CHENNAI: The waste-to-energy (WTE) incinerator plant in Kodungaiyur doesn’t paint a picture of good health if the responses from a study conducted on the plant are any indication to go by.
The study conducted on the impact of 50 MTPD (metric tonnes per day) plant in Kodungaiyur has revealed that about 80% residents around the plant have health issues.
During the survey – titled ‘Burning (Human) Rights: Invisiblised Human Costs of Waste-to-Energy Incineration’ – conducted by Madhuvanthi Rajkumar, an independent research consultant and lawyer, responses from 415 respondents were collected across eight neighbourhoods within 2 km of the Kodungaiyur plant.
Of 415 respondents, 331 respondents (79.8%) reported at least one health symptom in the preceding one to two years. As many as 103 respondents (24.8%) reported three or more simultaneous symptoms, indicating multi-system impact.
Headache is the most prevalent at 72.5%, followed by skin rash (41.4%), watery eyes (41.0%), vomiting or dizziness (6.5%), and dental or oral conditions (1.7%). Of 331 symptomatic respondents, 309 (93.4%) directly attribute their illness to incinerator smoke, said the study report, which was submitted by the residents’ associations to the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) commissioner on Thursday.
The report pointed out that neither the Kodungaiyur incinerator nor the proposed mega-incinerators in Tamil Nadu have been subject to human rights impact assessment (HRIA) or comprehensive environmental, health and socioeconomic assessment. The affected communities were not consulted before the facility was sited or commissioned.
The report recalled that Alliance for Incinerator Free Chennai’s (AIFC) fact-finding report in April 2025 revealed that the 10-tonne incinerator installed in Manali was operating without a valid Consent to Operate for over five years.
The report also found shocking levels of heavy metal contamination with cadmium, a known carcinogen, present at 24 times the WHO permissible limit. Following community protests and civil society pressure, the GCC permanently shut down the Manali incinerator in December 2025.
Another joint fact-finding by the AIFC and FNCRWA (Federation of North Chennai Residents Welfare Associations) found that 45 of 48 mandatory monitoring parameters under the Solid Waste Management Rules (2016) have never been tested since the commissioning of the Kodungaiyur plant in 2021 – including all parameters for dioxins, furans, fly ash, and effluent water.
Despite these blatant violations, the facility’s Consent to Operate was renewed by the Tamil Nadu Pollutioin Control Board (TNPCB), valid until March 2028, the report stated.