste incinerators was
exceedingly low and probably not measurable by the
most modern epidemiological techniques. The
Committee agreed that, at the present time, there was
no need for any further epidemiological investigations
of cancer incidence near municipal solid waste
incinerators.’
Schrenk 2004
Risk Assessment: Questions
Schrenk 2004
Risk Assessment: Questions
Monitoring of the health status in the vicinity before
operation of the incinertor
Schrenk 2004
Risk Assessment: Questions
Schrenk 2004
Risk Assessment: Questions
Monitoring of the health status before operation of the incinertor
Population data: 1996 and 2002 census data at DED level and regional level, by sex and five
year age groups (2002 census data is just available)
Mapping: Definition of area boundaries, relating these boundaries to recognisable
geographical features
Cancer incidence data: Incidence data for total cancer incidence, lung, breast, colon and
leukemia/lymphoma incidence (1994 to 2000)
Mortality data: Incidence data for deaths, including all-cause mortality, deaths from
ischemic heart disease, cerebro-vascular disease, respiratory causes, and possibly form
injury (1994 to 2000)
Congenital anomaly data: Prevelance data for all congenital anomalies, for neural tube
defects and congenital cardiac disease (1981 to 1999)
GMS prescription data: Prescriptions for asthma and related respiratoty disease (2000 or
2001)
Data analysis and presentation: Data will be analysed and presented, in general and where
appropriate, by age, sex, and in two time periods (approximately 1994 to 1996 and 1997 to
2001)
Schrenk 2004
Risk Assessment: Questions
Schrenk 2004
Risk Assessment: Questions
A toxicological procedure to predict the additional incidence of a certain
adverse effect or disease (resulting from a chemical or compound).
age-standardized mortality
Lung cancer mortality in men, SouthWestern Germany
600
Non-smoker
Previous or current smoker
400
200
121
9
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80 85+
Age
Schrenk 2004
Risk Assessment: Questions
A toxicological procedure to predict the additional incidence of a certain
adverse effect or disease (resulting from a chemical or compound).
121:9 = 13.3 Relative Risk of a current or
previous smoker to die from lung cancer at the
age of 50 – 55 years compared to a non-smoker
Schrenk 2004
Risk Assessment: Questions
Schrenk 2004
Risk Assessment: Questions
Because hundreds of modern MWIs have been in
operation for the last 10-20 years
-without any indication for higher levels of toxic
compounds in the vicinity
- without any conclusive evidence for health problems
related to the MWI.
Schrenk 2004
Risk Assessment: Questions
Daily average air emission limit values for municipal waste according to
EU Directive 2000/76/EC
Compound
Total dust
mg/m3
10
Organic substances, total
10
Hydrogen chloride
10
Hydrogen fluoride
1
Sulphur dioxide
50
Nitrogen monoxide and dioxide
200
Cadmium, Thallium
0.05
Mercury
0.05
Antimony, Arsenic, Lead,
Chromium, Cobalt, Copper, Manganese,
Nickel and Vanadium
‘Dioxins’
0.5
0.1 ng/ m3
Schrenk 2004
Risk Assessment: Questions
The standard in many European countries (and EC
Directive**) is 0.1 ng I-TEQ*/m3 flue gas
*Dioxin equivalents
**sampled over 6 - 8 h
0.1 ng = 10-9 g (0.000 000 0001 g)
This emission is further diluted by a factor > 100 000
Schrenk 2004
Risk Assessment: Questions
rural backgound
30 fg/m3
additional level
0.2 fg/m3
total
30.2 fg/m3
MWI contribution
<1 %
Kerst et al. (Dioxin 2002, Barcelona):
PCDD/F in air samples (main wind direction) from the vicinity
of a Hazardous Waste Incinerator in Bavaria: 26 - 33 fg/m3 (PCB:
+9.4 - 14%)
No impact on the dioxin levels in the vicinity (air)!
Schrenk 2004
Summary
The relase of toxic chemicals from modern MWI is
extremely low (not zero). Its contribution to the overall
exposure in the vicinity is in the range of less than 1 %
(in some cases in the range of 1 %).
Attempts to measure any chemically detectable impact
of modern MWIs on the vicinity were negative.
Attempts to measure any health effect of modern MWIs
on the vicinity were inconclusive. Some epidemiological
studies ‚suggest‘ such a corrrelation. Such conclusions
lack any scientific proof, they are pure speculation.
Schrenk 2004