Is one village able to produce as many dioxins as a big waste incineration plant?

Abstract

Three large waste incineration plants incinerated c. 360 thousand tons of waste in 2009, during which time they emitted c. 40 mg of PCDD/F expressed as TEQ in flue gasses into the air. If heated by solid fuels only (c. 4 thousand tons of fuel), one average (hypothetical) village with two thousand inhabitants would emit c. 2 to 60 mg of PCDD/F expressed as TEQ in flue gasses into the air during the heating season. We can state that in term of PCDD/F emissions into the air, one village being heated with solid fuels has a potential to produce similar (in some cases even higher) amount of diox-ins as a large waste incineration plant.