Incineration

In incineration combustible waste is burned at temperatures high enough (900-1000 ⁰C) to consume all combustible material, leaving only ash and noncombustibles to dispose of in a landfill. Under ideal conditions, incineration may reduce the volume of waste by 75% to 95%. In practice, however, the actual decrease in volume is closer to 50%, because of maintenance problems as well as waste supply problems. Besides reducing a large volume of combustible waste to a much smaller volume of ash, incineration has another advantage is that the process of incineration can be used to supplement other fuels and generate electric power.

Incineration of urban waste is not necessarily a clean process. It may produce air pollution and toxic ash. Smokestacks from incinerators may emit oxides of nitrogen and sulfur that lead to acid rain; heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and mercury; and carbon dioxide—a greenhouse gas. 

In modern incineration facilities, smokestacks are fitted with special devices to trap pollutants, but the process of pollutant abatement is expensive. Furthermore, plants themselves are expensive. Considering IWM principles it may be concluded that a combination of reusing, recycling, and composting may reduce the volume of requiring disposal at a landfill by at least as  much as incineration.