RESOURCES

• UKWIN - Your primary resource is UK Without Incineration Network - Join this UK-wide body before you do anything else.

• 8-minute BBC video on incineration - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxtw_UmVk0o 

• Dioxins - information on the Toxipedia website (external link) - This information page mentions (among other things) some alarming facts about the exposure of Americans to dioxins - "the general public is exposed (mostly through eating meat, dairy and shellfish ) to up to 1,200 times more dioxin than regulatory agencies typically consider safe."

• Report - 'Long-Term Exposure to Nitrogen Dioxide: Epidemiological Evidence of Effects on Respiratory Morbidity in Children' (external link) - Interestingly the recent Derby gasifier appeal decision of 16 Nov 2010 was lost because of concern over nitrogen dioxide (click here).

• PowerPoint slides from Paul Connett's talk in Edinburgh on Wednesday 12 January 2011

• This set of PowerPoint slides will give you a flavour of the fascinating talk given by Professor Paul Connett in Edinburgh. At the heart of Paul's talk was a simple message - we've only got one planet to live on, and we have to learn to live sustainably. 

• Beginner's Guide to Dioxins, 9 Jan 2011
  As we find ourselves in the middle of another food scare involving 'harmless levels' of dioxin i thought this might be if use to some of your associates'/newcomers to the debate who might be asking "what is dioxin"?

• Radio interview with Paul Connett - a short but pithy interview

• Critique of incineration by Friends of the Earth in Wales - This is an excellent resource, full of strong (and fully referenced) evidence undermining the case for waste incineration

• ROADMAP FOR VICTORY - BEATING INCINERATORS - PDF || Word Doc - An excellent guide to running a successful campaign against waste incineration, provided by Sutton Courtney Against Incineration

• DVD of Professor Paul Connett and Dr Dick Van Steenis - £3 - 20-minute film of Paul Connett and Dick Van Steenis talking on the dangers of incineration, filmed by Ro Goodwin at Invergordon Arts Centre on 27 and 30 July 2009 during their successful campaign to persuade Highland Council not to give planning consent for a new incinerator. Please send a cheque payable to Michael Gallagher, 33 Precinct Street, Coupar Angus, Perthshire, PH13 9DG. You can also find lots of films of Professor Connett online, such as http://www.bigpicture.tv/videos/watch/98dce83da.

• SEPA's views on Energy from Waste - SEPA provides its views on Energy from Waste. It includes links to a report that it commissioned, titled 'Incineration of Waste and Reported Human Health Effects" (October 2009), as well as its guidelines on permit requirements for waste incinerators ('Thermal treatment guidelines 2009).

• Why incineration is a very bad idea in the Twenty First Century, by Paul Connett, PhD - Before I write a statement which I hope will help your cause, I should stress that in our experience you don't beat incinerators with lawyers or experts but by mobilizing the public to put excruciating pressure on your politicians. This approach has served us well from the USA to China. I like to say in my presentations that "effecting change is like driving a nail through a piece of wood, experts can sharpen the nail but you need the weight of public opinion to drive the nail home." - Read the statement.

• PowerPoint presentation - During the predetermination hearing for the Peterhead incinerator proposals, campaigners showed a very effective PowerPoint presentation (click here). You could adapt this to your own campaign. Incidentally, you will notice in this presentation a couple of pollution dispersal maps. Some (though not all) planning applications include these, so you can do a cut-and-paste job to include these in your own version of the presentation.

• Template letter to Councillors regarding the cost of burning waste (Word Doc) - Click here for a template letter (Word Doc) aimed at persuading local authority councillors that burning waste is an expensive way of doing things, and that there are cheaper (and better) alternatives.

• Template letter re health concerns over incineration and pyrolysis - This letter was sent to councillors in North Lanarkshire regarding health concerns over plans for a pyrolysis plant at Carnbroe. It could be adapted to your own campaign. 

• Report (2009) - Earliest Exposures: A Research Project by Washington Toxics Coalition - pdf file - Babies are born after nine months of protection and nurturing from their mothers, and nine months of toxic chemicals from the rest of the world. Babies born in the United States can blame the government: in this country, we operate under a toxics law that has required testing of only 200 chemicals out of 80,000 produced since the law was passed in 1976.

• A Beginner's Guide to Incinerator Emissions and their Known Health Effects - This publication might be of some help to newcomers to this battle and give them some ammo for letters...? Given all the chemicals and by-products emitted one must question why the EU are currently proposing to cut down on the amount of monitoring of the statutory pollutants and dioxin to once every two years. What they are basically saying with this proposal is that modern burners are running so well we dont need to check their emission regulary... which of course is utter bullshit! What i think they are saying behind closed dooors is that the cocktail of chemical emisisons are extremely complex and they cannot answer the questions of cocktails and synegistic effects.
  In solidarity
  Ralph Ryder, Coordinator, Communities Against Toxics, 18 May 2010
  ralph.ryder@googlemail.com