RI Lawmakers consider burning garbage

JOHNSTON, R.I. (WPRI) - As the central landfill continues to expand some state officials are considering reversing a fifteen-year-ban on burning garbage.

But not everyone is in favor of letting the current law, go up in smoke. Thousands of tons of garbage get added to landfills every day

State Representative Peter Kilmartin is sponsoring a bill that would lift the longstanding burn ban on garbage. He says you can't recycle everything, and wants the state to consider the generation of electricity through burning.

"And the nice thing with this is we could meet maybe 3 to 5 percent of the energy needs in Rhode Island, thereby reducing our dependence on foreign oil," says Peter Kilmartin.

But Shelia Dormody of Clean Water Action says burning trash is much less energy efficient than recycling, and it's also not as safe.

"In communities that have incinerators we have seen an increase in pollutants from mercury, dioxins, lead, all types of toxins that we've been trying to reduce for years here in RI," says Shelia Dormody.

But proponents of lifting the ban expect the Department of Environmental Management to keep a tight lid on any safety concerns.

"They are the experts, they will be able to tell us if it does meet the regular hurdles, and if it does, great," says Michael O'Connell

While trash burning might add more jobs, some feel, it's not the right kind of jobs, with high rates of land filling and low rates of recycling, a recent international study ranked Rhode Island near the bottom for recycling efficiency.