Burning Trash - Good or Bad?

POWER SHIFT - WSJ seems to indicated that Burning Trash is being seen as a way to reduce landfills, green house gas, and produce some power.

Of course reusing would be the best way. The headache is the labor cost of sorting garbage as a way to reduce the amount sent to the dump. Burning does reduce the size, but may produce ash and smoke that then needs to be disposed of safely.

Sea of Trash

Sea of Trash from the NY Times. From various sources including storm drain run offs, ships, etc. a huge amount of plastic is in the oceans.

What can be done about it? It's all about money. In the developed world having bio-degradable plastics and/or banning plastic bags can help. In the rest of the world, I don't know.