The government has provided temporary sanction to Clean Kerala Company (CKC) for treatment and disposal of 2,000 tonnes of non-biodegradable solid waste at the Common Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility (CHWTSDF) operated by the Kerala Enviro Infrastructure Ltd (KEIL) in Ambalamedu.
The Environment Department has issued an order stating that the sanction had been given considering the public health hazard created by the accumulation of municipal solid waste in the State and the absence of access to an alternative facility in view of the lockdown.
CKC approached the Environment Department as the State Pollution Control had issued a stop memo to the agency after it dumped about 600 tonnes of non-biodegradable waste at KEIL’s landfill in violation of the conditions stipulated for operating the facility.
Under SC norms
The facility can be used only for treatment of hazardous waste as per the rules prescribed by the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee on Hazardous Waste and the Central Pollution Control Board.
The board had requested the government to issue a suitable order on the temporary usage of the facility in view of the absence of a sanitary landfill in any local body in the State. The order said the waste taken to the facility shall have a maximum limit of 2,000 tonnes, inclusive of the 600 tonnes dumped at the landfill since March.
CKC and KEIL should ensure proper segregation and elimination of biodegradable components and all chances of flammable gases and fire hazard, the order said.
Sanitary landfill sites
The Department of Local Self-Government or CKC shall develop sanitary landfill sites to treat and dispose municipal solid waste in all municipal local bodies at the earliest, as per their mandate under the Municipal Solid Waste Rules, 2016, so that this facility is not used for the purpose in future, it said.
The Environment Department has pointed out that the disposal of municipal solid waste, particularly wet biodegradable wastes, along with hazardous waste in the landfill at Ambalamedu will result in rapid filling of the landfill cells and closure of the lone hazardous waste treatment facility available in the State. The mixing of municipal solid waste and hazardous waste creates an inflammable and explosive situation, it said.
The KEIL had permitted the disposal of 15,000 tonnes of solid waste left behind by the receding floodwaters in 2018 at the site on the request of the district administration. This was repeated post-floods in 2019.
