Air

The main impacts to air are:

• Release of methane gas, a greenhouse gas, from landfill sites.

• Vehicle emissions from transporting waste.

• Toxic fumes from the incineration of special wastes, long term effects unknown.

• Greenhouse gases from incineration

• Failure of stacks to dilute and disperse, local, regional and global impacts

Waste gases are emitted to air where they are regulated through the Local Authority. Air emissions are carried away on the winds and although they are dispersed over a wide area they do not disappear. Sometimes the plume of emissions may fall over the local area in a more concentrated form.

Some municipal wastes are burnt to recover their energy. However burning waste adds to emissions of CO2, SOX, and NOx. Waste-derived-fuel is a method of incineration at extremely high temperatures, usually in cement kilns.

This 'fuel' is derived from the special wastes associated with the chemical, pharmaceutical, plastics and automotive industries.