Budget 2013 encourages waste-to-energy plants
New Delhi- The government of India has made a budgetary provision to promote setting up of waste-to-energy (WTE) plants in this year’s budget. Following the government’s measure on funding WTE plants, a debate has been started whether this was really needed or not.
Waste management has become a muddle across many cities of India nowadays. In cities like Delhi, where a WTE plant has been operating for more than a year, municipal agencies think that it is the best way to manage waste.
Although the three municipal corporations of Delhi are happy with the move, environmentalists say the technology is not sustainable in India. They say that incineration is not a suitable technology for India because the waste is not properly segregated. Incineration is a waste treatment process which involves the combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials. They suggest that waste management is a better technique which encourage segregation, recycling and reuse.
The centre will support municipalities that implement waste-to-energy projects through various instruments such as viability gap funding, repayable grant and low-cost capital, said Finance Minister.
At present, for every five truckloads of garbage burnt, one remains as toxic ash which should be carefully stored or dumped in landfills. The most technologically advanced waste incinerators too will produce hundreds of distinct hazardous byproducts which is unsafe to the environment, say environmentalists.
Currently there are WTE plants functioning in Kanpur and Mumbai, besides Delhi. However, Kanpur has managed to deal extremely well with waste. But following this technique all over India would incur huge cost for implementing such technology. Besides cost and other factors, several rag pickers end up losing their jobs.
A 16 MW WTE plant is functioning at Okhla in Delhi and one plant each will be set up in Ghazipur and Narela-Bawana by the end of 2013.
The three MCs of Delhi are keen to set up three more WTE plants. The South Corporation has already placed a request for land with Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to set up two WTEs.
Commissioner of East Delhi Municipal Corporation alleged that WTE plants are good option to dispose of waste and yet earn from it in metros. Due to shortage of funds, Municipalities usually fail to pay upfront to bridge the gap between the capital cost incurred by the concessionaire and the recovery.
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Delhi Development Authority, East Delhi Municipal corporation, Environmentalists, Garbage, Government of India, Incineration, Landfills, municipal agencies, municipal corporations of Delhi, New Delhi, South Delhi Corporation, waste incinerators, Waste management, waste treatment process, waste-to-energy plants, WTE plant in Kanpur, WTE plant in Okhla, WTE plants
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