Brahmapuram burning: What it says about the rot in God's own country

Solid waste management in this country or across the world is a goldmine for waste contractors and the supporting system consisting of the bureaucracy, politicians and anti-social elements.
Firefighters during the last stage of operations at Brahmapuram. (Photo | A Sanesh, EPS)
Firefighters during the last stage of operations at Brahmapuram. (Photo | A Sanesh, EPS)

Finally, the fire in Brahmapuram has subsided. Methane gas accumulated under close to 0.2 million tonnes of waste gushed out to burn the mixed waste and spewed out cocktails of toxic chemical pollutants into the air. Technically, the fire shifted a part of the landfill to the sky above us which is going to reach every one of us through our breath.  The firefighting operations washed the toxic ash and waste into the Kadambrayar river accelerating the pollution of the water body and the wetlands nearby and these pollutants are also going to come back to us through the food chain.

The fire in Brahmapuram is not the first in this country and nor is it going to be the last. Almost all of the waste dumpyards are spewing out smoke from fire at various intensities throughout the year.

What happened at Brahmapuram cannot be considered an accident since it was in some ways inevitable given the skewed approach to the management of waste and the corruption at all levels in the Government. It is a deliberate mistake by the local body, bureaucracy and political leadership. The citizenry of Kochi cannot be blamed for this. They are the victims.

Solid waste management in this country or across the world is a goldmine for waste contractors and the supporting system consisting of the bureaucracy, politicians and anti-social elements. They are interested in waste collection and transportation where they can claim tipping fee and least interested in processing, which incurs expenditure. The mafia across the world keeps on influencing the policymakers and power centres to retain their hold. They slow down the decision making and derail any solutions that are going to affect their business. Kochi was a typical example of this.

Close to 50% of our waste is generated in households and the rest is by the bulk waste generators and markets. And 60-70% of our waste is organic in nature of which 80% is water. Eight to 10% of our waste is non-recyclable materials. The rest have some use or space in the production economy.

The segregation of waste at source alone will solve 60-70% of problem. Kerala has identified this long back and evolved a strategy and action plan for managing waste in the state called Malinya Mukta Keralam, which was launched by the then Hon'ble President of India Pratibha Patel in 2007. The mafia was successful in sending this policy to cold storage for the next five years and was trying to get Waste to Energy for Kerala, a technology which is at least 30 years old!

In the last seven years, the state government was on the right track inspired by the results achieved in the Alappuzha Municipality and Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation.  The new approach was intended to bring in behavioural change in people through community-led organisation and participation.

The Kerala Suchitwa Mission laid the foundation by providing technical support through experts, manuals, guidelines, database of technologies and vendors. The state came up with an updated and detailed policy on Solid Waste Management in compliance with the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules. The Haritha Kerala Mission accelerated the process by connecting solid waste management to water conservation and safe food under the Nava Kerala Mission and helped to build a movement driven by local self-governments and people.

Unfortunately, the government decided to go for waste to energy as a solution for solid waste management and got the Kerala State Industries Development Corporation to speed up the process of implementation of the project. This was in conflict with the existing policy, ongoing programmes and campaign. And it acted as a power centre and parallel system over and above Kerala Suchitwa Mission, the agency responsible for the selection of technology for the state. This derailed and delayed solid waste management programmes especially in Kochi and neighbouring towns. The Brahmapuram fire was the result.

What next?

The Government should dismantle the Waste to Energy project wing under KSIDC immediately. Kerala needs to go back to the basics, making segregation at source mandatory, making bulk waste generators responsible for managing organic waste generated by them, encouraging households to practice source level composting combined with kitchen gardening, expansion of network of material recovery facilities, resource recovery centres, recycling hubs, reuse markets, community composting units and common facilities for managing waste. Kerala need to unify the practices of waste segregation, sorting, storing, pre-processing and recovery through initiating new color codes and standard operating procedures.

The Haritha Karma Sena needs to be strengthened and waste pickers need to be integrated into the system in greater numbers and with more authority to deliver seamless technical service to the public on demand. Systems for rating, monitoring and evaluation need to be developed. This will help to develop a proper system of waste segregation, collection, transportation, sorting and storing. For the time being, let us rely on existing technologies that are suitable for our waste and climate.

The policy of green protocol needs to be revamped to reduce the use of single-use plastics. The government of Kerala should also seize effective control in the upcoming Extended Producer Responsibility framework which holds the producers of plastic including those who use plastic packaging liable for the management of post-consumer discards. This will help to fund recovery of financially unviable discards like single-use plastics and e-waste.

Solid Waste Management in Kerala needs to be elevated to be an environmental service and as a climate campaign that can promote lifestyles for responsible consumption and better resource use and management. It is all about building a climate-resilient society.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com