Centralised waste management is neither feasible nor advisable for a State like Kerala. The State needs to switch over to a micro-level system with the active participation of local bodies and waste generators, a research study conducted by the Public Policy Research Institute (PPRI), Thiruvananthapuram, has concluded.
The findings of the study which were presented at a scientific seminar organised by the institute on Tuesday assume significance in the light of the threat of a renewed agitation by the Vilappilsala Action Council following an order issued by the National Human Rights Commission to reopen the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation’s garbage plant that had been closed down after years of public protests.
In her presentation at the seminar, Prathibha Ganesan, Research Associate at PPRI, said the study had recommended micro-level waste management system using scientifically designed processing technology. “The approach to solid waste as something to be discarded needs to be changed. It should instead be treated as a source of inputs that can be processed into something worth marketing.”
The study noted that the problems that had dogged the centralised treatment plants in Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram were the result of blindly copying the model of waste management developed and practised in Europe and North America. India, it said, lacked the financial strength and the resources for a technology-intensive system.
The study was based on a survey of 200 households living in and around the landfill sites of the Thrissur Corporation at Lalur. The respondents also included local body functionaries and officials. The survey found that solid waste management system in Kerala was invariably initiated without proper planning. Landfill sites were often identified and later converted into dumping yards, making life miserable for residents in the locality and forcing them into organised resistance.
The study found that landfill sites were located only in areas inhabited by poorer sections of society. Areas where the urban rich and influential class of people reside are never chosen for landfills. Therefore, Dr. Ganesan noted, the development of landfill sites and the struggle against them had a class identity.
PPRI director S. Mohanakumar said micro-movements were crucial for the protection of the environment, water bodies and waste management issues. He said it was the responsibility of political parties to support such movements selectively in public interest.
It was on August 1 that the NHRC had issued an order directing the government to reopen the Vilappilsala waste treatment plant with police security. The action council that argues that the order goes against the ruling of the Green Tribunal that had ordered the closure of the plant on grounds of environmental pollution and health hazards. It has warned that it would be forced to re-launch the agitation against the plant.
