Kerala should be extremely cautious about establishing waste-to-energy plants to solve the State’s garbage problem, Robin Jeffrey, Visiting Research Professor, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, has said.
Prof. Jeffrey, co-author of Waste of a Nation: Garbage and Growth in India -- his most recent book on the country - was at the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) to deliver the tenth B.G. Kumar memorial lecture on ‘Swachh Bharat? Swachh World? Garbage and Pollution on a Growing Planet.’
“I'd be very sceptical. Before any government invests in one of these super plants, they should have a long look at Singapore and a few of the other places with a similar climate that have implemented such projects,” he said, adding that there are plenty of examples where incineration of waste hasn’t given the desired results.
“If I were the Kerala government I would be looking very carefully at Singapore and Japan, particularly,” he said. The Singapore plants are a very hi-tech operation. Singapore also has a powerful central government and a small area to manage, unlike India.
For Kerala, and India in general, decentralised waste disposal, preferably at the ward level, offers a better solution, he said. “'Deal with the waste as close as you can,”' he said.
On the operational side too, the WtE plants are electricity guzzlers and require regular upkeep, he pointed out.
“You have to transport waste to this plant, you have to feed it every day. It’s like having a hungry dog. It’s going to be a very angry dog if it doesn't get its 3,000 or 2,500 tonnes a day,” he said. Transportation of wastes to the plant-trucks have to go to and fro throughout the day -- also would prove a problem in Kerala where the roads are clogged enough now, he said.
Garbage problem
Over the decades, India's garbage problem has escalated with the increase in population and also the rise in urban population. India, for instance, produced 80,000 tonnes of toothpaste in 2015, which translates into 800 million 100 gm tubes. The tubes are very difficult to get rid of, Prof. Jeffrey pointed out.
