An expert from the London School of Economics, Robin Murray, has told a conference on Ireland's waste crisis that the cost of burning rubbish will triple over the next ten years.
Mr Murray said that it made no sense to introduce incinerators now.
The environmental group, VOICE, which organised the conference, is hoping to use economic arguments to reverse government policy on incineration.
An Taisce has also called for a moratorium on all plans to introduce incinerators here, and claims the New Zealand policy of waste disposal will turn out to be economically beneficial.
New Zealand has a zero-waste policy of re-use and recycling with no use for incinerators.
Within Ireland, Galway leads the environmental table with a recycling rate of 50%, achieved in the main by recycling compostable material which has none of the problems of landfilling.
The Government's National Waste Management Plan is due to be published in a matter of weeks.
