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Wasted effort: half of India’s waste-to-energy plants defunct
Why in news?
- Analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment says Nearly half of India’s waste-to-energy (WTE) plants, meant to convert non-biodegradable waste, are defunct.
- Country’s inability to segregate waste has resulted in even the existing plants working below capacity.
More in the news
Background:
- Since 1987, 15 WTE plants have been set up across the country.
- Seven of these plants have since shut down.
Plant’s location:
- Delhi, Kanpur, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Vijayawada and Karimnagar.
key reasons for closure:
- Plant’s inability to handle mixed solid waste.
- High cost of electricity generated by them that renders it unattractive to power companies.
Government’s initiative:
- NITI Aayog, as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission, envisages 800 MW from WTE plants by 2018-19.
- Which is 10 times the capacity of all the existing WTE plants put together.
- proposes setting up a Waste-to-Energy Corporation of India.
- Currently there are 40-odd WTE plants at various stages of construction.
fundamental reason for the inefficiency:
- Quality and composition of waste.
- Low calorific value and high moisture content.
- Most wastes sent to the WTE plants are unsegregated, they also have high inert content.
- Not suitable for burning since additional fuel is required which makes these plants expensive to run.
Data regarding waste in India
Current status:
- About 1.43 lakh tonnes per day of (TPD) municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated across the country.
- OF this 1.11 lakh TPD (77.6%) is collected and 35,602 TPD (24.8%) processed.
Plastic waste:
- According to the Central Pollution Control Board India generates close to 25,940 TPD of plastic waste of which 15,342 remains uncollected.
Future Concerns:
- As per the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, MSW generation will reach 4.5 lakh TPD by 2031 and 11.9 lakh TPD by 2050.
What is WTE plant?
- Introduction:
- WTE is a waste management facility that combusts wastes to produce electricity.
- WTEs looked as a potential energy diversification strategy especially by Sweden.
- How it works:
- WTE plant sorts material before burning it and can co-exist with recycling.
- In this plant only not-recyclable and non-hazardous items are burned.
- First, the waste is brought to the facility.
- Then, the waste is sorted to remove recyclable and hazardous materials.
- The waste is then stored until it is time for burning.
Source
The Hindu