The New Indian Express ·
Report seeks removal of ‘Blue’ tag for Bidadi plant
BENGALURU: Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA), an analysis agency, has claimed that the Bidadi Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plant does not monitor flue gas emissions for deadly dioxins, furans or carcinogenic heavy metals (including mercury, lead, arsenic and cadmium), nor was its online monitoring system connected to pollution control servers.
“Compounding these environmental violations, roughly 200 tonnes per day (34% of processed waste) of unmonitored, toxic fly ash and bottom ash are being openly dumped into landfills. Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB’s) ‘Blue’ reclassification of WTE incinerators strips the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) of strict enforcement powers,” CFA claimed and added, in real terms, this regulatory blue ‘washing grants impunity to failing operators, deepens environmental injustice for marginalised waste pickers and landfill-adjacent communities and promotes false, unviable waste management solutions.
The study stated that the WTE plants outrank coal power plants and copper smelters and therefore must not be categorised under ‘Blue’ ‘Essential Environmental Services.’
“Reclassifying Waste-to-Energy incinerators as ‘Blue’ environmental services is pure regulatory bluewashing. Our evaluation using CPCB’s own mathematical framework proves these (WTE) plants score a perfect 100/100 in pollution potential, outranking coal power plants and copper smelters,” said Devika Kulasekaran, Senior Research Associate, CFA, through a release.
Engineers from the plant said they have put the real-time monitoring system connected to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) Continuous Emission Monitoring System.