Kerala is rightly being singled out for its practices in handling waste. The state has been pulled up by the National Green Tribunal for regularly dumping waste in Tamil Nadu. On Thursday, the southern bench of the tribunal asked Kerala to remove within three days the biomedical and mixed solid waste dumped at various places in Tirunelveli district.
Establishments in Kerala, including hotels, hospitals and waste handling agencies, have been surreptitiously transporting waste across the border to dispose it in villages and forests of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka - a practice that exposes both the state’s gross inefficiency in handling waste and its disturbing unneighbourly behaviour.
The tribunal said Kerala should either take back the waste or make a deal with waste treatment facilities in TN for safe disposal.
Inspections conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board had found significant shortcomings in Kerala’s solid waste management system. They revealed an insufficient number of management facilities, the absence of a system to monitor waste movement across state borders, and lapses in the collection and handling of biomedical waste.
It was found that Kerala is equipped to handle only 30 per cent of the waste it generates. The state currently has two centralised biomedical waste treatment facilities.
Either they are inadequate or establishments find dumping in bordering villages more convenient than transporting to these facilities. In either case, the negligence and ineptitude of state authorities are apparent.
On its part, the Kerala government has agreed to remove the waste and has formed a team to investigate the illegal dumping. The State Pollution Control Board has promised action against the culprits and is preparing to introduce a system to track interstate waste movement. But that’s not enough. The state must quickly put an end to the practice.
Biomedical waste, if not treated correctly, can cause serious health issues and lasting environmental damage. Apart from setting up more solid waste management facilities and introducing a tracking mechanism, it must also create a waste inventory in each local body and an online system to monitor handling.
Kerala must understand that endangering lives through unsafe disposal of toxic waste is a criminal act and treating neighbouring states as dumping grounds is not a responsible behaviour.