CHENNAI FEB. 4. Environmentalists have expressed "deep concern" over the State Government announcement to pursue the 14.85 MW waste-to-electricity plant at Perungudi using gasification pyrolysis technology.

Reacting to the announcement, they said electricity generation from waste was not a `Eureka' solution for waste management and the trend across the globe had been against incineration and towards environment-friendly treatment like composting and re-cycling. The decision to allot 600 tonnes of garbage everyday to a private firm to produce 14.85 MW of power would not effectively reduce the garbage. There would still be some residue after power generation and this could even be toxic, they said expressing fears.

"The project violates two international agreements and our own Municipal Waste Rules (MSW), 2000. This gasification/incineration approach means that there is no incentive to segregate, reduce, reuse and recycle waste, which is mandatory under the Supreme Court guidelines and MSW Rules. In fact the Chennai Corporation is prima facie guilty of flouting MSW norms", says Ravi Agarwal, environmentalist, Srishti, environmental organisation.

Though the company has denied it, environmentalists say it has a major impact on the environment. "Gasification is an incineration process that emits dioxins, the most poisonous cancer-causing toxin known. It transfers the hazardous characteristics of waste from solid form to air, water and ash. It also releases new toxins, which were not present in the original waste stream, besides generating heavy metals," he adds. He is also part of the Basel Action Network, which deals with the trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes.

"The proposal to set up the resource incineration plant in Chennai seems to be driven by a profit motive alone. Contrary to what the promoters of the project might say, the gasification of waste releases dioxins and leads to global warming. This cannot be allowed, as India is a signatory of Kyoto Protocol and Stockholm Convention," says Sanjay Parikh, environmental lawyer, Supreme Court. "The country has made an international commitment to minimise the production and use of 12 of the most toxic chemicals in the world, known as the Dirty Dozen, by signing the United Nations Environment Program's (UNEP), Stockholm Treaty on persistent organic pollutants (POPs), but the current policy of the Union Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES) subsidises and promotes dioxin-emitting incineration technologies and this announcement by the Tamil Nadu Government does the same. Such projects lead to toxic contamination and there is hardly any
success anywhere in the country. We should go for indigenous alternatives," says Bittu Sehgal, Editor, Sanctuary Asia.

"The annexure A of the Protocol says that incineration processes cause green house gas emission. Incineration is a resource destroying and unsustainable toxic process. US Environment Protection Agency and European Union Incineration Directive seek to reduce and eliminate its use. Its approval by the Ministry of Environment and Forests is a classic case of misuse of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Protocol," says Gopal Krishna, anti-toxics campaigner, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA). "The project has never undergone any environment impact assessment and public hearing process. The mandatory approval from the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) has not even been sought. The Central Pollution Control Board has not even been informed which is required under the MSW Rules, 2 000," says Rajesh Rangarajan of Toxics Link.

"The technology intends to use Chennai residents as guinea pigs. As a consequence of which several toxins that will enter the food chain and poisons the health and environment for generations," says Bharat Jairaj of Citizen Consumer Action Group.

"The wastes in Indian dumping grounds such as Perungudi have been clearly certified as most suitable for composting rather than for burn technologies in numerous studies. Zero waste strategy and community-based waste management is the saner way to manage waste world over but multinational companies perceive the Indian waste as a market for failed technologies, which perpetuate the problem," says Suresh Bhandari of National Alliance for Zero Waste.

The Hindu
Feb 5, 2003

source:  http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2003020508510300.htm