Dirty Secrets of Incinerators

It's a very quiet day in campus. I think mainly because the students have finished their exams and gone off for their long vacation but also because many staff have taken the opportunity to take the day off to enjoy a long stretch of holidays (tomorrow and the day after being public holidays). So, most of the window units (aircon) around my office are off and I have been getting fantastic cool breeze with all my windows open. The day is downcast but cool and I feel happy because my Constructivist book is finally printed (after 2 years with the publisher) - and I am looking forward to attending the conference in Hong Kong on the 2nd May which incidentally is related to my book topic.

Who's telling the truth about incinerators? Many claim that their latest technology is efficient and non-polluting and can even generate electricity from plastics. I went to a CAP (Consumer Association of Penang) seminar this morning where (well, I don't know what to label him, so I will call him an 'activist') an activist with GreenAction based in San Francisco exposed many of the false claims by companies attempting to push various types of incinerator technology in the US. In fact, one of the companies claimed that they have an operational plant in the Kuala Lumpur area (which of course is not true). Bradley Angel gave a few tips on how to deal with these companies. Ask for the data or evidence to support their claims. So far, none have been able to produce the data. Zero emissions. Look for the tall chimney or emission stack (why have a stack if there is no emissions?).

What's the problem with incinerators, by whatever name or technology it is called (gasification, pyrolysis, plasma, catlytic cracking, hydrolysis/fermentation, anaerobic digestion)? Dioxin! And a few other pollutants such as heavy metals, ammonia, etc. Dioxin is produced when you burn plastic at high temperatures (between 200 and 400 degrees). There are claims that some technology do not produce dioxin because they used very high temperatures (like above 600 degrees) but the problem is that when the gases are discharged through the stacks (tall chimneys) the component gases recombine to form dioxin. We can overcome this if the gases are cooled down very very fast (from 600 straight to below 200) but there is no such technology yet (this information was provided by Dato Ong Hean Tee at the seminar). Dioxin is the result of the combination of chlorine-based compounds and hydrocarbons through burning. You get dioxin not only from incinerators but other industries which uses chlorine such as paper mills which uses chlorine for bleaching, the production of PVC plastics and pesticides.

What's the problem with dioxin? According to the American Chemistry Council, the release of dioxin into the environment by industry is now well controlled. The most dominant source of dioxin is now uncontrolled burning. The EPA confirms that dioxin is a cancer harzard.

What's happening back home? The proposed incinerator plant at Broga in the Klang Valley has been abandoned (for now). But there's a lot of chatter in Penang to introduce the incinerator here. That's why there was lots of reporters at the seminar. They can smell a story there but as Bradley said, the media plays are very important role to bring the issue to the public.

One interesting fact which was highlighted by an officer of the local authority is that you can't just have one. You need at least two because there is a lot of downtime for regular maintenance including complete shutdown to change the filters and clean up the chambers (they have to be shutdown yearly for about a month). And these babies run into several (hundred?) millions each + maintenance costs.

What's the solution? Wear smaller shoes - make your footprint smaller. Yes, reduce our consumption. Practice the 4Rs - refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle. There's one more R - but it escapes me for the moment.

Hazardous waste on campus. I remember a scientist in USM was offered a free experimental incinerator several years back and he asked for permission to place it in our Minden Campus. I was horrified to hear that the university had even considered various unobtrusive locations to put the incinerator. Fortunately someone raised the alarm so the proposal was (or seems to have been) abandoned. But we do have alot of hazardous waste from the labs and the hospital. Bradley told me that he visited a facility which used microwave to disinfect hazardous materials (including hospital waste) without the need to incinerate them. That's one area we should be looking at.

Buildings which melt back into nature

Sustainable construction or architecture is about building with nature.

One of the crucial principles of sustainable development is for the constuction materials to be recycled or reused for new construction. Natural materials such as wood or straw, given enough time, will eventually decay and "melt" back into the environment. Mortar or concrete of course cannot decay but can still be reused as aggregate for driveways, walkways or foundations.

The next time you see a renovation work being carried out on a building in your neighbourhood, stop to observe. Most of the construction waste will be all mixed up in a pile waiting to be carted away to the landfill. For bigger renovations, a lorry would just drive right up to the building and the waste thrown straight in from the building. Sometimes the workers will separate out the metal rods and pieces to be sold to the scrap dealer. Old wood and concrete blocks have no resale value. Perhaps the paint on the wood makes it difficult to reuse or recyle them?

We put in a lot of effort at recycling plastic bottles, newspapers, cardboards, used papers etc from the office and house but there does not seem to be any effort into reducing construction waste ending up in landfills. This is an area which I hope USM can pursue rigorously in the future. It is probably going to mean the contractors are going to cost in or charge for the effort to recycle the construction waste. But that is the price we will have to pay to reduce depletion of natural resourses. I believe this has to be tackled from the design stage. The designer of the building (whether new or old) must be required to incorporate reuse of the old construction materials (I would add "wherever possible", but that sounds half-hearted).

Early this month, I was at the Berjaya Langkawi Resort to facilitate a Futures Workshop. The resort is designed very much with nature in mind. Tall beautiful trees provide lots of shade to the wooden kampung-style chalets on stilts. The chalets are built into the hillside maintaining much of the vegetation and terrain. You are not allowed to drive your own vehicle to the chalet but motorised transport is provided by the hotel.

One of the things I did was to find out whether I could 'survive' without the aircon on. I opened all the windows and doors and stripped to bare minimum (don't ask how minimum), switched on the fan and tried to take an afternoon nap after a long trip by bus and boat from Penang. I was barely comfortable, sweating slightly despite the tropical architecture, the wooded and shady environment and the sea close by. After less than one hour, I sensed an intruder in the room. To my horror, a monkey had crept into the room and was already reaching for the 3-in-1 coffee satchets on the top shelf. That's really going back to nature. And there goes my cross-ventilation - I had to close the front door.

The principles of sustainable developments suggests shady trees, use of natural ventilation and lighting, appropriate use of light colours for buildings and roofs to reduce heat absorption, proper orientation of building, shading devices, and so on. These are principles we hope to apply when USM develops its new Research Park (Garden) - that is the vision of Dato Dzul, our Vice-Chancellor, to put our stamp on sustainable development. I am looking forward to that.

As a bonus for you, this is a shot of one of those tall slender elegant trees reaching for the sky in the soft morning light in Langkawi.

The Power of the Sun

Most Malaysians don't think about it. We wash our clothes and then we hang it out in the sun to dry. What's the big deal?

I remember when we were staying at the Sandpoint Student Housing of the University of Washington in Seattle in the early 1990s. We learnt about the power of the sun from an Aussie lady named Jenny. When its Spring, she gets very excited when the sun comes out. She will do her laundry and hang it out to dry. We asked why she bothered. Why not just pop them into the electric dryer? That's when we learnt how passionate she was (I guess still is) about energy conservation. To her, it was about harnessing the sun (which is a renewal energy) instead of using electricity (which is generated mostly from non-renewal energy such as petroleum or coal which are also polluting; not to mention generating more heat from the dryers).

The above picture was taken on one of my walks in the USM main campus in March 2007 (its behind one of the student hostel). It brings back memories of my time as a student in USM (not so long ago?). I am glad that our students are still harnessing the power of the sun to do their laundry. There is nevertheless a dobi (laundrette) just next to this clothesline which uses several electric dryers. I hope that the students use it only when its rainy or for large pieces of laundry too difficult to manage manually.

The building on the left is popularly referred to as the Hilton. I stayed there for a year when I was a first year student. Notice the "flags" on the staircase railings? I remember it was a hassle to wash your own clothes here because there was no special place to dry them in the building. If you were staying on the 7th floor (which I was) you would not be bothered to go all the way to the ground to hang your clothes to dry. But these girls (yes, girls have taken over) are more industrious. As Dato Dzul said, girls are different - in the sense they will go one step further when comes to personal care. What did I do? Hmm, I think I sent mine to a laundry lady (actually, the lady comes to collect from the students; I believe they are family "businesses" using traditional methods, i.e. handwashed).

Some of you may recall a former prime minister who made big fuss about these "unsightly flags" hanging out of apartment blocks in KL. In Putrajaya (our new administrative capital) I heard that there was a suggestion that clothes line would not be allowed (even on the ground) and every house would have to be fitted with an electric dryer. Now, that is certainly not in line with principles for sustainable development. But we can't blame the residents. Our designers and developers don't think about such inconveniences.