Solid and Liquid Waste Management Training Program ‘Vellore Model’

Solid and Liquid Waste Management
Training Program

‘Vellore Model’




Understanding Waste Management
i. How did early humans handle waste?
ii. How did the early industrial society manage waste?
iii. Did improved technologies like “scientific landfilling”, “incineration” and “pyrolysis” solve the problem?
iv. Is privatisation the solution?
v. What is toxic waste trading?

Exnora Green Cross - Vellore
1/15, Kesavapillai street, Ist cross, Sainathapuram, Vellore 632001.
Vellore District, Tamil Nadu, India
Phone : 0416-2263500 / 0416-2264500 (Off) Cell: +91 - 94433 - 18523
email : velloresrini@hotmail.com

the incinerator companies that had invested in the US, Europe and Japan are closing down their facilities in these countries. They are now looking for new markets in the global South (South and South East Asia), where there is relatively less awareness about the impact of incinerators. The Philippines is the first country to ban incineration.

Even technologies like ‘pyrolysis’ and ‘gasification’ are just new names for and different versions of incineration. They produce toxic ash, which cannot be disposed of safely and have reported toxic gas leaks.

• Can privatisation make SWM more efficient?
Private companies working in SWM primarily handle only waste collection and disposal. The more the waste they collect, the more the profits they get. So, increasing waste generation is in their best interest. Privatisation also uses huge machinery reducing employment opportunities.

• How is waste being globalised?
The under-industrialised countries (global South) mine raw materials and produce to export to the industrialised countries (global North). Since the disposal of hazardous waste like toxic electronic waste and incinerator ash requires to follow strict regulations and hence very expensive in countries like the US, they get shipped back to the global South, usually in the name of ‘recycling’ and ‘fertilizing’. For example, a computer may be produced in Taiwan, used in the US and disposed of in India. The US exports thousands of tons of computer waste to Asia every year. Workers recover copper wire from the cables and burn the remaining parts. Burning computer keyboards releases toxic brominated dioxins. It is estimated that 80% of all electronic waste generated in the US is disposed of in the global South. US is the only country that has not signed the Basel Convention, which restricts toxic waste trading. Even within a city, waste dump yards and incinerators are usually located in areas inhabited by the poor.

The Khian Sea
In 1985, Philadelphia had 15,000 tons of incinerator ash for disposal. Due to a lack of space, Philadelphia approached the neighbouring states. With no takers, the toxic ash was loaded in the ship ‘Khian Sea’ and taken to several countries to be sold as “fertilizer”. After 14 months, Haiti accepted the ash. After unloading 4,000 tonnes onto the Haitian beach, the government realised that it was toxic and asked the Americans to load back the ash and leave Haiti. Khian Sea silently left one midnight leaving the ash on the beach, and dumped the rest of the 11,000 tonnes in the Indian Ocean. The ash still lying on the beaches has killed workers who have tried to shift it, people and cattle living near the site, and fish. The “Return to the Sender” campaign is still fighting for justice for Haitians!

Due to intensifying resistance in the global North, incinerator companies are now turning to Asia for their markets. In the name of helping our Municipalities and in the name of using “safe technologies” like pyrolysis, they are entering into contracts with the Municipalities to turn waste into energy.

UNDERSTANDING WASTE MANAGEMENT

• How did early humans handle waste?
In the early times, humans were nomadic and used only natural materials. The waste the nomadic communities left behind was easily recycled by nature. There was no waste accumulation. In settled societies, organic waste started accumulating causing disease. That was the beginning of the need for waste to be ‘managed’. People designed methods to clear the waste from inhabited areas and dispose of it in far-off places.

• How did the industrial society manage waste?
After the industrial revolution, western countries started using the “out-of-sight-is-out-of-mind” approach to manage the new kinds and increased quantities of waste generated. Wastes were collected and dumped on far-off empty lands, wetlands, ponds, rivers and valleys. Over time, open dumping / landfilling started causing many problems. Waterbodies and waterways got polluted. The rain water dissolved many organic and toxic heavy metals in waste dumped on land (eg. Lead in batteries) and formed leachate, which polluted the underground water. When waste started accumulating in huge quantities, people began burning it (to reduce its volume) thus polluting the air with smoke and toxic gases.

• Did improved technologies like “scientific landfilling”, “incineration” and “pyrolysis” solve the problem?

Scientific Landfilling: To prevent leachate from seeping into the ground, open landfills were improved into sanitary landfills (SLs), which were lined with several layers of impermeable material. The leachate was collected and treated separately. But it has been found that even SL liners eventually leak. In the US, 75% of all SLs are polluting the ground water.
Landfill Gas Extraction: New technologies claim to tap the landfill gas (methane) and use it as fuel. But the methane invariably gets mixed with toxic gases like benzene. Landfill gases can also catch fire. In Sweden, there are 220 fires a year in its 400 SLs. These fires release toxic dioxins into the air.

Dioxins are formed when chlorinated compounds like PVC are burnt. They are some of the deadliest chemicals known to man since they are known to cause serious diseases like cancer, reproductive and nervous disruptions in extremely small doses. A drop of dioxin in 300 Olympic size swimming pools can be harmful.




Incineration: In the early 1900s, the West invented ‘incineration’ (burning in controlled conditions) of waste as a means of converting ‘waste into useful energy’. What started in Europe became popular in Japan since they had very little land area and incineration reduced the volume of waste to 10%. It then spread to the US. After a few decades, many problems started surfacing. The burning process gave out toxic dioxins and heavy metal (eg. Mercury) gases. It also left behind toxic ash, which needed to be disposed of safely.

Even the most advanced equipment to control pollution from incinerators either is expensive or has failed. With more and more resistance from the victim communities,


Is there anyone working to stop toxic waste trading and promoting safe alternatives?
World over, people are getting together to fight incineration, hazardous material production and toxic waste trading, and promote ZWM as a safer and more ecologically friendly, economically viable and socially just alternative. GAIA (www.no-burn.org), Alliance for Waste Management (AWM), Greenpeace (www.greenpeace.org), Exnora International (www.exnora.org), Thanal (www.thanal.org), and Toxics Link (www.toxicslink.org), Goa Foundation (www.goacom.com/goafoundation) are some of the organisations addressing this issue in India.