Heat exploitation: getting rid of the prejudice reasons for and against the burning of refuse

The solution of heat treatment for refuse disposal has come to represent -environmentally speaking -the ‘core business’ of combined refuse disposal management in industrialised countries (Denmark, Japan, Germany). The reasons are many, from the advantages offered by modern technology (which no longer give off pollutants) to the production of thermal or electric energy which may cover between 50 and 60% of the running costs, including the amortisation of the entire installation. However, the objective difficulty of introducing heat exploitation into Italy is – particularly in southern Italy – most certainly connected to a lack of information on the technological features of installations available today. The presence of a new generation of installations which permit a considerable destruction of toxic substances (heavy metals, dioxins and furans) and fumes produced by the burning of refuse, should help to reduce, if not overcome, the diffidence of local communities which categorically object to the construction a few metres away from their own house of a monstrosity emitting poisonous fumes. In order to convince these communities it has to be demonstrated that the heat destruction of refuse is not just simply a quick way to get rid of it in city areas, but moreover an economically valid and ecologically viable alternative.