More Weird, Colorful Smoke Seen At Newark Trash Incinerator

NEWARK, NJ — Another burst of weird, colorful smoke was spotted at a trash incinerator in Newark last week, just three months after a pink cloud was seen hovering above the same facility.

The cause was reportedly the same in both cases: iodine.

A video filmed on Friday, Sept. 20 shows purple-tinted smoke rising from the Covanta incinerator on Raymond Boulevard. (Watch below)

Covanta spokesperson James Regan told Patch the Sept. 20 incident was caused by iodine being burned as part of a regular trash delivery. It was similar to another incident that took place in June, when a payload of iodine made its way into the incinerator, resulting in a pink smoke plume.

As was the case in June, the Sept. 20 incident – which was shorter in duration and concentration – wasn’t a public hazard, Regan said.

• See related article: Trash Incinerator's Weird, Pink Smoke Ignites Debate

“Back in June, dispersion modeling showed it was not a danger to the public or the environment, so the same would be the case for this event,” Regan said.

“As we discussed previously, it is not illegal to throw iodine away with regular trash unfortunately,” Regan added. “We are actively working to educate haulers and waste generators to avoid it coming to our facility.”

The source of the iodine burned on Sept. 20 was “difficult to pinpoint,” but the company is working to educate generators and investigate potential sources, Regan said.

Patch reached out to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for more information about the Sept. 20 incident. We'll update this article with any reply we receive.

Covanta’s Newark incinerator combusts 2,800 tons per day of municipal garbage and generates about 65 megawatts of electricity, making it New Jersey's largest "energy-from-waste" facility. It burns garbage from New York City and all 22 municipalities in Essex County, converting it into enough electricity to power about 45,000 homes, Covanta states on its website.

Despite Covanta’s assurances, local environmentalists and community activists have insisted the colorful smoke is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential dangers the facility is posing to some of the county's most vulnerable residents.

In 2018, dozens of Newark students and their parents marched on the incinerator to demand cleaner air, arguing that a garbage incinerator should never have been allowed to be built within walking distance of an elementary school.

Maria Lopez-Nunez, director of environmental justice and community development with the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC), previously told Patch that Covanta's Newark incinerator is located near several large public housing complexes – Terrell Homes, Hyatt Court and Aspen River Park – which are home to a large population of low-income and Section 8 renters. Many are immigrants, she said.

These residents are affected not just by fumes from the incinerator, but from the hundreds of diesel trucks that dump trash at the facility, according to the ICC.

"It's not an evenly distributed problem," Lopez-Nunez charged. "It would be unheard of to place a garbage incinerator in Montclair or Short Hills… it's the epitome of environmental racism."

Earthjustice staff attorney Jonathan Smith said the Covanta incinerator emits many other pollutants that "poison the people of Newark" but don't cause colorful fumes.

"For example, the incinerator emits more lead into the air than any other incinerator in the country, and is one of the top lead emitters in New Jersey for all types of facilities," Smith alleged. "It also spews out other dangerous pollutants into the Ironbound community of Newark, like carbon monoxide, particulate matter, mercury, hydrogen fluoride and pollutants that cause ozone [damage]."

"Covanta's unpermitted burning of iodine shows that Covanta must implement better and more frequent inspection and removal of unpermitted waste, so that whatever anyone happens to throw into a trash can doesn't end up burned there, and in the lungs of the people of Newark," Smith continued.

Smith said the facility's pollution limits must also be lowered, and the pollution should be monitored on a continuous basis.

"Right now, the facility is operating under pollution standards that are over 20-years-old," Smith said. "It must test for emission violations for most pollutants once every year or once every five years only – so emission violations the other 364 days of the year go undetected and unfixed."

The result of an arrangement between Essex County and the Port Authority of NY/NJ, the incinerator's construction was financed in 1990 with tax-exempt public bonds in an attempt to keep trash out of landfills.

The location of the plant, 183 Raymond Boulevard, was a joint decision between the City of Newark, Essex County and the Port Authority.

Covanta took over operations at the facility in 2005. It operates 44 waste-to-energy facilities in North America, China and Europe, and maintains a global headquarters in Morristown.

In 2012, Covanta reached a deal with the Port Authority to run the facility through at least 2032, with an option to continue through 2052. As part of its deal with the Port Authority, Covanta installed a particulate emissions control system known as a "baghouse," as well as a metal recycling system. The upgrade reportedly cost about $90 million; it was completed in 2016.

Since finishing the baghouse upgrade, Covanta's Newark facility has reduced lead emissions by more than 90 percent and mercury emissions by more than 80 percent, Regan previously told Patch.

"The Essex County facility is not the largest emitter of lead and mercury in the country," Regan said, disputing local activists’ claims. "The facility performs well below the allowable state and federal limits that have demonstrated protection of human health and the environment. Study after study has shown that these facilities do not pose unacceptable health risks to local residents."

"We are committed engage with and support the communities in which we operate in addition to operating in the safest, most environmentally sound manner possible," Regan added. "We do our very best to manage the waste that society creates and minimize the impact from it."

People need to view the impact of emissions from the Newark facility in context with overall risk factors in the state, Regan pointed out. For example, in 2017, the facility represented only one-tenth of one percent of New Jersey's lead emissions.

"It's important to note that air emissions of lead are but one of many pathways for human exposure to lead," Regan elaborated. "In addressing lead exposure, public health officials have focused on other sources, including exposure to lead paint in homes, contaminated soil and dust from historic industrial emissions and use of leaded gasoline and drinking water."

The below video was filmed on Sept. 20

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