How much waste does Tamil Nadu generate?

Not just Chennai, even districts in TN are grappling with solid wastes as several plans to manage them remain on paper.
Houses abutting the 40-acre Ariyamangalam dumpyard, where 436 tonnes of solid wastes are dumped every day, in Tiruchy | M K Ashok Kumar
Houses abutting the 40-acre Ariyamangalam dumpyard, where 436 tonnes of solid wastes are dumped every day, in Tiruchy | M K Ashok Kumar

CHENNAI: Chocolate wrappers, cigarette buds, disposable takeaway containers, discarded shampoo bottles, stinking food waste, broken bottles, tyres and even animal carcasses – each of us in Chennai are contributing an alarming 700 grams of waste every day. Perhaps, the highest in the country.

Trailing closely behind the capital city in terms of per capita garbage production are the districts. According to experts, the authorities across the State do not seem to be catching the drift.

It was after activist Almitra Patel’s PIL against open dumping of solid wastes in 1996 that the Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) rules were drafted. Even a decade after they were notified, many of the recommendations remai just that – recommendations.

“As per the MSWM rules, waste should be segregated and composted, and if not composted, should be recycled. The waste that are neither compostable nor recyclable could be disposed of in landfills,” said T K Ramkumar, an advocate and environmental activist.

“Even if we take environmental concerns out of the picture, where would we find space with the huge volume of wastes being generated today?” he said.

While residents in many parts of Tamil Nadu have complaints – from fire mishaps to respiratory disorders – against local dump yards, solid waste management has elicited more talk than concrete action.

For instance, the Vellalore dump yard in Coimbatore is a nightmare for residents. “Apart from health concerns, children in four private schools in the neighbourhood are unable to have lunch in the open ground. The windows of classrooms have to remain shut always,” said Daniel Jesudass, a local resident and RTI activist.
T

he risk is real. According to a recent Italian study, people living within the five km radius of a landfill site are at an increased risk of lung cancer, apart from other respiratory problems.

“The civic body should start the segregation process in all 100 wards under the Corporation limits so that the quantum of garbage being dumped in Vellalore can be brought down from the present 850 tonnes,” Jesudass said.

“The municipal body did make a tentative attempt to implement the zero waste management project, but only in R S Puram. The rest of the city still stinks,” he added.

Much like in Coimbatore, the residents of some other districts also said there was no dearth of plans, designs and estimates. Yet, the work done was minimal.

Officials in Thanjavur said a landfill closure project at a cost of Rs 7.38 crore would be taken up and 120 tonnes of collected garbage would be segregated and processed in a biomethanation plant. But work for none of the projects has commenced.

The Tiruchy Corporation claimed that preliminary decentralisation work has begun at a cost of Rs 29.78 lakh with the setting up of micro compost yards. But protests are still a routine affair at the 40-acre Ariyamangalam dump yard, where 436 tonnes of solid wastes are dumped every day.

Officials in Nagapattinam and Karaikal also put forth a similar claim – that the funds have been sanctioned and work would begin in a month’s time. Frequent fires and unbearable stench are the common complaints from residents around landfill sites. Smoke emanating from Kangayam dump yard reportedly  resulted in a collision of vehicles a few months ago. 

And while hearing a case, the Madras High Court took the Chennai Corporation commissioner to task, wondering if the official would be able to bear a 24-hour stay near the Kodungaiyur dumping yard in the northern part of the city.

While the dysfunctional units are waiting for operations to resume, the questionable condition of solid waste management plants, in areas where they existed, lead to open dumping.

An example for this is in Madurai, where the Corporation’s garbage disposal plant has reportedly suspended operations earlier in the year. Similarly, a solid waste management plant at Chettichavadi in Salem had stopped functioning three years after it was set up. The garbage was then dumped outside the plant much to the annoyance of locals.

In March 2014, a fire consumed almost 4,000 tonnes of garbage and took a few days to be doused.
Salem City Municipal Corporation Commissioner K R Selvaraj said that a sum of Rs 17.2 crore has been sanctioned to revive the plant, but work would begin only after they receive an administrative order.

As far as Chennai is concerned, experts said composting should be carried out ward-wise for want of space, as 50 to 60 per cent of the 4,500 tonnes of garbage generated every day came under organic waste.

“Each ward would generate about 10 to 15 tonnes per day, out of which around 50 per cent would be organic waste. So each ward would require just about 5,000 sq ft for composting, which would not be difficult to allocate,” said Ramkumar.

Once the compostable waste is handled, the rest 40 to 45 per cent of recyclable waste could be handed over to the recycling industry, leaving just about 10 per cent of the waste to be disposed of in landfills, he said. “It will all become much easier once segregated collection starts and for that to happen, people should first cooperate,” he added.

As discussions on waste management and its effects continue to rage on, lost in the ruckus are the cries of other creatures that inhabit the earth, said wildlife experts.

Umesh Marudhachalam, a wildlife activist based in Coimbatore, said soaring mercury levels in water bodies due to unabated industrial waste disposal have affected fish population.

“I have also noticed a fall in several species of migratory birds that visit Coimbatore such as the Asian openbill, painted stork and spot-billed pelicans,” said Umesh, an avid bird watcher.

There are several examples from around the world that Tamil Nadu could emulate while dealing with waste. Considered to be among the trend-setters in waste management, Alaminos in Philippines handles waste in a bottom-up process, a responsibility shared by the public and government. According to a report by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, segregation takes place at the source, composting is done at village or household levels and the outcome has been inspirational, with the need for open dumping virtually eliminated.

While it is easy to shift the blame on to the huge population, countries like China have also made great strides in waste management. Taiwan has adopted zero waste goals a decade ago, with focus on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). The country achieved almost a million tonne drop in waste generation from 2000 to 2010.

The EPR is a policy where producers are responsible for the goods throughout its life cycle, integrating the cost of treatment or disposal of the products into the market price. nCloser home, Pune’s sanitary workers have created a revolution of sorts by door-to-door collection, source segregation and treatment, spanning about five lakh homes. According to a report on scrap collectors, traders and recycling enterprises in Pune, the sanitary workers have done enough to avoid 64,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases and save nearly Rs 90 lakh annually for the Corporation.

(With inputs from bureaux)

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