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Following a second dangerous leak of dioxin and furans—highly toxic chemicals—SCA is calling on County officials to immediately close the trash incinerator in Dickerson and temporarily haul the county’s trash to a landfill. In the wake of the leak, we urge the County Council to adopt an alternative trash management system this year that will permanently shutter the incinerator. The County Executive and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are expected to propose a new system and a budget for it this spring. That plan will include (a) hauling what the county can't recycle to a well-vetted landfill, (b) initiating food-scrap composting and other waste reduction strategies, and (c) ending toxic ash dumping on a community in Virginia. The leaks from the 30-year-old incinerator come amid longstanding concerns about health hazards to the community from trash burning—which also produces other toxic emissions such as mercury, sulfur dioxide, arsenic, beryllium, lead, nitrogen oxides and fine particulate matter into the region’s air. You can read our media release on the issue here. Also, view a list of questions about the risks—known and unknown—here.
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