Waste management facilities lacking in State

Waste management facilities lacking in State

 

The Supreme Court had directed local governments with a population of over one million to set up waste processing and disposal facilities before December 31, 2003, as part of implementing a solid waste management system in urban areas. But according to the latest Economic Review prepared for the State Government by the Planning Board, urban solid waste was at present being disposed of unscientifically by dumping it in disposal yards.

 

Such operation of open dumping resulted in stench and air pollution, generation of leachate polluting ground water and surface water and fly mosquito breeding. To find a lasting solution to the problem, that the Government launched the Clean Kerala Programme for which a Clean Kerala Mission was set up. The mission was entrusted with the responsibility of capacity building of local governments in the preparation and implementation of solid waste management plan.

The Economic review reported that by the end of March 2005 all the urban local bodies in the state had been sensitized on the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules of 2002 . All of them also started taking action on it and 49 ULBs located land for solid waste management it noted. The publication admitted that at present the quality of the services relating to solid waste collection and disposal was extremely poor. It was estimated that only 2500 tonnes of waste generated a day was collected for disposal. Everyday a quantity of 1200 tonnes of waste was left to decompose on road margins, drains, canals, water bodies and open space. Such a situation provided ideal breeding ground for pathogens and disease causers.

There was a sharp increase in the presence of substances such as plastics, which were difficult to degrade or breakdown in the waste stream. Biomedical waste was a  growing concern because of the emergence of diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis, the publication pointed out.

 (The Hindu, 1^st  July  2007)