Methodology for the assessment of health risks associated with multiple pathway exposure to municipal waste combustor emissions

The EPA estimates that significant growth in the population of MWCs will occur in the United States between 1985 and the year 2000. In the year 2000 about 300 additional MWCs may be incinerating over 250,000 tons of MSW per day. If it is assumed that very few of the existing incinerators are permanently shut down over the next 14 years, then it is possible that 33 percent of the projected MSW throughput in the year 2000 may be incinerated in about 400 facilities nationwide. All of the future population of MWCs are expected to be heat recovery systems, whereas about 66 percent of existing MWCs have heat recovery. Data on plants in the planning or construction stage suggest that MWCs with a total capacity of over 1000 tons per day will make up over 50 percent of the new facilities built by the early 1990s. A fundamental issue attendant to this sudden growth is the total environmental impact that may result from the emissions of pollutants from the incinerators. This paper presents the criteria for proper evaluation of emissions of pollutants.