Management of atmospheric pollutants from waste incineration processes: The case of Bozen

The paper presents the case study of a waste incinerator located in a region rich of natural and environmental resources, and close to the city of Bozen, where about 100,000 inhabitants live. Local authorities paid special attention to the impact of the above plant on human health and surrounding environment. Indeed, among the measures adopted to control the emissions, in 2003 an automatic sampling system was specifically installed to monitor PCDD/F emission during the complete operation time of the plant. The continuous sampling system was coupled directly to aerosol spectrometers for the determination of fine and ultra-fine particles in the emissions of the plant. The measurement results suggest that the waste incineration plant of Bozen is not a significant source of PCDD/F, fine and ultra-fine particles. Immission measurements from other monitoring systems confirmed these results.