Are Incinerators an Outdated Solution?

Incinerators were always promised as a solution to America’s trash build-up, but so far, many people feel like they have not delivered. It is entirely possible that your home or business is set up to deliver things to companies for incineration or even has an incinerator on the premises – but is it worth it?

As America continued to produce more and more trash than the past solutions could deal with, various groups have begun to return to incinerators as the ideal option. They can burn mountains of trash, clear up space, and make sure that your home is not flooded with garbage or debris.

That means you get a dumpster as soon as you need it – and you pay an affordable price. To learn more, request an estimate online today just by typing your Bart, PA ZIP code into our online form.

However, to a lot of people, incinerators are old news and are far from practical. They can still seem like the economical solution at first, but are they really what you want to use?

Cleanliness

There is no way to be subtle about it – incinerators produce a lot of carbon dioxide, smoke, noise, and potentially even hazardous gases. If one is not properly contained and isolated, then they can be a genuine health hazard and run the risk of burning down part of the building if used improperly.

Beyond that, though, is the fact that they emit a lot of toxins and pollution. If your business is trying to be sustainable, then an incinerator is the worst possible way to go about it since you will produce way more waste product than if you simply threw something away normally.

This is not just an environmental problem, either. Larger incinerators produce far more smoke, and that can blow into places where it might harm people, animals, or even plants. Incinerators have to be kept far away from taller buildings, so they are usually quite a drive away, meaning that you burn more fuel to get there.

Safety

The dangers of an incinerator have already been touched on, but it is a good idea to remember that most incinerator deaths are not because of the incinerator itself. Very few people ever crawl into an incinerator and burn to death, but it is the smoke and toxins that cause the most harm.

Remember that they are not a binary problem, either: you are not just living or dying. You can work around an incinerator for months and feel completely fine, only to later find out that your lungs have taken major damage or that you have been poisoned by airborne toxins.

There is also the fact that incinerators are quite large pieces of equipment, which often require training to use. If your own business has ever considered installing one, then it can often be a roadblock to the plan and something that businesses might struggle to work around.

Costs

Incinerators are very costly to run since they are basically giant ovens that are designed to burn things down. This also means that you have to pay quite a lot for specialized third-party incineration options, regardless of how much or how little you want to burn.

These costs can quickly add up if you have no alternative methods of getting rid of excess waste, and once you get too involved in incineration, it is very hard to back out without letting the trash pile up. If you happen to own an incinerator, then the running costs can be extremely high, meaning that this option is not cheaper.

Combine this with the fact that you may have to pay extra insurance or pay for any medical issues that employees run into thanks to toxic fumes and possible burns, and the costs continue to rise. Incineration has a few benefits, but the price is not one of them.

Practicality

Incinerators simply are not as practical as many people have considered them to be. While they can help clear up trash very quickly, this is usually trash that you could dispose of in other ways, without all of the pollution and health hazards.

Consider that you also have to transport that trash to the incinerator or have another company collect it for you. You could easily move the trash somewhere else, like a cleaner disposal option, for the same cost and not have to face all of these downsides.

The only time an incinerator really helps is when you need to dispose of something that is genuinely too unsafe to throw away normally, like hazardous chemicals that have no other use. However, this needs to be done very carefully, and it is often used as a last resort.

Should I Use an Incinerator?

While an incinerator can have some very niche uses and might be practical in a few specific cases, it is hardly the best option to go with. It is dangerous, expensive, polluting, hard to manage, and is easily outclassed by other disposal methods.

Ideally, you want to avoid producing much waste that you can’t recycle or re-use in any way. While there will always be some things that are better off getting burned to ash, it is always best to avoid it wherever you can.

For example, you could re-use building materials from one project to another or try to recycle as much office waste as possible. You might find it useful to dispose of smaller waste containers in a cheaper way rather than paying full price for an incinerator.

Remember that you can always dispose of your trash normally for a lower cost and with a higher level of convenience. Consider getting one of our dumpster rentals to help you move it all in a short timeframe, and do not hesitate to use other options if incineration is not the ideal choice for you.