KOCHI: The State Pollution Control Board (PCB) has seized about one lakh litres of oil imported through the Cochin Port for violation of Hazardous Wastes Rules.

The board officials found 477 barrels containing 200 litres of oil each, labelled "base oil" and "rubber process oil," to be of "inferior quality." Board sources said that laboratory results of samples showed that the seized barrels contained "used or waste oil" prohibited under the Hazardous Wastes Rules.

An investigation by senior board officials revealed that while the price of a barrel of oil seized from the importers was in the range of $150 to 200, that of a quality oil was between $700 and 800 in the international market.

The State Pollution Control Board will now direct the port to ensure that all consignments under the categories including paper waste, furnace oil, waste oil/ used oil, low sulphur waxy residue, non-ferrous metal scrap in any form, plastic scrap and wax in drums should be returned to the country of origin if found violating the Hazardous Wastes Rules, within a month of arrival.

The board has decided to take action against the importers who are engaged in supply and transport of waste and used oil. Consignments that had already been delivered should either be recycled or destroyed using a hazardous waste incinerator. A person authorised by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the State Pollution Control Board should carry out the process of re-cycling.

Authorisation cancelled

Based on the information obtained from the inquiries by its officials, the board has decided to cancel the authorisation given to Cee Jee Lubricants at Edayar for re-processing used oil. Board sources said that it was found that the company imported consignments that violated the provisions of the Hazardous Waste Rules.

The board's crackdown comes after the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee on Hazardous Wastes found in April that waste oil had been making its way through the Cochin Port violating the rules and regulations. The Kerala co-ordination team of the committee had received information that lead acid batteries and waste oil were being imported through the port.

The Supreme Court committee has asked Customs officials to keep a strict vigil on import of banned materials through the Cochin Port.

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