This week on The Recombobulator Lab we are excited to announce our media partnership with the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) for their Zero Waste Month this January. Jason and Chris spoke to Froilan Grate, Executive Director of GAIA Philippines and Asia-Pacific Co-Coordinator for GAIA. 

Zero Waste Month has traditionally been a South East Asian event but this year GAIA is encouraging people all around the globe to get involved. Froilan speaks to the guys about GAIAs mission and about the events we can look forward to for Zero Waste Month. 

What is zero waste and how do we get there?

Froilan says Zero Waste is both a destination and a journey. The idea is to reduce the amount of waste produced by managing resources. The movement wants to reduce toxicity in the world by making goods without toxic chemicals and avoiding burning and burying waste. 

Is burning waste bad for the environment?

Burning waste can be on a small scale or a larger scale. Small scale burning, called open burning, is people burning their own rubbish. 

Incineration is when waste is burned on a large scale as part of a country or city’s waste management process. 

Froilan says that either way, burning waste is problematic. These are some of the issues with burning waste: 

1. Impact on human health 

Burning waste pollutes the air, releasing toxic dioxin chemicals into the air. 

2. The climate 

Incineration releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere which contribute to climate change. 

3. Wasting finite resources

Resources used to make the products we use are finite. Burning these is a total waste of these finite resources. 

4. Waste of government or municipal resources

Building incinerators is expensive and they cost a lot to maintain. Typically governments will invest in incinerators and offset the cost over multiple decades. Making the initial decision to incinerate waste in a country means that country is committed to incinerating for the foreseeable future. 

5. Impact on livelihood 

There are far less jobs in incineration than there are in recycling. 

Incineration around the world 

Incineration has been “rebranded” around the world. Incineration companies refer to it as “waste to energy” processing.