"Nothing creates a not-in-my-backyard mob quicker than the whiff of an incinerator coming to town, even though today's incinerators have come a long way since the 1940s, when they were the darlings of municipalities.

The older operations were essentially combustion furnaces that mass-burned everything and in the process spewed toxic emissions into our airways and eventually water and soil.

The new and improved incinerators offer high-efficiency scrubbers designed to absorb those emissions. They are also using waste-to-energy technology (WtE) that promises to deliver more than just ash.

Waste-to-energy is being touted as a green technology that can produce energy, help with global warming, reduce waste and generate revenue.

But a growing body of evidence suggests the hidden costs of incinerators outweigh the benefits."

Shelagh McNally reports for Canwest News Service October 16, 2009. [2]