AIR POLLUTION
Air pollution refers to contamination of air by harmful gases, dust, and smoke which affects the environment and ecosystem in a negative way.
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Examples in India
- Recently, the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority – EPCA declared a public health emergency in New Delhi as pollution levels entered the ‘severe plus’ category.
- Other major cities too are facing similar issues, e.g., Mumbai’s AQI measured ‘very poor’ near 400, Kolkata and Lucknow too recorded the levels at ‘very poor’.
Global Occurrences
- Globally mega cities and industrial cities face the issue of air pollution.
- In 2018 alone, eroding air quality was linked to nearly 10,000 additional deaths in the U.S.
Causes
- Anthropogenic
- Vehicular Emission: It is one of the biggest sources of air pollution. Vehicles contribute 40% of the total pollution load in Delhi.
- Industries: Industrial pollution and garbage dumps are also increasing air pollution and building up smog in the air.
- Lack of access to technology: India’s industrial landscape continues to be dominated by MSMEs which lack access to cleaner technologies.
- Cooking Practices: Dependence on fuel wood and kerosene for the purpose of lighting and cooking leads to high levels of pollutants being released in rural and urban periphery.
- Stubble Burning: Stubble burning in Punjab, Rajasthan, and Haryana is blamed for causing a thick blanket of smog in Delhi during winters.
- Coal Power Plants: Power plants with poor technology and efficiency continue to be the major source of pollutants like CO and oxides of nitrogen and sulfur.
- Poor Implementation of Regulations: Multiplicity of the state authorities at the ground level leads to poor coordination, lax enforcement of rules, and lack of accountability. Absence of environmental governance continues to be a major challenge.
- Unplanned Urbanization: Haphazard growth of urban areas has led to the proliferation of slums, and poor public transport has increased the burden of personal vehicles on the road.
- Poor Waste Management: Landfills used for waste management also release pollutants in the air.
- Fire Crackers: Despite the ban on cracker sales, firecrackers were a common sight this Diwali. It may not be the top reason for air pollution, but it definitely contributed to its buildup.
- Construction: The construction site produces a lot of construction debris, dust particles, and gaseous emissions into the atmosphere.
- Mining Operations: During the process of mining, dust and chemicals are released in the air, causing massive air pollution.
- Natural
- Continentality: Problem of pollution in the landlocked northern states gets exacerbated due to unfavorable winds and the phenomenon of temperature inversion during winters.
- Dust Storm from Gulf countries: During the smog in the year 2017, the dust storm from Gulf countries was also the reason which enhanced the already worse condition.
- Wildfires: Wildfire can be described as any uncontrolled and non-prescribed combustion or burning of plants in a natural setting such as a forest, grassland, etc., and can release CO into the air by burning of woods.
- Volcano eruption: Volcano eruption has also caused the release of gases along with lava. It is the major source of the release of SO2 into the air.
Consequences
- Social:
- Health: Increased burden of non-communicable diseases such as cancer, cardiac diseases, COPD, etc. is the direct consequence of the rise in air pollution.
- For example: According to Lancet estimates in 2015, there were 2.51 million pollution-related deaths in India. It reduces the overall productivity of the nation and increases the healthcare burden, especially on the poor.
- Rise in Premature Deaths: India has recorded a 50% increase in the premature deaths linked to PM 2.5 and this is between 1990 and 2015, almost coinciding with the economic liberalization.
- Vulnerable are more vulnerable: The pollutants enter deep inside the lungs and the lungs’ capacity to purify blood gets reduced, which affects the person’s growth, mental ability, and working capacity, especially for children, pregnant women, and elderly people.
- Poverty: Poor people are more vulnerable to air pollution because they are the ones who spend more time on roads, which affects their capacity to earn more.
- Health: Increased burden of non-communicable diseases such as cancer, cardiac diseases, COPD, etc. is the direct consequence of the rise in air pollution.
- Environmental:
- Affect biodiversity: Biodiversity is affected by air pollution and phenomena like urban heat islands resulting from it.
- Affect plant growth: Due to NO2, the plants prematurely drop their leaves, affecting the crop yields. SO2 produced due to air pollution causes bleach in the leaves, which causes green bleaching in the plants.
- Effect on animals: If animals consume plants that are polluted or coated due to air pollution, especially from the effects of fluorine, lead, and arsenic, they are affected by arsenic poisoning (this includes mainly pets and sheep, etc.).
- Global Warming: Its speed accelerates with the rise of harmful gases such as NOx, SOx, etc.
- Global Climate Change: Immense quantities of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane released into the air contribute to climate change.
- Ozone depletion: Emissions of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrofluorocarbons from various sources are ozone-depleting substances.
- Acid Rain: The combustion of fossil fuels emits NOx and SOx, also acidic substances, into the atmosphere which reacts with airborne water molecules and decreases rainwater pH, leading to the formation of acid rain.
- Acidification of water bodies, making them inhospitable for fish.
- Damage to crops, natural vegetation.
- Changes in soil chemistry, which affects plant metabolism and nutrient cycling.
- Economy:
- Loss of GDP: According to WB estimate, air pollution might have cost India 8.5% of GDP in 2013, as a result of lost productivity due to premature mortality and morbidity.
- Rise in Poverty: It reduces the overall productivity of the nation and increases the healthcare burden, especially on the poor.
- Burden on Exchequer: Diversion of resources towards responding to air pollution.
- Effect on Aesthetic Beauty and tourism: The natural beauty is affected by growing air pollution, which affects tourism footfall and degradation of national monuments.
- For example: Yellowing of the Taj Mahal color due to industrial activities nearby.
- Political:
- Political conflict: Air pollution has caused major political conflict in the last few years, the most prominent of which is the recurring conflict among Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi.
- Violation of rights: Right to clean air is intrinsic to the Right to Life; polluted air is a violation of the right to life.
- Erosion of public trust: When the government fails to control air pollution, which is its prime responsibility, people lose faith in the government.
PLASTIC POLLUTION
Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic waste in the environment, which negatively affects all living things and their environment.
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Causes
- Negligence: There is a gross negligence in the segregation of plastic waste, its collection, and recycling, due to which plastic waste keeps on increasing.
- High usage: Due to its qualities like easy availability, affordability, manufacturability, durability, and discardability.
- Urbanization & Population growth: Between 2001-2010 itself, more plastics have been made than any other plastic manufactured in history simply because of rapid urbanization and rising consumer demands.
- Affordability: As plastics are the cheapest and most affordable materials to manufacture, their production has tripled in recent decades to take care of the ever-rising consumer demands.
- Reckless Disposal: Plastic is among the easily disposed of items due to their lightweight and use period.
- For example: Plastic paper bags, wrappers, plastic water bottles, and food containers. The use period of these items is very short and are called Single Use Plastics.
- Globalization: Developed countries dump plastic in developing countries as there is low processing cost in developing countries and no consensus to ban the export of plastic.
- Settlement of Nano Plastic: Nanoplastics are particles resulting from the degradation of plastics. They present colloidal behavior within the size range from 1 to 1000 nm.
- Study: A study conducted at Alps to determine the amount of plastic falling to Earth from the atmosphere concluded that plastic nanoparticles travel over 1,200 miles through the air before settling.
- Sources of nanoplastics: Densely populated and urban areas; oceans (plastics entering the air via spray of waves), etc.
- Slow decomposition rate: Plastics take hundreds of years to decompose because they have strong chemical bonds that simply make them last.
- Marine Plastic Pollution
- Marine Shipping and Fishing industry: Remote rural beaches tend to have plastic rubbish washed to the shores, which comes from the ships, sea accidents, and from the nets used for fishing, which is usually made of plastic.
- Cosmetic & Personal care industry: This industry has introduced microplastics/microbeads (plastic particles of 5mm diameter or less) in products such as toothpaste and shower gels, which damages the marine ecosystem by releasing toxins which eventually enter into the food chain.
- Other Sources of Marine Plastic: The main sources of marine plastic are land-based, from urban and storm runoff, sewer overflows, beach visitors, inadequate waste disposal and management, industrial activities, construction, and illegal dumping.
- COVID-19 Aggravated Plastic Pollution
- Covid-related products: There was excessive use of plastics in the forms of masks, sanitiser bottles, personal protective equipment, food packaging, water bottles, etc.
- Aggravation in Marine Pollution: The presence of masks and gloves in oceans, seas, and rivers, which were used to prevent the spread of COVID-19, has been increasingly common around the world.
Consequences
- Environmental
- Implications for Animals: Plastic ingestion upsets or fills up the digestive systems of animals, thus contributing to their death due to intestinal blockage or starvation.
- Impact on Habitats: Seafloor plastic waste sheets could act like a blanket, inhibiting gas exchange and leading to anoxia or hypoxia (low oxygen levels) in the aquatic system, which in turn can adversely affect marine life.
- Invasive Species: Plastic waste can also be a mode of transport for species, potentially increasing the range of certain marine organisms or introducing species into an environment where they were previously absent. This, in turn, can cause subsequent changes in the ecosystem of the region.
- Affect Plant Health: Plants continue to decline due to plastic chemical intoxication.
- Impact on Corals: Corals smothered in plastic face increased threat of disease compared with corals free from plastic. The plastic debris starves corals of vital oxygen and light and releases toxins enabling bacteria and viruses to invade.
- Affect Endangered Animals: Hundreds of endangered marine creatures, such as the sea turtles, are lost on a yearly basis for having consumed pieces of plastic.
- For example: According to UNESCO, plastic waste accounts for the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, along with over 100,000 marine mammals.
- Natural Disaster: Encroachment and clogging of city drainage with plastic and solid waste often leads to suburban flooding.
- For example: Mumbai experiences annual flooding-like situations during the monsoon season due to water clogging.
- Climate change: Plastic, which is a petroleum product, also contributes to global warming. If plastic waste is incinerated, it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, thereby increasing carbon emissions.
- Pollution
- Air Pollution: Disposing of plastic waste by burning it in open-air pits releases harmful gases like furan and dioxin.
- Soil Pollution: Toxic chemicals leach out of plastic through landfill sites, which is linked to decreasing crop productivity, impacting food security.
- Groundwater Pollution: Whenever plastics are dumped in landfills, the hazardous chemicals present in them seep underground when it rains.
- Economic
- Tourism loss: Plastic waste along shorelines has a negative impact on tourism revenue (creates an aesthetic issue).
- For example: The A&N Islands are under the plastic threat and facing the aesthetic issue because of the international dumping of plastic waste at the island.
- Fisheries Industry: Many lakes and oceans have reported alarming cases of plastic debris floating on water surfaces, leading to dreadful consequences for marine creatures that swallow the toxic chemicals.
- For example: In 2014, a UN report estimated the annual impact of plastic pollution at US$ 13 billion.
- Plastic Management: Millions of dollars are spent annually to clean regions littered or affected by plastic pollution.
- Tourism loss: Plastic waste along shorelines has a negative impact on tourism revenue (creates an aesthetic issue).
- Health
- Cancer in humans: When plastic is broken down into microscopic particles, it produces toxic chemicals that can cause hormonal problems and cancer in humans.
- Bioaccumulation and Bio magnification: Plastic enters the food chain in seawater. These pollutants are passed up the food chain when predators, such as humans, eat prey that has been contaminated.
- Impact on human health: Different human health problems like irritation in the eye, vision failure, breathing difficulties, respiratory problems, liver dysfunction, birth defects, reproductive issues, cardiovascular problems, etc.
- Impact of Nano plastics: Unlike microplastics, they are likely capable of crossing the cell-blood barrier after respiration into the lungs and eventually entering the bloodstream.
- Toxic cow milk: When plastic is stuck in a cow’s stomach for long periods, the toxicity can contaminate the milk it produces.
- Vector-borne diseases: Plastic bags often provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes and pests, thus increasing the transmission of vector-borne diseases like malaria.
- Toxic water: Invisible plastic has been identified in tap water, beer, salt, and is present in all samples collected in the world’s oceans, including the Arctic.
Initiative Taken
- Land initiatives
- Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016
- Defined minimum thickness
- Fixing responsibilities of producers, consumers, and municipal authorities
- Phasing out of multi-use plastic
- Alternate use of plastics
- Principle of extended producer’s responsibility
- Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules 2018: It introduced the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).
- Draft Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2021: The amendment has extended the applicability of the rules to brand-owner, plastic waste processor, including the recycler, co-processor, etc. It will also include new definitions of:
- Non-woven plastic bag
- Plastic waste processing
- Single-use plastic (SUP) item
- Thermoset plastic
- Thermoplastic
- Ban on Single Use Plastic: The government has set an ambitious target of eliminating single-use plastics by 2022.
- So far, 22 States and UTs have joined the fight to beat the plastic pollution, announcing a ban on single-use plastics such as carry bags, cups, plates, cutlery, straws, and thermocol products.
- Sustainable Development Goal 12: It addresses responsible consumption and production patterns, with specific targets aimed at substantially reducing waste generation through prevention, recycling, and reuse.
- Un-Plastic Collective: Un-Plastic Collective (UPC) is a voluntary initiative launched by the UNEP-India, CII, and WWF-India.
- The Collective seeks to minimise the externalities of plastics on the ecological and social health of our planet.
- As part of UPC initiative, companies set time-bound, public targets to:
- Eliminate unnecessary use of plastic
- Reuse and circulate plastics through the circular economy
- Replace plastic with sustainable alternative or recycled plastics
- Turn commitments to meaningful and measurable action.
- Marine Initiatives
India
- Project CounterMEASURE: The project on Promotion of Countermeasures Against Marine Plastic Litter in Southeast Asia and India (hereafter referred to as “CounterMEASURE”) was launched in 2019.
- Aimed at identifying a region-based model for monitoring and assessment of plastic leakage and pollution reduction targeting land-based plastic leakage entering waterways.
- “Sea to Source-Ganges” Expedition: It will embark on a river expedition to better understand and document how plastic waste travels from source to sea and to fill critical knowledge gaps.
- India Signatory to MARPOL Convention: International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, later modified as MARPOL. It bans ships from dumping plastic at sea, which was a great first step.
Global
- Honolulu Strategy: In 2011, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States and UNEP created the Honolulu Strategy—a planning tool to reduce plastic pollution and its impacts.
- Rio+20 Commitment: In 2012, a voluntary commitment of a significant reduction of marine debris was introduced at Rio+20 with a deadline of 2025.
- Clean Seas Campaign: In February 2017, UNEP announced the Clean Seas campaign, asking for individuals, industries, and member states to voluntarily commit to an action of their choice to reduce plastic pollution.
- UNEA Historic Resolution: The historic resolution, entitled “End Plastic Pollution: Towards an internationally legally binding instrument,” was adopted with the conclusion of the three-day UNEA-5.2 meeting.
- The adopted resolution said that plastic pollution in marine and other environments, can be of a transboundary nature and needs to be tackled, together with its impacts through a full lifecycle approach, taking into account national circumstances and capabilities.
- Resolution to end Plastic Pollution: The world’s ministers for the environment established an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) with the mandate to forge an international legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution.
International Efforts
Towards reducing the use of plastic, at least 60 countries around the world have fully or partially restricted the use of non-biodegradable polymers. For example:
- Ireland: In 2002, Ireland imposed a levy tax on plastic bags.
- Bangladesh: Bangladesh imposed a ban in 2002.
- Rwanda: In 2008, Rwanda imposed a blanket ban on the sale, use, and production of plastic bags.
- EU: The European Union, in 2018, approved a measure to slash single-use plastic across the continent.
- UN: In 2019, the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, a non-binding resolution was made over throwaway items like plastic bags.
- Peru: Visitors will no longer be allowed to carry in single-use plastics into Peru’s natural and cultural protected area.
- US: Several cities in the United States have banned containers made of polystyrene, better known as Styrofoam.
- Canada: Canada aims to ban single-use plastics by 2021.
National Best Practices to Deal with Single-Use Plastic
- Sikkim way ahead: In 2016, Sikkim banned plastic bottles in all government departments and programs. Not just this, Sikkim also banned the use and sale of disposable items such as cups, plates, spoons, containers, and many such items made from polystyrene foam.
- Indian Parliament leader for Legislative Assemblies: The Indian Parliament has also banned the use of non-reusable plastic water bottles and other plastic items within the complex.
- Indore a cleanest city: Indore replaced plastic bottles and single-use utensils in its offices with traditional alternatives like copper, glass among others.
- Indian Railways: Indian Railways has decided to impose a ban on single-use plastic material on its premises as well as in trains.
Challenges
- Plastic cannot be filtered: In the form of microplastics/microbeads, when plastic enters the environment via inland waterways, wastewater outflows, and transport by wind or tides, it cannot all be filtered out once it enters the ocean.
- Spurious Biodegradable Plastic: In the absence of robust testing and certification to verify claims made by producers, spurious biodegradable and compostable plastics are entering the marketplace.
- E-Commerce Companies Plastic Waste: Apart from the plastic we consume through traditional retail, the popularity of online retail and food delivery apps, though restricted to big cities, is contributing to the rise in plastic waste.
- Microplastics: After entering the aquatic environment, microplastics can travel vast distances floating in seawater, or sediment to the seabed, which affects governments’ capacity to tackle it.
- Plastic in Snow: A recent study has revealed that microplastics in the atmosphere are trapped by the snow.
- Improper Implementation and Monitoring: In spite of the notification of the Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rules, 2016 and amendments made in 2018, local bodies (even the biggest municipal corporations) have failed to implement and monitor segregation of waste.
- Concerns Related to Single-Use Plastic Ban:
- Unclear definition: There is no clear definition of what is single-use plastic.
- Unviable alternatives: Compostable and biodegradable plastics made from various materials such as bagasse, corn, etc., are envisaged as alternatives but currently have limitations of scale and cost.
- Low-quality recycling: Most of the recycling of plastic in India is done in informal, home-based industries that produce very low-quality recycled plastic.
- Inadequate resources with ULBs: Unlike urban local bodies, gram panchayats may not have the resources to do routine checks on plastic use.
- Employment: A ban could have an impact on a large number of people employed at units making these plastic products.
- Regulation and infrastructure: Poor regulation and enforcement infrastructure in India spells worries for the ban.
- Lack of resources: There is a lack of sufficient resources, both material and human.
- Financial distress: In India, where a large majority of the population still buys its fruits, vegetables, and meat from street vendors, the lack of cheaper alternatives to plastic is bound to cause severe financial distress on the masses.
Way Forward
- Government Roles
- New Law: The new laws need to be created, which will aim at greater responsibility of the producing companies, mainly packaging, as a way to implement reverse logistics.
- Certification of alternatives: A ban on single-use plastic items would have to lay down a comprehensive mechanism to certify the materials marketed as alternatives, and the specific process required to biodegrade or compost them.
- Efficient waste management system: It is required to put in an efficient waste management system that would involve the segregation of waste at source, collection, and recycling.
- Promote Alternatives: Before the ban or levy comes into force, the availability of alternatives needs to be assessed. Hence, the government may:
- Expanding the use of biodegradable plastics: Made from various materials such as bagasse (the residue after extracting juice from sugarcane), corn starch, and grain flour.
- Analysis: Assess the potential impacts (positive and negative) of the preferred short-listed plastic waste management measures/actions, by considering how the poor will be affected, or what impact the preferred course of action will have on different sectors and industries.
- Stringent punishment for non-compliance: Explaining the decision and any punitive measures that will follow, as a result of non-compliance with plastic management rules.
- Allocation of resources: India should allocate resources to replenishing ramshackle institutions, such as the Central Pollution Control Board and other task forces dedicated to enforcing the ban.
- Awareness Generation
- Raising awareness: Amongst the public of the harm caused by plastic pollution through education and outreach programs to modify behavior.
- Mascot ‘Prakriti’ has been launched to spread mass awareness about how the adoption of small changes in our lifestyle can play a big role in environmental sustainability.
- The 4Rs: The 4Rs of — refuse, reduce, reuse, and recycle — is the best way to deal with plastic pollution.
- REFUSE disposable plastic whenever and wherever possible.
- REDUCE plastic footprint.
- REUSE durable, non-toxic straws.
- RECYCLE what we can’t refuse, reduce or reuse.
- Raising awareness: Amongst the public of the harm caused by plastic pollution through education and outreach programs to modify behavior.
- Industries Role
- Use of technology: We must also put technologies in use to abolish plastic usage.
- Shift to sustainable material: The industry manufacturing plastic products must shift to more sustainable packaging material.
- Use of plastic in the textile industry: Plastic makes many types of fabric possible, from nylon and organza to faux leather and fur. Transforming recycled plastic into clothing provides an appealing solution to the amount of plastic waste floating in the oceans.
- Plastic in road construction: Waste plastic can be mixed with heated bitumen and the mixture can be coated over stone for use in road construction.
- Plastic to fuel conversion: If pure hydrocarbons, such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), are burnt in oxygen-free chambers, they produce a fuel that burns fairly clean.
Plastic, without doubt, is the miracle commodity that has uses ranging from increasing shelf lives of eatables to medical equipment and automotive. Managing plastic waste requires effective knowledge, not only among those who produce the plastic but also among those who handle it. But it needs to be tackled on an urgent basis as it is becoming a human existential issue with each passing day.
EXTENDED PRODUCERS RESPONSIBILITY
Recent update: The government has notified the Guidelines on Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) for plastic packaging under Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016.
- New Guidelines
- Strengthens circular economy: The Guidelines provide a framework to strengthen the circular economy of plastic packaging waste. Reuse of rigid plastic packaging material has been mandated in the guidelines to reduce the use of fresh plastic material for packaging.
- Boost to formalization: The EPR guidelines will give a boost for formalization and further development of the plastic waste management sector. The guidelines allow for the sale and purchase of surplus extended producer responsibility certificates, thus setting up a market mechanism for plastic waste management.
- Enforcing polluter pays principle: The Guidelines prescribe a framework for levy of environmental compensation based upon the polluter pays principle, for non-fulfillment of extended producer responsibility targets.
- Online platform: Implementation of EPR will be done through a customized online platform, which will act as the digital backbone of the system. It will allow tracking and monitoring of EPR obligations and will reduce the compliance burden for companies through online registration and filing of annual returns.
- Extended Producer Responsibility Certificates: In a significant first, the guidelines allow for the sale and purchase of surplus extended producer responsibility certificates. This will set up a market mechanism for plastic waste management.
- Targets for recycling
- In 2024, a minimum of 50% of their rigid plastic (category 1) will have to be recycled as well as 30% of their category 2 and 3 plastic.
- Every year will see progressively higher targets, and after 2026-27, 80% of their category 1 and 60% of the other two categories will need to be recycled.
- If entities cannot fulfill their obligations, they will on a “case by case basis” be permitted to buy certificates making up for their shortfall.
- Significance of these guidelines
- Development of new alternatives: It will promote the development of new alternatives to plastics and provide a roadmap for businesses to move towards sustainable plastic packaging.
- Reduce plastic pollution: These are important steps for reducing pollution caused by littered plastic waste in the country.
- Support UNDP target: India generates about 3.4 million tonnes of plastic waste annually. The United Nations Development Programme aims to almost triple its plastic waste management to 100 cities in India by 2024.
- Challenges in mandatory EPR
- Awareness Issue: Waste segregation has been the greatest challenge in India owing to the lack of consumer awareness.
- Lack of Compliance: The plastic producers do not wish to engage in the process holistically and take the effort to build awareness.
- Large-scale involvement: The EPR doesn’t take into account the formalization of informal waste pickers, aggregators, and dismantlers.
- Lack of Recycling Infrastructure: These challenges range from lack of handling capacity to illegitimate facilities in the forms of multiple accounting of waste, selling to aggregators, and leakages.
SINGLE USE PLASTIC (SUP)
It refers to plastic items that are used once and discarded. Recently, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has ordered a ban on the use of single-use plastic from July 1, 2022.
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CPCB Circular
- Ban: This includes the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale, and use of single-use plastic items that are identified as those having low utility and high littering potential.
- Thickness: Plastic bags of thickness less than 120 microns will also be phased out from December 31, 2022, in India.
- Plastic Sticks: Plastic sticks will be out of the market. These include earbuds with plastic sticks, candy sticks, ice cream sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, and thermocol (polystyrene) for decoration.
- Packing and Wrapping Plastic Films: Like cling films used to cover sweet boxes, invitation cards, and cigarette packets will also be banned.
- PVC Banners: PVC banners of less than 100 microns will no longer be allowed.
- Sachets: According to the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, there is also a complete ban on sachets using plastic material for storing, packing, or selling gutkha, tobacco, and pan masala.
Concerns Related to SUP
- Environment
- Harm to the environment: Single-use plastic also accounts for the majority of plastic discarded — 130 million metric tonnes globally in 2019, all of which are burned, buried in landfills, or discarded directly into the environment.
- GHG emission: On the current trajectory of production, it has been projected that single-use plastic could account for 5-10% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
- Increase in pollution: Plastic bags pollute the land and water, since they are lightweight, plastic materials can travel long distances by wind and water.
- Leaching of plastic waste: Into the ground, water sources, and more has been linked to the presence of dangerous microplastics.
- Threat to aquatic life: Being non-recyclable, plastic bags end up in the oceans. While they reach, they break up into tiny little pieces and are consumed by wildlife, thereby leading to health issues or even death. Many animals also get entangled or trapped in plastic bags.
- Technical
- Non-recyclable: Often, these kinds of plastic are not disposed of properly and cannot be recycled.
- For example: World-wide only 10-13% of plastic items are recycled.
- Addition of chemicals: The nature of petroleum-based disposable plastic makes it difficult to recycle, and they have to add new virgin materials and chemicals to it to do so.
- Energy intensive: Production of plastic material is very energy intensive. They require a lot of water for their production. Thus using plastic bags is not advisable.
- Plastic does not decompose: It remains in the same landfills that they have been buried in for millennia to come.
- For example: Invisible plastic has been identified in tap water, beer, salt, and is present in all samples collected in the world’s oceans, including the Arctic.
- Non-recyclable: Often, these kinds of plastic are not disposed of properly and cannot be recycled.
- Socio-Economic
- Tourism and economy: Plastic waste damages the aesthetic value of tourist destinations, leading to decreased tourism-related incomes and major economic costs related to the cleaning and maintenance of the sites.
- Harmful to human health: Toxic chemicals from plastic bags can damage the blood and tissues. Frequent exposures can lead to cancers, birth defects, impaired immunity, hormone changes, endocrine disruption, and other serious ailments.
Procedure to Enforce Ban
- SPCBs will submit regular reports to the Center, as well as the CPCB from the Center, which will monitor the ban.
- The SPCB may also require violators to pay environmental damage compensation.
- Municipalities also have their own plastic trash regulations and criminal codes.
- Directions have been issued at national, state, and local levels for example, to all petrochemical industries — to not supply raw materials to industries engaged in the banned items.
- According to the Environment Protection Act of 1986, anyone found in violation of the ban faces a punishment of up to 5 years in prison, a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh, or both.
- Directions have also been issued to SPCBs and Pollution Control Committees to modify or revoke consent to operate issued under the Air/Water Act to industries engaged in single-use plastic items.
- Local authorities have been directed to issue fresh commercial licenses with the condition that SUP items will not be sold on their premises, and existing commercial licenses will be cancelled if they are found to be selling these items.
Government’s Measures
- State
- Reusables in government offices: Many government offices in various states like Kerala made the switch to ink pens and steel cutlery to ensure articles like plastic water bottles, disposable teacups, and plastic carry bags are no longer used across the office premises.
- Fishing for plastic waste from water bodies: Kerala’s Suchitwa Mission has been engaged in not just finding fish but also taking care of plastic that either gets stuck in the fishing nets or floats in the sea. They have managed to recover 25 tonnes of plastic waste.
- Crackdown on plastic usage: Many states like Maharashtra, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, and Punjab have imposed some form of a ban on plastic.
- Utilising plastic for road surfacing: Governments are using plastics for road surfacing, and many states are considering implementing this pioneering tactic to manage their plastic waste. Kerala, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu are a few states that have already begun work on these lines.
- Central
- Up-cycling plastic for better purposes: From construction materials to threads and fabrics for the textile industry, many organizations across India have been up-cycling plastic for more significant purposes. Even the government’s recent proposal to introduce plastic currency notes is a great step in up-cycling plastic waste.
- The Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016:
- It clearly stipulates that urban local bodies (ULBs) should ban plastic bags less than 50 microns thick and not allow the usage of recycled plastics for packing food, beverage, or any other eatables.
- It introduced the concept of EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) to manage plastics in India.
- EPR means the responsibility of a producer for environmentally sound management of the product until the end of its life.
- Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2022:
- The guidelines on EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) coupled with the prohibition of identified single-use plastic items.
- It banned the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale, and use of carry bags made of virgin or recycled plastic less than seventy-five microns.
- Items that will be banned:
- Earbuds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, polystyrene (thermocol) for decoration, plastic plates, cups, glasses, cutlery (such as forks, spoons, and knives), straw, trays, wrapping films around sweet boxes, invitation cards, and cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners less than 100-microns, and stirrers.
- The ban will not apply to commodities made of compostable plastic.
- The Central Pollution Control Board, along with state pollution bodies, will monitor the ban, identify violations, and impose penalties already prescribed under the Environmental Protection Act.
- The “India Plastic Challenge — Hackathon 2021”: It is a unique competition calling upon start-ups/entrepreneurs and students of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to develop innovative solutions to mitigate plastic pollution and develop alternatives to single-use plastics.
- India Plastics Pact: An ambitious, collaborative initiative that aims to bring together businesses, governments, and NGOs across the whole value chain to set time-bound commitments to reduce plastics from their value chains.
- Swachh Bharat Mission: The waste management infrastructure in the States and UTs is being upgraded.
- International
- MARPOL: India is a signatory to MARPOL (International Convention on Prevention of Marine Pollution).
- Plastic Pacts: The Plastics Pacts are business-led initiatives and transform the plastic packaging value chain for all formats and products.
- Project REPLAN: In this project, the waste plastic is collected, cleaned, chopped, beaten and treated for softness. After that, it is mixed with the paper raw material i.e., cotton rags pulp in a ratio of 80% (pulp) and 20% (plastic waste).
- GoLitter Partnerships Project: Launched by the IMO and the FAO. The project aims to help the maritime transport and fishing sectors to adapt to a low-plastic future. To achieve this goal, this initiative will assist developing countries to apply best practices for prevention, reduction, and control of marine plastic litter from those sectors.
Efforts of Other Countries
- United Nations Resolution: 124 countries which are party to the United Nations Environment Assembly, including India, signed a resolution to draw up an agreement which will in the future make it legally binding for the signatories to address the full life of plastics from production to disposal, to end plastic pollution.
- Country-Wise Assessment:
- Bangladesh became the first country to ban thin plastic bags in 2002.
- New Zealand became the latest country to ban plastic bags in 2019.
- China issued a ban on plastic bags in 2020 with phased implementation.
- Seattle became the first major US city to ban plastic straws in 2018.
- Directive on Single-Use Plastics in the European Union (EU): The directive bans certain single-use plastics for which alternatives are available.
- Current Scenario: 68 countries have plastic bag bans with varying degrees of enforcement.
Way Forward
- Generated Alternative Source of Employment: The plastic industry in the country employs about 40 lakh people. A ban on plastics will affect the industry, leading to job loss and economic slowdown.
- Make Policies to Control Inflation: A piece of plastic bag costs no more than 10-15 paise, which is much cheaper than a paper bag costing 20-25 paise per piece. The plastic ban would impact the cost of the products and lead to inflation.
- Use Less Plastic: Since most of the single-use plastics cannot be recycled, we need to use less plastic in that case and move towards environmentally sustainable products and services and come up with technology that recycles plastic more efficiently.
- Hope Towards Reduction: With a ban on such plastic items, India can hope to reduce its plastic waste generation figures.
- Phase-Wise Measures: The phase-wise banning should be developed based on materials, recyclability, availability of alternatives, and livelihood security to the informal sector.
SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
Waste management is a composite activity including multiple tasks of segregation, collection, transportation, re-processing, recycling, and disposal of various types of wastes.
Data of Waste
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Classification of Waste
- Biodegradable waste: Waste which is degraded by microbial activity, e.g., human excreta.
- Non-Biodegradable waste: Not degraded by microbial activity, e.g., plastic, glasses, etc.
- Construction and demolition waste: Wastes generated in construction of new buildings, renovation and demolition work.
- Bio-medical: Wastes generated from hospitals and health centers, e.g., needle, syringe, body parts, etc.
- E-waste: Discarded mobile phones, parts of computers, batteries, bulbs, etc.
Causes of Waste Generation
- Construction activities: Widespread construction activities generate construction and demolition waste, which end up becoming solid waste.
- Urban life: Urban populations are more likely to generate larger volumes of non-degradable waste, especially where plastic-packaged products are consumed more.
- Socio-cultural practices: Practices such as dumping waste in rivers and performing rituals which generate a lot of solid waste.
- Food items: The packaging of food items used in packaged food items that too more often, leads to the generation of solid waste.
- FMCGs: Fast Moving Consumer Goods are widely accepted today and consumed more, which use excessive packing, leading to waste.
- Online delivery: E-commerce industries use materials like boxes, polythene, air puffs, etc., for packing, which also become waste.
- Electronic goods: Due to short lifespan and cheap products, there is an increase in e-waste generation.
- Covid: Covid has increased the generation of bio-medical waste like masks, PPE kit gloves, and now vaccine bottles and injections, etc.
Waste Accumulation Impacts
- Environmental
- Contamination of surface water: Waste affects water, changing the chemical composition of the water. It leads to negative impact in the entire ecosystem.
- Soil contamination: Harm plants through roots, and if human and animal eat such plants, they face several diseases.
- Pollution: Improper waste management leads to pollution in air and land degradation.
- Global warming: Landfills are seedbeds of methane and other greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming.
- Leachate: Leachate, which is a black liquid oozing out from the waste as it slowly decomposes over a period of 25 to 30 years, contaminates soil and groundwater.
- Foul odour: From the waste rotting in airless heaps, and smoke from the fires that routinely erupt in them, are other consequences of dumping waste.
- Extinction of water bodies in urban areas: Disappearance of urban water bodies and wetlands in urban areas can be attributed to illegal dumping of C&D waste.
- Health
- Spread of diseases: Decomposing solid waste attracts animals, mosquitoes, vermin, and flies. They play a major role in the transmission of faecal-oral diseases and the transmission of diseases to animals.
- Fire hazards: Where large quantities of solid dry waste are stored in hot climates, this may create fire hazard.
- Economic
- Health hazards: The associated health issues with open dump and large waste accumulation lead to a heavy burden of health expenditure on the state.
- Transportation cost: There needed a massive manpower and vehicles for collection and disposal of waste, which leads to loss on public exchequer.
Soil Pollution
Causes and Sources of Soil Pollution
- Building material: The demolition of old buildings can involve the contamination of nearby soil with asbestos.
- Lead-based paints: Usage of lead-based paint during construction activities can also pollute the soil with hazardous concentrations of lead.
- Spillage of petrol and diesel: During transportation, can contaminate soils with the hydrocarbons found in petroleum.
- Factories: Activities associated with metal casting factories (foundries) often cause the dispersion of metallic contaminants into the nearby soils.
- Underground mining activities: Can cause the contamination of land with heavy metals.
- Improper disposal: Of highly toxic industrial/chemical waste can severely pollute the soil.
- For example: The storage of toxic wastes in landfills can result in the seepage of the waste into the soil. This waste can go on to pollute groundwater as well.
- Inefficient use of pesticides: Chemical pesticides contain several hazardous substances. Excessive and inefficient use of chemical pesticides can result in severe soil pollution.
- Sewage waste: Sewage produced in urbanized areas can also contaminate soil (if not disposed of correctly). These wastes may also contain several carcinogenic substances.
Effects of Soil Pollution
- Agriculture
- Reduced soil fertility due to increase in alkalinity, salinity, or pH.
- Reduced nitrogen fixation due to the reduced number of nitrogen fixers.
- Increased erosion due to loss of forests and other vegetation.
- Runoff due to deforestation causes loss of soil and nutrients.
- Deposition of silt in tanks and reservoirs due to soil erosion.
- Health
- Dangerous chemicals entering underground water
- Biomagnification
- Release of pollutant gases
- Release of radioactive rays causing health problems
- Health effects are similar to the effects of water pollution.
- Environment
- Ecological imbalance
- Reduced vegetation
- Imbalance in soil fauna and flora
Control Measures
- Reducing chemical fertilizer and pesticide use
- Use of bio pesticides, bio fertilizers
- Organic farming
- Four R’s: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
- Afforestation and reforestation
- Solid Waste Treatment
- Reducing of waste from construction
Government Initiatives
- Soil Conservation in the Catchment of River Valley Project
- Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP)
- Command Area Development and Water Management (CADWM) programme
- Soil Health Card Scheme, etc.
Challenges to Solid Waste Management in India
- Institutional
- Financial constraint with municipal and ULB: Which hamper proper waste collection, management, and transport of solid waste, and lack of proper segregation of waste at source.
- Lack of technical expertise: There is a lack of technical expertise with regards to disposal of solid wastes and unavailability of land with the municipal bodies.
- Lack of private investment in this area: Private players have not been encouraged to take part in solid waste disposal due to lack of incentives and push from government.
- No proper coverage of Bio-medical waste: Some biomedical waste is included in the definition of domestic hazardous waste, but only waste from healthcare establishments is covered under the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules 2016.
- Financial issues: Waste management incurs high costs. Most municipalities in Asia utilized >70% of the income raised. The richest cities in India use 40-70%.
- Waste management sector – Workforce: In India, the workforce is primarily made up of informal workers who come from the urban poor. The rag pickers, who are instrumental in waste recycling, are highly vulnerable to health damages owing to poor working conditions.
- Processing/recovery from waste: Most of the funds for solid waste management are allocated to collection and transportation, with very little left for processing or resource recovery and disposal. Also, many waste-to-energy plants are non-operational.
- Issue of logistical contractors: Contractors are motivated to dump more garbage in landfills as their compensation is proportional to the tonnage of waste. They are also prone to illegally dump waste at unauthorized sites to reduce transportation costs.
- Lack of coordination among Centre and State: Such lack of coordination for specific action plans and poor strategy at the implementation level by ULBs are the main hindrances.
- Non-Institutional
- Rapid urbanization: Leads to hyper-consumerism, leading to the development of more and more waste.
- Economic unattractiveness of organic farming and composting: Hence, farmer preference is more for heavily subsidized chemical pesticides, which is a major reason for contamination of soil.
- Non-participation by consumers: Consumers mostly do not form the part of the Waste Management Chain, and myriad rules and regulations, along with weak capacity for enforcement.
- Segregation issues: Segregation of waste into organic, recyclable, and hazardous categories is not enforced at source.
- Disposal: In India, almost every city, town, or village adopted unscientific disposal of MSW.
- Failure of waste-to-energy projects: India is still struggling to make waste-to-energy projects a success story. There is a need to import economically feasible and proven technologies.
Methods for Waste Management
- Landfill:
- Here, waste is buried in vacant locations, and dump sites are covered with soils and trees are planted on them to hold the soil.
- Advantage: If it is properly planned, it is an economical and sanitized way of dumping waste.
- Disadvantage: Unplanned dumping causes serious environmental hazards and health issues in the form of the release of poisonous gases, vegetation loss, and release of toxic liquid.
- Sanitary Landfills
- These are lined with materials that are impermeable, such as plastics and clay, and are also built over impermeable soil.
- Advantage: Sanitary landfill is more hygienic and built methodically to solve the problem of leaching.
- Disadvantage: Constructing a sanitary landfill is very costly.
- Incineration
- It is a high-temperature oxidation in a controlled environment, of organic compounds, which result in the development of thermal energy, CO2, and water.
- Advantages: Helps in dealing with large quantities of organic hazardous waste and electricity production.
- Disadvantages: The installation is expensive and generates ash and toxic gases.
- Alternative Thermal Methods
- Pyrolysis: It converts solid into liquid state and liquid into gas, and then these products of treatment can be used for the production of energy.
- Gasification: The material to be treated is directly converted into SynGas, which has hydrogen and carbon dioxide as its components.
- Bioremediation
- Composting: It is a biological process in which micro-organisms, mainly fungi and bacteria, decompose degradable organic waste into humus-like substance in the presence of O2.
- Vermiculture: In this method, Earthworms are added to the compost. These worms break the waste, and the added excreta of the worms makes the compost very rich in nutrients.
- Advantage: It is an economical technique and allows treatment of pollutants on the site itself, thereby reducing the chance of exposure to humans.
Measures that can be taken for managing the issue of waste
- Decentralized, Accessible, Affordable Solutions
- ULBs and Municipalities must be provided with the latest technology with respect to waste management, which should be affordable.
- Customized solutions to local situations — e.g., most of the Waste management technology is imported which does not suit local conditions, hence there is a need for the indigestion of waste management technology.
- Consumer Participation
- In the waste management chain, ensure that the public segregate the waste at the source by themselves. The government should create awareness and issue guidelines with respect to segregation of waste properly.
- Changes in Policy
- The value of land under landfills must be unlocked — by allowing the companies that clear waste to use their own land to fund the cleanup.
- Movement to Zero Waste Society: Waste management should become an integral part of city planning.
- Fund Devolutions
- Proper funds must be allocated by state government to municipalities in order to enable them to procure needed equipment and safety gear for the workers.
- Less cumbersome process for technology and equipment procurement.
- Development of Trained Professionals
- To maintain the waste management chain right from collection to maintaining waste handling plants.
- Road and Highway Construction (Segregation)
- Involves segregating waste during construction to ensure effective waste management.
- A less-known and highly innovative application in building roads is that of soiled and torn thin plastics which are blown out from the bio-mining process.
- Thin plastics can more than double or triple the life and quality of bitumen (tar) roads, which are spread and compacted for road-making.
Steps Taken by Government for Waste Management
- Policy and Programmes Measures
- Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan: A world’s largest behavioral change programme for cleanliness.
- National Action Plan for Municipal Solid Waste Management: Proposed is an outline of suggestive/indicative strategy that states and UTs may refer to for a similar State Action Plan.
- Star Rating of Garbage Free Cities: To institutionalize a mechanism for cities to achieve Garbage Free status, and to motivate cities to achieve higher degrees of sustainable cleanliness.
- National Urban Sanitation Policy: It defines sanitation as “safe management of human excreta, including its safe confinement treatment, disposal, and associated hygiene-related practices.”
- Waste Minimization Circles (WMC):
- WMC helps small and medium industrial clusters in waste minimization in their industrial plants.
- This is assisted by the World Bank with the Ministry of Environment and Forests acting as the nodal ministry.
- Aim: To realize the objectives of the Policy Statement for Abatement of Pollution (1992), which states that the government should educate citizens about environmental risks, the economic and health dangers of resource degradation, and the real economic cost of natural resources.
- Legislative Measures
- Municipal Solid Waste Management Manual 2016
- It shall be mandatory to segregate prior to incineration, relatable to the quantum of the waste.
- It shall be mandatory to provide for a buffer zone around plants and landfill sites.
- It will be obligatory on the part of the state and local authorities to create a market for the consumption of RDF (Refused Derived Fuel).
- There shall be complete prohibition on open burning of waste on lands, including at landfill sites.
- Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016: State that every local body has to be responsible for setting up infrastructure for segregation, collection, processing, and disposal of plastic waste.
- Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management & Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016: Solid plastic waste has been prohibited from import into the country, including in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and by Export Oriented Units (EOUs).
- E-Waste Management Rules, 2016: The rules brought the producers under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), along with targets. Producers have been made responsible for the collection of E-waste and for its exchange.
- Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016: It has made mandatory pre-treatment of laboratory waste, microbiological waste, blood samples, and blood bags through disinfection or sterilization on-site in the manner prescribed by WHO or NACO.
- Municipal Solid Waste Management Manual 2016
- Other Initiatives
- Dr. Kasturirangan Task Force: Provided suggestions on proper management of solid waste and focused on recommended adoption of the principles of reduce, reuse, recover, recycle, and remanufacture (5Rs).
- Initiatives Taken by CPCB:
- Guidelines on Legacy Waste
- Guidelines on Buffer Zone
- Guidelines for Management of Sanitary Waste
- Selection Criteria for Waste Processing Technologies
Best Practices of Solid Waste Management
- Deposit-refund scheme for drinking bottles and cans: This reduces littering and increases recycling in EU and UK.
- Sweden: 35% of the Swedish municipalities are sending compostable household waste to a central treatment making a total of 344,500 tonnes of organic waste.
- Public Private Partnership in Waste Management: JICA and local NGO in São Paolo, Brazil formalized ‘Coopamare’ (privatizing informal recycling activities), improving the recycling rate and lowering the poverty line.
- The Gorai module in India: Details the need for scientific closure of a dumpsite by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.
- Japan: In Japan, incineration has been the primary disposal route for waste due to lack of space for landfills. 74% of all waste produced in Japan is incinerated, with just 2% sent to landfills.
- Extending the idea of recycling: Kitgum town in Uganda traps used water from houses and utilizes it to grow food in greywater gardens.
Way Forward
- Public awareness: Creating public awareness for the involvement of different stakeholders for SWM.
- Action plan: Development of ULB-wise action plan for collection, segregation, transportation, and processing of waste.
- Processing facilities: Emphasizing the setting up of waste processing facilities rather than waste disposal facilities, as seen in the case of Chhattisgarh.
- Research and development: Giving a fillip to research and development activities with a focus on resource recovery from waste.
- Capacity building: Capacity building in various regimes of SWM.
- Governance framework: Laying down an appropriate governance framework at the state and district levels.
- Roles and responsibility: Clear allocation of responsibility to ULBs and waste generators for setting up infrastructure and involving the informal sector in waste collection/segregation.
- Technical support: Adequate technical support to ULBs for processing technology and best practices in waste management.
Science and technology must be at the forefront to provide solutions to the challenges of waste management in India, along with the need for consistent waste reduction and recycling to emerge as a zero-waste society.
E-WASTE
E-waste or electronic waste is created when an electronic product is discarded after the end of its useful life. In India, most of the e-waste is stored at households. This increasing waste is very complex in nature and is also a rich source of metals such as gold, silver, and copper.
| Data
1. Global
2. India
3. Solar e-waste: By 2050, India will likely face a new category of electronic waste, namely solar e-waste, according to a study.
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Sources of E-Waste
- Rapid change in technology: In an era of rapid technological advancement, more and more highly sophisticated electronic goods are being invented and manufactured.
- Habits or peer pressure: Spending and consuming habits have altered because electronics and electrical equipment (EEE) have become status symbols.
- Lack of recycling facilities: There is a dearth of recycling facilities in many countries despite the advancing rate of e-waste.
- Higher disposable income: The increase in the production of EEE has been attributed to industrialization, urbanization, and higher levels of disposable income.
- Unorganized sector: Only about 10% of e-waste is channeled through the formal sector.
- Poor linkage of waste collection: Poor backward and forward linkage for e-waste collection.
- Lack of motivation: E-Waste producers show less interest in the collection and recycling of e-waste.
- Export from developed countries: The Basel Action Network (BAN) stated in a report that 50-80% of e-waste collected by the USA is exported to India, China, Pakistan, Taiwan, and a number of African countries.
- Short life span of electronic products: To make products cheaper, many companies use faulty equipment that reduces the lifespan of electronics.
Effects
- Environment
- Soil pollution: Heavy metals leach into soil, making it infertile land.
- Water Pollution: These toxic chemicals leach into underground aquifers, degrading local groundwater quality and rendering the water unfit for human consumption.
- Mining new metals: Mining for new metals causes environmental degradation and biodiversity loss.
- Air pollution: Unregulated burning of e-waste releases toxins, such as dioxins, which are potent air-polluting substances.
- Health
- Affect respiratory health: E-waste, when dismantled and shredded, releases dust or large particulates into the immediate environment and affects the respiratory health of workers.
- Bad health effects: The negative health effects of these toxins on humans include brain, heart, liver, kidney, and skeletal system damage.
- Birth defects: Electronic waste contains toxic components that can considerably affect the nervous and reproductive systems of the human body, leading to disease and birth defects.
- Enter food chain: Contaminated soils have adverse impact on microbes and plants and the pollutants pass to higher animals and humans along the food chain.
- Social
- Effect on workers: 2/3rd of the workers in the unorganised e-waste recycling sector suffer from breathing difficulties, coughing, irritation, and other maladies.
- Rag pickers: People involved in waste management such as rag pickers, municipal workers, and waste segregators can get injured if they may come in contact with e-waste.
- Effect on children: The children working at these ‘digital dumpsites’ are more prone to improper lung function, deoxyribonucleic acid damage, and increased risk of chronic diseases like cancer and cardiovascular disease.
- Effect on women: Several women, including expectant mothers, also work on dumpsites. Processing e-waste exposes them to these toxins, which can lead to premature births and stillbirths.
- Economic
- Environmental and health cost: More than 90% of our e-waste is handled by the informal sector/unorganised sector that uses non-scientific and dangerous methods to extract the resource from e-waste.
- Unrecovered metals: E-waste consisting of gold, silver, copper, platinum, and other high-value recoverable materials worth at least $57 billion was mostly dumped or burned rather than being collected for treatment and reuse.
- Dumping ground: Developing countries have become the dumping ground for e-waste originated from the developed countries, which in the future can cost heavily.
- Loss of data: Due to poor recycling and disposal of electronics, there can be an issue of loss of data, such as data on reasons for fault, faulty components, and the life span of products, etc.
- Unrecovered Recycling Cost: The value of recoverable materials might surpass $15 billion by 2050, which would be enough to power 630 GW with two billion solar panels. Globally, it is expected that the end-of-life (EoL) of solar panels will drive the solar panel recycling business in the next 10-20 years.
Measures
- Integration: It is essential to integrate the informal sector with the formal sector in order to separately collect, effectively treat, and dispose of e-waste.
- Improvement in recycling practices: Increasing efforts are urgently required to improve current practices, such as collection schemes and management practices, to reduce the illegal trade of e-waste.
- Decentralization segregation: A decentralized network of segregation, collection, and recycling units with online portals should be created so collection and disposal can be done effectively.
- Increase recycling capacity: Presently, it can handle only half of the waste produced. Promotion of startups for recycling is needed.
- Organic Electronics: The amount of hazardous substances in organic electronics will have a positive effect in dealing with specific e-waste streams.
- Strict regulation: Recently, the import license of some of the big companies was suspended for violation of E-waste rules. Such measures have a great impact on the effective implementation of e-waste management in India.
- 3-R Strategy: Countries should promote the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle strategy.
E-Waste Management Policy
- Imports and Exports
- Capacity building and awareness
- Legal framework and enforcement
- Waste minimization
- Waste collection, storage, treatment, disposal
- Monitoring, evaluation, reporting
- Institutional mechanism and coordination
- Resource mobilization
Best Practices
- Nokia Mobile: The companies were made responsible for creating channels for proper collection and disposal of e-waste in accordance with a CPCB-approved EPR Authorization plan in India.
- Green Warriors – Telangana: They have been part of the recycling/refurbishing chain and have contributed towards the successful implementation of measures to control e-pollution. Their efforts have also been recognized by the Telangana government in its Telangana e-waste management policy, 2017.
- Norway’s Model:
- Norway has an e-waste take-back system in place for more than a decade now.
- The producers/importers of e-waste in Norway are obliged to be members of a take-back company and have to pay a fee for their membership to the take-back companies.
- This is how it provides the funding for collection and treatment of the waste.
- Solar Waste
- European Union: The EU imposes responsibility for the disposal of waste on the manufacturers or distributors who introduce or install such equipment for the first time.
- UK: The UK also has an industry-managed “take-back and recycling scheme,” where all PV producers will need to register and submit data related to products used for the residential solar market (B2C) and non-residential market.
Government and Global Initiatives
- Programmes, Policies and Initiatives
- Awareness Program on Environmental Hazards of Electronic Waste: MEITY aims to provide training, tools, and films for creating awareness of e-waste on the environment and health.
- Creation of Management Structure for Hazardous Substances: The program seeks to raise awareness among people about the 2016 Rules and its implementation.
- Swachh Digital Bharat: The program seeks to create awareness among the public about the role of e-waste recycling by the unorganised sector and to educate them about alternate methods of disposing of their e-waste.
- Greene: It is a dedicated website that seeks to spread awareness about e-waste through social media.
- E-waste (Management) Rules, 2016: Some of the salient features of the rules include e-waste classification, extended producer responsibility (EPR), collection targets (EPR), and restrictions on the import of e-waste containing hazardous materials.
- E-waste (Management) Amendment Rules, 2018: The phase-wise collection targets for e-waste in weight is 10% of the quantity of waste generation as indicated in the EPR Plan during 2017-18, with a 10% increase every year until 2023. The target from 2023 onwards will be 70% of the quantity of waste generation as indicated in the EPR Plan.
- By Bodies and Ministry:
- MEITY has developed affordable technologies to recycle valuable materials and plastics in an environmentally sound manner, including two exclusive PCB recycling technologies, with acceptable environmental norms.
- Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB): Random sampling of electrical and electronic equipment to verify the compliance of RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances).
- IIT Delhi: Researchers at IIT, Delhi have developed a zero-emission technology to manage and recycle e-waste to wealth.
- Role of State Government: In March 2021, the New Delhi government announced to set an e-waste management park for the safe and scientific disposal of electronic products such as appliances and e-vehicle batteries.
- Global Initiatives
- The Basel Convention: Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.
- Nairobi Declaration: Adopted at COP9 of the Basel Convention. It aimed at creating innovative solutions for the environmentally sound management of electronic waste.
- Rotterdam Convention, 2004: The Convention seeks to promote exchange of information (through Prior Informed Consent) among parties over a range of potentially hazardous chemicals (including pesticides and industrial chemicals) that may be exported or imported.
Challenges
- Laws Loopholes
- No independent mechanism for EPR verification: The law mandates random inspections by CPCB and state PCBs, but there’s no record of them.
- Gaps in Legislation: The responsibility of producers is to ensure that collected waste reaches the authorized recycler. However, there is no mechanism to ensure that the waste collected by producers has gone to unauthorized recyclers.
- Industries
- Lack of initiatives: The lack of companies’ initiative to build an image of a responsible actor, or someone consumers can believe in.
- GST on recycler: The GST imposed a huge 12% tax on electronic recyclers, which has further proven to be a deterrent to formal recycling.
- Lack of formal infrastructure: There is a huge gap between present recycling and collection facilities and the quantum of e-waste that is being generated. There is no proper collection and take-back mechanism.
- For example: According to an ASSOCHAM study, only 5% of e-waste is formally recycled.
- Challenge in waste collection: India is a vast country, setting up a collection mechanism is a big challenge. If any brands try individually to reach out to all corners of the country, it will economically not be sustainable or feasible.
- High costs of recycling: Recycling a solar panel costs between $20 and $30, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Sending it to a landfill costs $1-2.
- Government
- Poor awareness and sensitization: There is limited awareness regarding disposal and determining the end of the useful life of electronic products. The lack of awareness leads to poor segregation of e-waste.
- Fractured responsibility: Only CPCB has been provided some responsibility to check e-waste, and that too on a random basis, which fractures its responsibility.
- Child Labour: According to an ASSOCHAM report (2014), about 4.5 lakh child labourers are observed to be engaged in various e-waste activities, and many of them work without adequate protection and safeguards.
- Imports: Cross-border flow of waste equipment into India is a major issue. Loopholes in legislations, porous ports, and lack of checking facilities are major reasons for uncontrolled e-waste imports.
- Lack of data: There is a paucity of data on the proper disposal of e-waste, which hampers policy-making.
- Lack of Policy: India does not have a solar waste management policy but it does have ambitious solar power installation targets.
Way Forward
- Promote recycling: Promote recycling and demote the use of toxic elements in the electronic industry. Gift a clean, pure, and healthy environment to the upcoming generation.
- Awareness: Increasing information campaigns, capacity building, and awareness is critical to promote environment-friendly e-waste management programmes.
- e-Waste Exchange: Exchange of old electronics products to be promoted whenever there is new purchase for electronics gadgets.
- Health: An urgent need to plan a preventive strategy in relation to health hazards of e-waste handling among these workers in India.
- Incentives: In the field of e-waste management, the government must announce incentives, which could be in the form of tax concessions or rebates, to ensure compliance across the electronics industry.
- Assessment: There is an urgent requirement for a detailed assessment of the E-waste including quantification, characteristics, current disposal practices, environmental impacts, etc.
- Boost R&D: The government must promote research into the development of better as well as environmentally-sustainable e-waste recycling methods.
- Transition to formal: Measures needed to be taken to formalize the informal sector by integrating it with the formal sector.
- Vocational training: The government should launch vocational training programs to rightly skill the present unorganized sector employees to make sure of their smoother transition to working with the organized sector.
Solar Waste
- Strong e-waste or renewable energy waste laws: EPR for the manufacturer and developers to take responsibility for end-of-life of the solar panel. PV modules were the first to be included in the EU’s WEEE regulations. It includes options for financing waste management.
- Infrastructure: To bring down the cost of recycling infrastructure investment is required, coordination between the energy and waste sector to efficiently handle renewable energy waste and build more recycling plants to avoid solar panels from ending up in landfills.
- Ban on Landfills: Solar panel waste is harmful to the environment as it contains toxic metals and minerals that may seep into the ground.
- New business models: Also, incentives or issues of green certificates to be provided to encourage the recycling industry to participate more.
India, the amount of E-waste generated is rising rapidly. With the increasing dependence on EEE, the rise in e-waste generation is well expected in the country. However, existing laws lack proper disposal and recycling mechanisms. There is a need to boost efforts to tackle the menace of unscientific management of e-waste.
NOISE POLLUTION
Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life; most of them are harmful to a degree. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is mainly caused by machines, transport, and propagation systems.
Data
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Sources
- Transportation
- Traffic: Traffic noise emanating from cars and vehicles on the road accounts for most polluting noise in cities.
- Example: Estimates suggest that in Europe, 22 million and 6.5 million people suffer from chronic noise annoyance and sleep disturbance, respectively.
- Aviation: There are fewer aircraft flying over cities than there are cars on the roads, but the impact is greater: a single aircraft produces 130 dB.
- Industrial
- Factories: Most of the industries use big machines capable of producing a large amount of noise. Apart from that, various equipment like compressors, generators, exhaust fans, grinding mills also participate in producing big noise.
- Construction: Under construction activities like mining, construction of bridges, dams, buildings, stations, roads, flyovers take place in almost every part of the world.
- Social
- Entertainment: Bars, restaurants, and terraces that spill outside when the weather is good can produce more than 100 dB. This includes noise from pubs and clubs.
- Example: Using loudspeakers at parties.
- Loudspeakers: Used frequently during election seasons and also during religious functions.
- Others
- Stray Animals: The noise made by animals cannot go unnoticed, particularly a howling or barking dog. These can produce noise around 60-80 dB.
- Improper Planning of Urban Areas: Improper and poor urban planning plays a major role in creating noise pollution, mostly in developing countries due to congested houses, small space, poor parking facilities, and frequent fights over basic amenities which disrupt the environment of society.
Impact of Noise Pollution
- Health
- Hypertension: Blood pressure levels, cardiovascular disease, and stress-related heart problems are on the rise.
- Example: UNEP’s Frontiers report states traffic noise exposure is a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders.
- Hearing problems: Any unwanted sound that our ears have not been built to filter can cause problems within the body. Our ears can take in a certain range of sounds without getting damaged.
- Sleeping Disorders: Excessively high levels of noise are likely to hamper your sleeping pattern, thereby leading to irritation and uncomfortable situations.
- Cognitive Issues: Noise affects brain responses and people’s ability to focus, which can lead to low-performance levels over time.
- Mental Issues: Studies show that the occurrence of aggressive behavior, disturbance of sleep, constant stress, fatigue, depression, anxiety, hysteria, and hypertension in humans as well as animals can be linked to excessive noise levels.
- Children: An article in The Indian Journal of Pediatrics notes that noise pollution can affect a child’s hearing at any stage of development, including fetal, infancy, and adolescence.
- Productivity Loss: High levels of noise cause extreme discomfort to workers that adversely impacts their mind and reduces their productivity. This in turn enhances the cost of production.
- Communication troubles: High decibel noise can put trouble and may not allow two people to communicate freely. Constant sharp noise can give you a severe headache and disturb emotional balance.
- Wildlife and Ecology
- Animal Stress: High levels of noise can impact animals and cause them discomfort and stress.
- Example: For instance, elephants make use of seismic and infrasound signals using their feet and trunk for communication.
- Disturb Mating Calls: Species that depend on mating calls to reproduce are often unable to hear these calls due to excessive man-made noise.
- Poor Quality of Crops: Noise pollution causes poor quality of crops as plants also show signs of distress, and also noise can cause issues to pollinators like bees.
- Others
- Impact of Property: Loud noise is very dangerous to buildings, bridges, and monuments. It creates waves that strike the walls and put the building in danger, weakening the edifice of buildings.
Government Initiatives
- Motor Vehicles Act: The noise level of the vehicles is provided in the initial certificate of compliance with pollution standards under the Motor Vehicle Act, 2019. Modification of the component can result in a penalty with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with a fine of one lakh rupees.
- CPCB Fines: Earlier in June 2020, the Central Pollution Control Board proposed hefty fines in a report filed with the National Green Tribunal. Under these new rules, violations in norms over loudspeaker usage or public address systems may attract a fine of Rs. 10,000.
- Separate Legal Clauses: Noise pollution is regulated separately under the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000. Earlier, noise pollution and its sources were addressed under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
- Noise Standards: Additionally, noise standards for motor vehicles, air-conditioners, refrigerators, diesel generators, and certain types of construction equipment are prescribed under the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986.
- WHO Guidelines: The latest 2018 World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines established a health-protective recommendation for road traffic noise levels of 53 dB.
Way Forward
- Households
- Reducing noise from appliances: Items such as air conditioning units, heaters, fans, and other appliances can contribute to overall noise levels in the home. Try turning them off more often or setting a timer so they only switch on at certain times.
- Reducing noise from media devices: Consider the volume and duration of noise from music, televisions, radios, and video games. Avoid having unnecessary noise playing in the background for long periods, or listening to sounds at too high a volume. It may be useful to set aside dedicated time for watching TV or listening to music.
- Repair or replace old machinery: Old appliances, vehicles, and other items can be louder than newer models. Consider upgrading or replacing noisy household items.
- Soundproofing: Adding insulation strategically around the home can help muffle sounds from other rooms, neighbors, or outside. Rugs, carpets, and curtains may also help.
- Policy
- Traffic: Opting for alternative means of transport such as bicycles or electric vehicles over taking the car.
- Curbs on Loudspeakers: Only with proper permissions and also prohibition on loudspeakers in densely inhabited areas.
- Afforestation: Stay in a green neighborhood full of trees, as they are known to reduce sound levels from 5 to 10 dB.
- No Noise Zones: Protecting certain areas like areas of natural interest, city parks, etc., from noise, establishing regulations that include preventive and corrective measures.
MERCURY POLLUTION
Mercury pollution is still on the rise, and parties to the Minamata Convention discussed a non-binding declaration as to the United Nations. Indonesia calls for support from parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Recently, Indonesia has introduced a global declaration that calls on parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury to tackle the illegal trade of mercury. The non-binding declaration calls upon parties to:
- Develop practical tools and notification and information-sharing systems for monitoring and managing trade in mercury.
- Exchange experiences and practices relating to combating illegal trade in mercury, including reducing the use of mercury in artisanal and small-scale gold mining.
- Share examples of national legislation and data and information related to such trade.
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Sources
- Natural
- Natural sources: Volcanic eruptions and emissions from the ocean.
- Rocks: Mercury compounds are found naturally in some subterranean rocks. They leach in water to form mercury compounds.
- Anthropogenic
- Anthropogenic (human-caused) emissions: It includes mercury that is released from fuels or raw materials, or from uses in products or industrial processes.
- Vehicular emissions: Vehicular emissions through petrol and diesel engines are one of the largest contributors of mercury missions in the world.
- Cosmetic products: Inorganic mercury is added to some skin-lightening products in significant amounts. Many countries have banned mercury-containing skin-lightening products because they are hazardous to human health.
- Mining: Globally, Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining is the largest source of anthropogenic mercury emissions (37.7%), followed by stationary combustion of coal (21%).
- For example: The study shows that illegal gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon is causing record-high levels of atmospheric mercury pollution. Birds from this area have up to 12 times more mercury in their systems than birds from less polluted areas.
- Other: Other large sources of emissions are non-ferrous metals production (15%) and cement production (11%).
Impact of Mercury Pollution
- Water pollution: Mercury emitted into the air eventually settles into water or onto land where it can be washed into water.
- Water scarcity: Mercury compounds in water can reduce the freshwater sources available for consumption. This causes serious shortage.
- Bioaccumulation: Once deposited, certain microorganisms can change mercury into methylmercury, a highly toxic form that builds up in fish, shellfish, and animals that eat fish.
- Food contamination: Mercury compounds can enter the human food chain by contaminating food grains. This process can lead to food shortages.
- Health problems: Mercury is a poisonous element and can cause serious health concerns if ingested or come in contact with. Health issues include skin diseases, digestive disorders, and chronic issues like cancers.
- For example: According to WHO, Mercury is considered as one of the top ten hazardous chemicals of major public health concern.
- Effect on Utero: Exposure to mercury—even small amounts—may cause serious health problems, and is a threat to the development of the child in utero and early in life.
Measures Taken
- International
- Minamata Convention on Mercury: It is a UN global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury and its compounds.
- The major highlights of the Minamata Convention on Mercury include a ban on new mercury mines, the phase-out of existing mines and mercury-added products, as well as control measures on air emissions.
- Minamata Convention on Mercury: It is a UN global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury and its compounds.
- Indian Government Initiatives
- India ratified Minamata Convention.
- The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
- The Environment Protection Act, 1986.
- The Workmen Compensation Act, 1923.
- The Factories (Amendment) Act, 1987.
- The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991.
- The Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000.
Way Forward
- Promote clean energy sources: Burning coal for power and heat is a major source of mercury. Coal contains mercury and other hazardous air pollutants that are emitted when the coal is burned in coal-fired power plants, industrial boilers, and household stoves.
- Eliminate mercury mining, and use of mercury in gold extraction: Mercury is an element that cannot be destroyed; therefore, mercury already in use can be recycled for other essential uses, with no further need for mercury mining.
- Phase out the use of non-essential mercury-containing products: Such as
- Batteries
- Measuring devices, such as thermometers and barometers
- Electric switches and relays in equipment
- Lamps (including some types of light bulbs)
- Dental amalgam (for dental fillings)
- Skin-lightening products and other cosmetics
- Awareness creation: Create awareness about the issue of mercury pollution so that government and civil society take preventive measures.
- Policy support: Though the Minamata Convention put pressure on the government to give policy support to tackle the issue of mercury pollution in the world, more serious policy action is still needed.
AMMONIA POLLUTION
Recently, the concentration of ammonia in the river was 7.4 ppm (parts per million), seven times the level of around 1 ppm that the Delhi Jal Board’s water treatment plants (WTPs) can process.
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Uses of Ammonia
- It is used as fertilizers as it increases the yield of crops.
- It is used in the household as a cleaner – NH3 is mixed with water to clean stainless steel and glass.
- It is used in food products as an antimicrobial agent.
- It is used in the fermentation industry.
- It is used as a refrigerant.
- It is used as a pH adjuster in the fermentation process.
- It is used to neutralize pollutants like nitrogen oxides emitted from diesel engines.
- It is used as a fuel for rocket engines.
- It is used in textile industries.
- It is used in the manufacture of synthetic fibre like rayon and nylon.
Sources of Ammonia
- Natural:
- Breakdown of organic waste: Ammonia occurs naturally in the environment from the breakdown of organic waste matter.
- Nitrogen fixation processes: Nitrogen gas present in the atmosphere is converted by microbes into ammonia and other related nitrogenous compounds.
- Leaching: Leaching of minerals from rocks (due to natural solubility and solubility triggered by acid rain).
- Man-made:
- Industrial effluent: May also find its way to ground and surface water sources through industrial effluents or through contamination by sewage.
- For example: The Yamuna flows into Delhi from Haryana, and the state has industrial units in Sonipat (on the banks of Yamuna). Ammonia is used as an industrial chemical in the production of fertilizers, plastics, and dyes.
- Human body: It can also be noted that the human body naturally creates ammonia while breaking down protein-containing food items into amino acids.
- Commercial production: Ammonia is produced for commercial fertilizers, plastics, synthetic fibres, dyes, and other products.
- Agriculture: Nitrogen compounds running off agricultural lands dissolve in rivers, lakes, or groundwater.
- Household cleaning agent: Household ammonia cleaning solutions are manufactured by adding ammonia gas to water and can be between 5 and 10% ammonia.
- Forest fire: Forest fires release captured ammonia which it has fixed over the years.
- Industrial effluent: May also find its way to ground and surface water sources through industrial effluents or through contamination by sewage.
Effects
- On Environment
- Increase BOD: Ammonia reduces the amount of oxygen in water as it is transformed into oxidised forms of nitrogen. Hence, it also increases Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD).
- Algae bloom: It creates harmful algal blooms and creates dead zones in our waterways and oceans as the algae produce toxins which are harmful to human and aquatic organisms.
- Make fishes toxic: If the concentration of ammonia in water is above 1 ppm, it is toxic to fishes.
- Soil acidification: Its effects species composition through soil acidification, direct toxic damage to leaves, and by altering the susceptibility of plants to frost, drought, and pathogens.
- Ammonia emissions affect biodiversity: A major effect of ammonia pollution on biodiversity is the impact of nitrogen accumulation on plant species diversity and composition within affected habitats.
- Affect species: Certain species and habitats are particularly susceptible to ammonia pollution. Bog and peatland habitats are made up of sensitive lichen and mosses, which can be damaged by even low concentrations of ammonia.
- On Health
- Damage internal organs: In humans, long-term ingestion of water having ammonia levels of 1 ppm or above may cause damage to internal organs.
- Health problems due to exposure to high concentrations of ammonia: Causes immediate irritation of the eyes, nose, throat, and respiratory tract and can result in blindness, lung damage, or death.
- For example: Two persons died, and several took ill in a major ammonia gas leakage at the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) unit at Prayagraj.
- Health problems due to inhalation of lower concentrations: Can cause coughing, and nose and throat irritation.
Government Steps
- Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974: The Government of India has passed the Act to safeguard our water resources.
- Central Pollution Control Board: In India, CPCB is an apex body in the field of water quality management, and has developed a concept of “designated best use.”
- National River Action Plan
- Water treatment: Treatment of sewage water and the industrial effluents before releasing it into water bodies.
- Avoiding excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides: Organic farming and efficient use of animal residues as fertilizers can replace chemical fertilizers.
Steps taken for Yamuna
- Project Asita: Yamuna River Front Development Project. A special focus of the project is on reviving the river’s biodiversity.
- Japan is helping in Yamuna’s action plan for STPs, Community toilets, and e-crematoria.
- Seechawal model to clean Yamuna: It is a decentralized natural treatment system – oxidized pond and settling tanks. It removes floating material.
Way Forward
- Minimum ecological flow: Maintenance of a sustainable minimum flow should flow throughout the river at all times to sustain underwater and estuarine ecosystems and human livelihoods, and for self-regulation.
- Stringent implementation of guidelines: Against dumping harmful waste into the river, and making sure untreated sewage does not enter the water are two things pollution control bodies are expected to do.
- Deployment of pumps: To flush out the water with high levels of ammonia at the eastern bank and replace it with fresh water upstream of the river in Delhi.
- Chlorination of water: This method is used to kill certain bacteria and other microbes in tap water. However, chlorine is highly toxic.
Yamuna Solution
- Ozone-based units to treat ammonia levels up to 4 ppm should be installed at Water Treatment Plants.
- The laying of a conduit pipeline to separate drain carrying potable water and sewage water.
- The National Green Tribunal-appointed Yamuna Monitoring Committee has also said that fast-track approvals should be given to build a conduit.
- The Committee had also recommended to the Ministry of Jal Shakti earlier this year to rework the 1994 water-sharing pact between Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, and UP to revive the river by releasing more fresh water into it.
WASTE-TO-ENERGY CONVERSION
Waste-to-Energy (WTE) or energy-from-waste is the process of generating energy in the form of electricity and/or heat from the incineration of waste. Combustion reduces the volume of material by about 90 percent and its weight by 75 percent. The heat generated by burning waste has other uses, as well, as it can be used directly for heating, to produce steam, or to generate electricity.
The process of generating electricity in a mass-burn waste-to-energy plant has 7 stages:
Types of Waste-to-Energy Treatments
- Thermal Technologies
- Depolymerization (Hydrous Pyrolysis): It uses thermal decomposition in the presence of water where the organic compounds are heated at high temperatures.
- Gasification: It converts carbonaceous substances into carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and some amount of hydrogen (Synthesis gas, which is considered a good means of alternate energy).
- Pyrolysis: It burns agricultural waste or organic waste from industries without the use of oxygen.
- Plasma Gasification: Uses plasma technologies such as a plasma torch, which is used to ionize the gas to obtain syngas or synthesis gas.
- Non-thermal Technologies
- Fermentation: It produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes.
- Anaerobic digestion: Microorganisms are used to destroy biodegradable content in the absence of oxygen.
- Mechanical Biological Treatment: Uses domestic waste, industrial, and commercial waste to recover products such as ferrous metal, non-ferrous metal, plastic, and glass.
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Significance of Waste-to-Energy Conversion
- Environmental
- Net Greenhouse Gas Reducer: Waste-to-energy facilities avoid the production of methane while producing almost ten times more electricity from each ton of waste compared to landfills.
- Solid waste disposal: They are the option with air pollution control technology.
- Environment-friendly: Electricity and heat can be generated from waste, which provides an alternative and more environment-friendly source of energy.
- Landfill expansions can be reduced: Fewer and smaller landfills are needed to process ash, and this protects land.
- Renewable electricity generation: WTE facilities are capable of providing baseload (24/7 availability) renewable electrical power.
- Trucking of waste over long distances can be avoided: With a waste-to-energy facility in a community, shorter trucking distances result in less air pollution and less truck traffic.
- Power generation: Waste-to-energy facilities generate power in the form of electricity or steam.
- Economic
- Multiplier effect: Waste-to-energy facilities are responsible for the creation of jobs with at least a 40-year projected life.
- Resource savings and recovery: Metals left in the municipal solid waste stream can be extracted from the ash resulting from incineration and can be recycled.
- Multiple Revenue Streams: Waste-to-energy projects produce by-products like biochar, which has multiple applications and fetches good prices.
- Reduction in the use of fossil fuels: A solitary waste-to-energy center saves over 200,000 barrels of oil annually as it doesn’t use natural deposits like oil, gas, coal, etc.
Challenges of Waste-to-Energy Conversion
- Economic
- Import dependence: Most of the proven and commercial technologies in respect of urban wastes are required to be imported.
- Lack of financial resources: Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), which are the primary stakeholders in waste management, lack financial resources to construct WTE plants.
- High cost: Costs of the projects are high as critical equipment for a project is required to be imported.
- Administrative
- Lack of segregation: Segregated municipal solid waste is generally not available at the plant site, which leads to non-availability of waste-to-energy plants.
- Absence of policy guidelines: With regard to allotment of land, supply of garbage, and power purchase/evacuation facilities.
- Social
- Criticism from citizens: E.g., There has been continuous protest against the Okhla WTE plant in Delhi for polluting the environment.
- Insufficient quality of waste: The plants require fine inorganic material with less than 5% moisture and less than 5% silt and soil contents, whereas the moisture and inert content in the mixed waste generated in the city is more than 15%-20%.
- Structural
- Absence of a good demonstration model: Several Indian cities have been trying to set up WTE plants, but a good demonstration model is yet to be established.
- Heavy power tariff: Tariff at which the power is purchased by such plants across the country is around Rs.7-8 kWhr, which is higher than the Rs.3-4 per kWhr generated through coal and other means.
- Lack of indigenous technology: Imported equipment for WTE plants resulted in shutdown of several plants as those are not designed for Indian wastes.
- Environmental Issues:
- Some projects require long hauling of trash to bring it to the actual incineration facility, which leads to much more emissions from the trash haulers.
- Toxic gases: Burning municipal waste does produce significant amounts of dioxin and furan emissions to the atmosphere as compared to the smaller amounts produced by burning coal or natural gas.
Government Initiatives:
- Energy from Urban, Industrial, Agricultural Wastes/Residues and Municipal Solid Waste: For promoting the setting up of waste-to-energy plants to recover energy in the form of biogas or BioCNG for power, meeting energy demands of urban, industrial, and commercial sectors in the country.
- Promotion of Biomass-Based Cogeneration in Sugar Mills and Other Industries: To support biomass-based cogeneration projects in sugar mills and other industries for power generation.
- Revised Guidelines for Waste-to-Energy Program:
- Government approved a grant of Rs.4.8 billion as central financial assistance (CFA) and set a target of 257 MW for the remaining period of 2019-20.
- No cap on the capacity of waste-to-energy projects supported under the program.
- WTE Plants in India: India has set up 186 WTE projects for biogas, BioCNG, or power generation, with a cumulative capacity of 317.03 MW.
- Task Force Headed by Kasturirangan: Target to set up 215 WTE plants by 2031 to generate 1,075 MW of electricity, with a public-private partnership model.
Case Study:
- European Union (EU): The EU has enacted policies that promote or incentivize the use of WTE technologies.
- Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC): Started receiving power from a 2 MW WTE plant set up in Ghazipur, with the project set to mitigate GHG emissions.
Ways Forward:
- Need for public and private investment: Government must incentivize WTE facilities, and private companies must be encouraged to invest through CSR funds
- Proper waste management: Waste should be properly segregated and pre-tested to make waste management easy and obtain maximum value.
- Increase awareness on need for WTE generation: Citizens must be made aware of the benefits of generating energy from waste.
- Carrot and sticks approach to promote segregation: Incentives for segregation and a penalty for non-segregation must be in the agenda on municipal solid waste management.
- Waste to Energy Corporation of India: Under the Ministry of Urban Development, set up world-class WTE plants through public-private partnerships (PPP) across the country.
- Multi-stakeholder approach: Individual households, housing societies, Resident Welfare Associations, and bulk generators should be at the center of the movement to get segregation.
- Power purchase obligation: Delhi Metro has started receiving 2 MW power from a 12 MW capacity waste-to-energy plant set up in Ghazipur.
The government is planning many waste-to-energy projects in different cities in the coming years, which may help in easing the waste situation to a certain extent. However, government policies should be inclined towards inclusive waste management, whereby the informal recycling community is not robbed of its livelihood due to waste-to-energy projects. Government should also try to create favorable policies for the establishment of decentralized waste-to-energy plants as big projects are a logistical nightmare and more prone to failure than small-to-medium scale ventures.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Circular Economy is an economy where products are designed for durability, reuse, and recyclability and thus almost everything gets reused, remanufactured, and recycled into a raw material or used as a source of energy. It includes 3 R’s (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle), Refurbishment, Recover, and Repairing of materials. Hence, Circular Economy focuses on increasing productivity in terms of more efficient utilization of resources.
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Significance of Circular Economy
- Environmental
- Waste to raw materials: Circular Economy fulfills the need for raw materials required by industries, especially the manufacturing industries.
- E.g.: When parts of mobiles are segregated, copper and aluminium will become raw material for other industries.
- Controls pollution: Circular economy solves the problems of air pollution, water pollution, and solid waste management.
- Fewer negative externalities: Negative externalities such as land use, soil, water and air pollution and emission of toxic substances are better managed.
- Efficiency
- Efficient utilization of resources: QCDF (Quality, Cost, Delivery, and Flexibility) and sustainability levels of industries get improved helping them earn profits.
- Cost effective: Reduction in the cost of maintenance and disposal, which otherwise a consumer has to incur in a huge amount.
- Durable and innovative products: That will increase the quality of life and save money in the long term.
- Sustainability
- Sustainable production and consumption patterns: Opportunities for countries to achieve economic growth and inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- Introduction of circular design: It will increase demand for industries giving sufficient attention to circular design (CD) that will allow remanufacture and reuse of products in construction, machinery, automobiles, etc.
- Achieving SDGs: According to the United Nations, CE influences several SDGs, namely 6 on energy, 8 on economic growth, 11 on sustainable cities, 12 on sustainable consumption and production, 13 on climate change, 14 on oceans, and 15 on life on land.
- Optimizes resource yields: By circulating products, components, and materials at their highest utility at all times in both technical and biological cycles.
- Economic
- Alternative to a traditional linear economy: As circular economy follows the principle of balancing renewable resource flows.
- Multiplier effect: It has the potential to increase productivity and create jobs, whilst reducing carbon emissions and preserving valuable raw materials.
- Regenerative industrial system: Products are designed for ease of reuse, disassembly and refurbishment, or recycling.
- Demand for new services:
- Collection and reverse logistics companies (that support end of life products reintroduced into the system).
- Product marketers and sales platforms (that facilitate longer lives and higher utilization of products).
- Component remanufacturing and product refurbishment (offering specialized knowledge).
- Volatility reduction and safeguarded supplies: Protect companies from geopolitical crises and safeguard them regarding their supply chains.
- New profit opportunities: Businesses can create entirely new profit streams with lower input costs.
- Increased potential for economic growth: Increase in revenues from new circular activities, cheaper production by getting more functional and reused products can increase GDP.
Challenges in Circular Economy
- Administrative
- Lack of strategic guidelines and standardisation: CE framework neither provides specific criteria to support the selection of actions nor specific guidelines on how to implement the concept.
- Cultural challenges: Bureaucratic mindset within the organisation and the resulting resistance towards change led to a perception that CE assessment creates more work than benefits.
- Ownership of end-of-life materials: Most supply chain organizations lose control of products and raw materials at their respective point of sale. This means they must regain access from the consumer at the end of a product’s life.
- Lack of skilled workforce: Current workforce is yet to catch up with the evolving CE framework.
- Practicality
- Achievability: Existing limitations might make it difficult to close the loop of CE indefinitely. For instance, paper recycling is limited to a certain number of cycles.
- Desirability: Aiming 100% recyclability rate might prove counterproductive if the price of recovery is higher than the value of the materials recovered.
- Contradicts the principles of resource efficiency: Certain pursuit of CE objectives such as 100% use of renewable energy might contradict resource efficiency principles.
- Social sustainability: CE framework lacks an elaborated description of the social dimension of sustainability such as fulfillment of human needs, territorial implications, etc.
- Quantity of materials: Collection and centralisation of end-of-life products for processing in an economical fashion is challenging.
- Economic
- Lack of financial resources: Challenges the CE assessment implementation as the budget is not prioritized for CE assessment.
- Dependence of linear economy: Most countries follow a linear process in which raw materials are taken from the environment, turn to new products which are then disposed of after use.
- Lack of circular economy knowledge and capacity: Discussions on the subject are still focused on recycling of metal products and finding uses for by-products.
- Infrastructural
- Lack proper waste management infrastructure: Nearly one-third of plastics are not collected by a waste management system and end up as litter in lands, rivers and oceans.
- Absence of data sharing: Sharing data across organisations, and updating it would require huge financial resources.
- Lack of IT infrastructure: Absence of a government-wide IT infrastructure and the use of the different systems and tools.
Government Initiatives in Circular Economy
- Legislations are aimed to promote circular economy: Plastic Waste Management Rules, e-Waste Management Rules, Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, Metals Recycling Policy, etc.
- Committee to promote circular economy: Formed under different ministries comprising officials from MoEFCC and NITI Aayog.
- E.g.: Scrap Metal (Ferrous and Non-Ferrous), Electronic Waste, End-of-life Vehicles (ELVs), etc.
- National Productivity Week (February 12th to 18th, 2019) by National Productivity Council (NPC) with the theme: Circular Economy for Productivity and Sustainability.
- India-Australia Circular Economy Hackathon (I-ACE): By NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and Australia’s CSIRO to focus on development of innovative technology solutions by students, start-ups and MSMEs of both nations.
Ways Forward
- Manufacturing Sector, especially MSMEs should follow ‘DECIDE’
- Designing processes for refurbishment and easy cycling.
- Educating masses on circular economy and its benefits.
- Collaborative models for smooth implementation of circular economy.
- Innovating products for circularity.
- Digitization for transparency, virtualization, dematerialization, and feedback-driven intelligence for saving resources.
- Energy-efficient for environmental sustainability.
- Business-friendly guidance: To set up remanufacturing units and market promotion of remanufactured goods for any country to reap sustainable CE benefits.
- Public-Private partnerships: Public and private organisations need to evaluate and communicate their progress moving away from the non-sustainable paradigm of “take-make-dispose” towards circularity.