Cost and Benefit of Solid Waste Incineration
Attributes
Medium: Health and/or Human Capital
Country: Philippines
Analytical Framework(s): Economic Analysis
Study Date: 2003
Publication Date: 2004
Major Result(s)
| Resource/Environmental Good | PHP, billion currency units (2003) |
PHP, billion currency units (2014)1 |
USD, billion currency units (2014)2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net benefit at 10% inhalation exposure, 1.0 income elasticity | 10.70 | 16.63 | 0.37 |
| Net benefit at 2% inhalation exposure, 1.0 income elasticity | 42.10 | 65.45 | 1.46 |
| Net benefit at 10% inhalation exposure, 0.4 income elasticity | 8.40 | 13.06 | 0.29 |
| Residual health damage at 10% inhalation exposure, 1.0 income elasticity | 4.90 | 7.62 | 0.17 |
| Residual health damage at 2% inhalation exposure, 1.0 income elasticity | 24.60 | 38.24 | 0.86 |
| Residual health damage at 10% inhalation exposure, 0.4 income elasticity | 3.50 | 5.44 | 0.12 |
About the Inflation Adjustment: Prices in Philippines (PHP) changed by 55.45% from 2003 to 2014 (aggregated from annual CPI data), so the study values were multiplied by 1.55 to express them in 2014 prices. The study values could be expressed in any desired year (for example, to 2025) by following the same inflation calculation and being sensitive to directional (forward/backward) aggregations using your own CPI/inflation data.
Study Note: This study looked into two incineration technologies: mass burn rotary kilns and the modular starved-air incinerators, both equipped with dry sorbent injection and fabric filters to control emissions. The mass burn rotary kiln which is claimed to meet the Philippine dioxin standard is being contemplated by the Philippine Government to be installed in Metro Manila. However, emission tests conducted by the US Environmental Protection Agency - National Center for Environmental Assessment (USEPA-NCEA) refutes this claim. In contrast, modular starved-air incinerators have been proven to meet dioxin standards based on actual emission monitoring conducted by the USEPA-NCEA. The proven ability to meet the Philippine dioxin standard is the only basis used in this study to label an incineration technology as clean.
Study Details
Summary: This study provides information on the potential health impacts of two methods of waste incineration in Manila, the Philippines. To do this, it models the performance of a hypothetical incineration facility, using two different technologies. Using a combination of pollution dispersion and health impact modelling, the study investigates how dioxin pollution from the incinerator would increase the occurrence of cancer in the surrounding population. This health impact is economically valued and added to the direct costs of running the incinerator. The study finds that incineration technology is available that meets the Philippines's national pollution guidelines on dioxin emissions - namely modular starved-air incineration should therefore be re-examined.
Site Characteristics: In 1997, the Metro Manila Development Authority estimated that Metro Manila generated 5,345 tons per day (tpd) of solid waste of which 3.7% is recycled, 65.4% is collected and disposed of in sanitary landfills and open dump sites, and the remainder is self-discharged (6.4%) and illegally dumped (24.5%). In 1997, the Carmona and San Mateo sanitary landfills handled 2,176 tpd while the Payatas and Catmon open dump sites handled 1,264 tpd. The Carmona and San Mateo landfills reached their limit and ceased accepting waste in 1998 and 2000, respectively. The Payatas open dump temporarily stopped accepting solid waste due to a freak "waste slide" accident that buried and killed several scavengers living in the dump. The resulting lack of disposal sites has led to the piling up of uncollected municipal solid waste, culminating in a garbage crisis in the Metro. The government's immediate administrative and policy reactions were to create the Commission of Solid Waste Management and pass the Solid Waste Management Act 2000. Alternative disposal sites were needed and this resulted in a plan to revive two sanitary landfill sites; the Montalban (in Rizal) and the Navotas (in Manila) landfills which respectively handled 600 tpd and 200 tpd. With the re-opening of the Payatas dump site in 2000 and these two landfill sites, the disposal problem has been somewhat alleviated but still, more than half of the Metro's solid waste remained uncollected.
Comments: A comparison of the economic and environmental costs of incineration versus those of other waste disposal options, such as landfill, was beyond the scope of the study. But preliminary estimates of landfill costs from other studies suggest that they can be quite high. More extensive research on the costs and environmental impacts of landfill would be invaluable for purposes of comparison. Given the difficulties the country faces in achieving its targets with current methods, careful consideration of all the options - based on evidence rather than perception - is badly needed.