Sweden burning its trash is no panacea for pollution

As I share my anxiety and dissent around the proposed landfill site and waste-to-energy plant on the banks of River Yamuna in Delhi, several of my well-intentioned and educated friends shared my pain and anger and in response sent me this "glamorous" "hyper" link about Sweden and its fabulous victory over waste, how it has run out of waste and is importing waste now.

Sweden is one of the richest nations in the world. Its government and the associated PR machinery have been floating a beautiful byline - How Sweden recycles 99 percent of its waste - and it's such a noble propaganda running for at least few years now.

In the course of this tall and handsome claim, little do we understand that Sweden has conveniently redefined the meaning of "recycling" to become a rich, but "green" nation.

A Wikipedia definition of recycling terms it "the process of converting waste materials into reusable materials and objects. It is an alternative to 'conventional' waste disposal that can save material and help lower greenhouse gas emissions."

"Burning" is not recycling, and that's exactly what Sweden does. It incinerates almost 50 per cent of its waste so as to make energy and heat.

By its own admission it says its not the best approach and perhaps actual recycling would be a better option.

The reality, however, is that Sweden is short on landfill space and therefore "incineration" is the best propaganda that can both rescue them from the challenge and also make them so called "wiser" and "greener" nation. Incineration is a dirty process.

By burning trash, we manufacture the most toxic substances such as polyhalogenateddibenzopara dioxins and furans (PCDDs, PCDFs, PBDDs, PBDFs et al) called "dioxins", a whole range of toxic metals, a range of nanoparticles and heaps of highly toxic fly ash - some of these byproducts released into the atmosphere and the solid remains either hidden in some salt mines (Germany and Switzerland do that!) or used to make toxic highways and roads.

Swedish governments website says their incinerators emit "99.9 per cent non-toxic carbon dioxide and water", and if we have to believe their claim its yet again a big sham. Since when has carbon dioxide become a good emission. Wasn't the entire climate change debate pivoted on carbon emissions, carbon dioxide emissions and we were supposed to bring that down.

By that mere admission, Sweden's false propaganda of "environmentalism" nosedives and makes a mockery of all the climate debate we have had in last decades.

Yes, waste is out of sight, we become trash-less but in the process of better optics we end up creating a cancer society. Yes, they would also claim that they capture all dioxins in their filters, but several studies conducted by the most well-regarded institutions around the world state that not all dioxins can be captured.

Manufacturing waste is one of the greatest symbols of a growing economy, more you produce, more prosperous you are. It's the only two dimensional reality most economies in the world are embracing today, boasting of growth, production and consumption, resulting into heaps of waste.

It might be overtly simplistic to say that there is no alternative to fast growth and market economy and in the process makes it "aspirational" for nations, societies and individuals to celebrate the size of their dustbin, an unfortunate pride.

There indeed are alternative growth paradigms, but they will question the very foundation of a "liberal" economy and are therefore often dismissed as regressive, outdated and impractical.

The irony is that the Swedish model is based on the basic premise of more trash-more energy. No doubt landfills are as much a mess and an environmental hazard, emitting poisonous methane and contaminating our ground water and surface water.

But a sustainable solution lies in hitting the source of trash, the scale of trash and not "set" the trash.

Sweden burns its waste, doesn't recycle it.

(If you wish to join the campaign against the proposed landfill site on the banks of River Yamuna, read more here.)

Watch: Operation Disposal in India