Bengaluru: The BBMP's plan to set up two waste energy plants to resolve the city's garbage disposal challenge could take care of solid waste but could add to the city's air pollution, experts fear. The BBMP has plans to set up the two plants at Kannahalli and Mavallipura, each with the capacity to convert 500 tonnes of municipal waste into 40 mw of energy. But experts warn that the emissions from such plants could add to the already foul air of the city, regardless of the safety assurances from the makers of the plants.
Garbage disposal is a worldwide problem, and it is now an established research stream. One of the main methods of garbage disposal now is to turn it into energy, by chemical treatment, through bacteria or simply by incineration, which is the simplest and the most cost-efficient.
Waste-to- energy plants are an advance on the current primitive methods of garbage disposal, such as dumping them in landfills. That method is environmentally damaging, endangers human health and causes immense harm to earth.
But being cost-efficient does not mean that it is also eco-friendly. With the two Bengaluru waste to- energy plants likely to adopt incineration as the main method, the plants will also send into the atmosphere dangerous emissions.
Plastics and metals, like in soft drink cans made of aluminium are a major constituent of municipal solid waste. Burning plastic can lead to emissions of dioxins and furans, while burning cans could lead to pollutants that could cause alzheimer's.
According to Solid Waste Management Round Table (SWMRT) spokesperson Sandhya Narayanan, "The right kind of technology is yet to come in and there is no proof of waste to energy plants running successfully anywhere across the country."
Former Karnataka Compost Development Corporation's Basavaiah C. who was former Managing Director of the unit (2000-2008) says he agrees. "There are no waste-to-energy plants in the country which can be considered successful", he says.
According to him a company with a proven track record and technology that meets Euro emission standards must be chosen if at all BBMP wants to progress with the plant. "A company with a proven track record in implementing waste to energy plants must be considered. Also we must ensure that the company has the right technology and its plants meet Euro emission standards if the waste to energy units Kannahalli and Mavallipura are to be established," he adds.
