The Hindu Business Line : FEDO to help set up waste treatment facility in Kochi

THE FACT Engineering and Design Organisation (FEDO) has been appointed consultant by the State Government for setting up a waste treatment facility to comply with the directives of the Apex court on the management of hazardous wastes. The 60-crore

hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal (HWTSD) plant will be set up at nearby Ambalamugal.

FEDO has been paid Rs 60 lakh as advance for preparing the project report by the nodal agency Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC). The HWTSD facility is to be set up on 500 acres of land owned by the Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd (FACT) at Ambalamugal and it is likely to be implemented by the FEDO, official sources told Business Line on Monday.

"Minimum 50 acres of land would be exclusively used for constructing the storage facility," they said. Around 450 acres will be needed for developing a green belt (of 500-metre radius) around the storage tank, which is to be built as per international standards.

A new company will be floated as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with equity participation from the user industries for setting up the common facility with foolproof design.

Way back in 1997, the Apex court constituted a High Power Committee (HPC) on Management of Hazardous Wastes, while considering a Public Interest Litigation filed in 1995 challenging the import of hazardous and toxic wastes into the country by the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resources Policy, New Delhi.

The HPC, with Prof M.G.K. Menon as its first Chairman, was assigned a list of 12 terms of reference, including the management and safe disposal of hazardous wastes generated within the country.

The HPC submitted its report covering the 12 Terms of Reference (ToR). Later in November 2003, the Committee was reconstituted as the Monitoring Committee on Hazardous Waste Management to oversee the strict compliance of the directions of the Apex court on the management of hazardous wastes with a set of further ToRs, the sources pointed out.

Under the HW (M&H) Rules in force, the State Governments should identify sites for safe disposal of hazardous wastes from industries, acquire and notify such sites. In most States, such efforts are only in preliminary stages.

In the absence of notified sites, State PCBs granted temporary authorisations for the storage of hazardous wastes and such storages have mostly become permanent.

The guidelines stipulate that such permits for storages shall not become valid after 90 days.

Thus, due to the lapses on the part of State Governments, it became convenient for the industries to dispose off hazardous and toxic wastes as they liked, the officials said.

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