Incineration is an environmentally and technically superior method of waste disposal, offering:
- reliability
- safety
- efficiency
at the same time, it is highly controversial and expensive. in previous decades, landfills were primarily used for waste disposal, allowing nature to take its course, eventually reducing the end volume toxicity of the wastes. however, because of increasingly stringent environmental regulations concerning air quality, landfills, and groundwater contamination, along with the decreasing availability of land for the encapsulation of wastes, incineration has become the desired disposal method for municipalities and industries.
yet, even incineration technology is constantly undergoing revisions in order to meet tougher environmental standards. these technological advances include those that increase efficiency and those that use emissions control apparatus.
incineration thermally decomposes matter through oxidation, thereby reducing and minimizing the wastes, and destroying their toxicity. it can be applied to industrial, municipal, and hazardous wastes provided that they contain organic material. since it is primarily organic substances that can undergo and sustain thermal degradation.
