NEW DELHI: The Central Pollution Control Board has closed the recommended gap
between waste-to-energy incineration power plants and residential areas
from the 300-500 metres specified in the solid-waste management manual
of the centre’s Swachh Bharat Mission to 30-100 metres in its draft
guidelines. This has upset experts and alarmed citizens about the
possible impact of pollution and toxic residues.

Scarcity of land for buffer zones led CPCB
to reconsider the current norms. “Giving the buffer zone area around
the core facility will be a challenge as land is not available and
mostly encroachment has taken place in many places around landfill
sites,” says the guideline document, adding, “…in most towns no land
is available for treating solid waste, neither as landfill sites nor for
disposal through other techniques…” Ironically, the same document
cites the examples of countries like China, which prescribes a 300-metre
buffer, and Malaysia, 350 metres.

The Swachh Bharat norms prescribed not only a larger buffer area, but
also required waste-to-energy plants to be located in zones earmarked
for medium and heavy industries as well as the presence of a functional
landfill to accommodate incineration residues.

CPCB’s document hints at the future when it refers to the Okhla waste
to energy plant, which has been embroiled in a legal battle for nearly a
decade now. It says that facilities like these, where there is no land
available for a buffer zone, should adopt “technological interventions”.
“Selection criteria,” the guidelines state, “are determined according
to the specific technology requirements.”

“If these guidelines are finalised we will see a mushrooming of
waste-to-energy plants,” said Swati Sambyal, programme officer,
environmental governance (municipal solid waste), Centre for Science and
Environment.

Sambyal pointed out that incineration is not suited to India where 60%
of the waste generated is organic. Explaining that there also exists
the problem of waste segregation at source, she suggested instead a
focus on composting and biogas generation in a decentralised manner.

Experts are also dismayed that the CPCB document lists “incineration”
as a waste management process. They have long held that while waste
management can be viably done through processes such as refuse derived
fuel (RDF), composting and landfilling, incineration is not a legitimate
method, leading as it does to pollution and toxic residues.

Meanwhile, residents of Sukhdev Vihar, in the proximity of which a
waste-to-energy plant has come up, are aghast by the new norms. “We have
decided to move the Supreme Court. The public health aspect is being
completely ignored,” said Ranjit Devraj, a resident. NGT which heard the
residents’ earlier petition on the plant causing air pollution,
recently allowed the power plant to function with certain conditions
after imposing an environmental compensation.