Refuse incinerator particulate emissions and combustion residues for New York City during the 20th century

Refuse incineration data for New York City (NYC) have been compiled as a fu nction of time during the 20th century to assess the historical significanc e of this pollutant source in a densely populated area. Thirty-two municipa l and 17 000 apartment house refuse incinerators were identified. Approxima tely 1.1 x 10(8) t of refuse (wet weight) were combusted in NYC incinerator s between 1908 and 1993, producing 3.4 x 10(7) t (dry weight) of combustion residue disposed in local landfills. Refuse incinerators were operated for most of this period without air pollution control and emitted 1.0 x 10(6) t of particles (a total of 120 mg for each cm(2) of land in NYC). Incinerat or particle emission (PE) rates per unit area of land were highest in Manha ttan (equivalent total deposition of 530 mg cm(-2)). Incinerator PE exceede d 1.2 x 10(4) t yr(-1) between 1930 and 1975, with maximum emission rates ( >2.2 x 10(4) t yr(-1)) in the late 1930s and 1960s. These and other factors support the conclusion that refuse incineration without air pollution cont rol was an important source of airborne, respirable pollutants in NYC for m any decades during the 20th century. Rates of particle emissions from Manha ttan incinerators estimated here correlate strongly with Ph accumulation ra tes as a function of depth (time) in Central Park Lake sediments, consisten t with refuse incineration emitting large amounts of atmospheric lead in NY C for many decades after the 1920s.