CHENNAI: The Centre has cleared two mega projects for Tamil Nadu giving a boost to waste management in the State. An Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change have given its nod for setting up of Integrated Common Hazardous Waste Treatment Storage and Disposal Facility at SIPCOT at Gummidipoondi as well as setting up of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in Ennore.
The EAC has granted Terms of Reference (ToR) for the hazardous waste management facility after Tamil Nadu Waste Management Limited (TNWML) and its consultant Ramky Enviro Services Private Limited gave a detailed presentation on the salient features of the project and informed that TNWML and Industrial Waste Management Association have entered into an agreement to set-up the facility at Export Promotion Industrial Park in SIPCOT industrial complex at Gummidipoondi.
The project has been exempted from holding a public hearing as it is coming up inside the SIPCOT complex, which is operational since 2005. Currently, TNWML has a secured landfill. The landfill after treatment has the handling capacity of one lakh tonnes per annum (TPA) and an incinerator with one tonne per hour (TPH) handling capacity. TNWML is proposing to enhance its existing facilities at the secured landfill by increasing the handling capacity from one lakh TPA to three lakh TPA and common incinerator (hazardous and biomedical waste) handling capacity from 1 TPH to 1.5 TPH and also proposes new units.