The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : 4 hazardous waste management facilities to be set up in State

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 09, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

4 hazardous waste management facilities to be set up in State

Special Correspondent

There is also a problem with domestic sewage treatment: Environment Secretary "Civic body is now working to a new mantra -- Waste is not waste unless wasted -- and is aiming at 100 per cent recycling of waste."

DISCUSSING SOLUTIONS: (From left) Colin Drummond, leader of the U.K. delegation; Rajesh Lakhoni, Commissioner, Chennai Corporation; Mike Connor, British Deputy High Commissioner to South India; R. Rajagopal, Secretary, Environment and Forest Departme nt; and X. Arokianathan, convener, environment panel, CII, at a seminar in Chennai on Thursday. — Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

Chennai: Four hazardous waste management facilities will be set up in Tamil Nadu this year, Environment and Forests secretary R.Rajagopal said on Thursday.

The State also had to meet Supreme Court directions on setting up treatment stabilisation disposal facilities to handle hazardous wastes being generated by industries, he added.

Mr. Rajagopal was speaking at the inaugural of a seminar on "Environmental solutions from the UK," which saw representatives of a British Trade Mission interacting with others from the Government and industries.

In Tamil Nadu, chemical, cement, tanneries, textile dyeing units and paper mills were the major industries contributing to pollution.

He said it was important to make sure that industries conform to international environmental standards without putting too much pressure on industry.

Apart from industrial waste, Tamil Nadu also had a problem with domestic sewage treatment.

While some efforts have been taken to address it, the State had to cover a lot of ground before it could claim that all its domestic sewage was being treated. A technology that would be economical, not land intensive or have high-operational costs was the need of the hour and he invited the U.K. investors to participate in the process of supplying these solutions.

In solid waste management, a good percentage of the waste being generated in Tamil Nadu was organic matter.

Good method

The State, especially,Chennai, had a good method of segregating and disposing such wastes, but it was yet to find a method of handling inorganic (plastics and e-wastes) wastes, Mr. Rajagopal said.

Rajesh Lakhoni, Corporation Commissioner, said the civic body was now working to a new mantra — Waste is not waste unless wasted— and was aiming at 100 per cent recycling of waste. Chennai, which generated the highest waste per capita in the country at 677 gm per day, has a huge organic waste burden.

About 50-60 per cent of the waste in Chennai was organic, Mr. Lakhoni said.

Each home would have to co-operate in the process of source segregation, he explained, adding that 100 per cent door-to-door collection was being attempted and about 95 per cent was achieved. The Corporation was working on the logistics of source segregation, so that it could be implemented in the entire city.

After the contract to the private waste collection agency, Onyx, expires, the Corporation would go in for international competitive bidding, Mr. Lakhoni said, inviting the U.K. delegation to participate in the bidding. A Rs. 400 crore integrated Solid Waste Management project would be implemented in the Kodungaiyur dumping yard and a refuse derived fuel unit would also be set up, he added. Colin Drummond, leader of the U.K. delegation, listed out the waste management strategies being implemented in the U.K.. A total of 3000 companies were involved in the sector, which had a turnover of £ 8 billion. While solid waste management was historically based on engineered landfills, attempts had also been made over the years to plug the disadvantages of this technology and ensure that landfulls landfills become assets.

Pragmatic approach

He said the delegation would take a pragmatic partnership approach in India.

Mike Connor, British Deputy High Commissioner to south India, brought up the climate change issue, mentioning the U.N. intergovernmental panel's fourth report to support his argument that the situation was worsening. The window of opportunity to make amends and reverse the trend was fast closing, he added. Solid waste management was one aspect of tackling the climate change issue.

X.Arokianathan, convener, Environment Panel, CII, spoke of the Confederation's attempts to ensure green industries.

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