Environmental monitoring analysis of municipal solid waste incineration in Europe and the needs for changes in brazilian legislation

Abstract Incineration is a solid waste treatment technology whose main purpose is to reduce the volume and mass of the waste to be disposed of in landfills. The incinerators built in the last decades bring the possibility of energy recovery from waste, in the form of steam and/or electric energy. However, this technology still raises questions about possible environmental impacts related to its emissions. Incineration is regulated in Europe through specific legislation which, among other issues, requires the disclosure of environmental monitoring data for incinerators. In the present work, atmospheric emissions data from incinerators associated with the Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants (CEWEP) are analyzed by searching the websites of the respective incinerators, scientific articles and technical reports. Monitoring data on all continuous and periodic measured pollutants defined in the legislation in time series from 2010 to 2017 were analyzed. All annual average emission values of the incinerators analyzed were below the limits defined by the European Union's Directive, with little variation over the observed years. The comparison of European with Brazilian emission standards shows the need for a change in local legislation on incineration so that, if this technology is implemented in Brazil, it will operate within safe limits, with a guarantee of minimizing impacts on the environment and surrounding populations.

摘要：焚烧是一项固体废物处理技术，其核心目标为缩减需填埋处置的固体废物的体积与质量。近数十年来新建的焚烧炉可实现以蒸汽和/或电能形式从废弃物中回收能源。但该技术仍存在与排放相关的潜在环境影响争议。欧洲通过专项立法对焚烧活动进行监管，该法规除其他规制事项外，还要求公开焚烧炉的环境监测数据。本研究通过检索各焚烧炉官方网站、学术文献及技术报告，对欧洲垃圾能源化工厂联盟（Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants, CEWEP）旗下焚烧炉的大气排放数据开展分析。研究对2010至2017年时间序列内，法规规定的全部连续与周期性监测污染物的监测数据进行了梳理分析。本次分析涉及的焚烧炉所有年度平均排放值均低于欧盟指令规定的限值，且观测年度内的排放值波动幅度极小。对比欧洲与巴西的排放标准可见，巴西亟需修订本土焚烧相关立法，以确保该技术若在巴西落地应用，可在安全限值内运行，最大限度降低对环境及周边民众的影响。