Recycling materials can save five times more energy compared to burning them. It is essential that the Mauritian government sets up a recycling program in conjunction with the proposed incinerator at La Chaumiere. Denmark is a successful example; it is the leader in incinerating garbage and it is aiming to recycle 50% of its garbage, hoping to minimize the amount of waste burnt. In industrialized countries where the incineration technology was developed, a sorting already takes place at the recycling level and therefore minimizes the waste of resources and reduces pollution. However, a privatized incinerator requires garbage to ensure returns on investment and will therefore be in direct competition with a recycling project in Mauritius.

The proposed incinerator will cause a slow pollution that is difficult to quantify and therefore easy to ignore. If an incinerator is built to efficiently reduce air pollution and offer adequate landfill treatment for toxic ash, then the cost of the incinerator project would be incredibly high. The US has strict anti-pollution regulations that have caused more than one incinerator to close down, but western countries have the habit of exporting obsolete technologies to the developing world.

Nikhil RAMBURN