In the U.S.A. in 1990, 140 incinerators were operating but between 1985 and 1998, over 300 incinerator projects were cancelled. The incineration industry in the USA is dying. Some operating incinerators were prematurely shut down, such as the one at Glen Cove, Long Island, which closed in 1991 after only 8 years of service. Opposition at the local level has brought growth in the incinerator industry to a crawl (22).

In April of this year, dioxin emissions from Japanese incinerators forced authorities to shut down 2,046 incinerators (23).  The same story is happening around the world, so why on earth would Ireland import a technology that is being rejected everywhere else?