How the Brahmapuram Fire raises crucial questions about solid waste management in India

By Suja Mary James

On March 2, 2023, 60 acres of garbage mounds in the Brahmapuram waste treatment facility located in Kochi, Kerala caught fire, posing a significant challenge to the state’s firefighting systems. The fire was finally put out on the evening of March 13, 2023. Nonetheless, hazardous fumes still engulf the city, making daily living incredibly uncomfortable.

The Kochi Municipal Corporation has been ordered to pay environmental compensation of 100 crores by the National Green Tribunal’s Principal Bench for the ongoing negligence of its responsibilities, which led to the crisis at its wastage dump site at Brahmapuram after the significant fire.

Over the years, the Brahmapuram landfill, overfilled with degradable and non-degradable material, has become a significant source of environmental pollution, a fire hazard, and a public health and safety concern. Despite Kerala promoting waste segregation at the source for more than ten years, the Kochi Municipal Corporation (KMC) and neighboring local governments established Brahmapuram as a centralized facility where they could dispose of unsegregated waste without worrying about the consequences. The situation has now thrown light on the outdated methods used by Kerala’s cities to handle their growing waste.

A Kerala High Court-appointed committee has determined that the Brahmapuram waste treatment facility does not adhere to the 2016 Solid Waste Management Regulations. As per the regulation, “garbage should be segregated at the source itself, and the biodegradable components of it must be treated at the source and converted as compost.”

Photo: Manorama

Also, the panel stated that considering a number of variables, such as the site’s ability to accommodate a window plant, the amount of biodegradable trash sent to Brahmapuram may be lowered. A significant piece of a building has already collapsed and been removed from the location, while the remaining structure has deteriorated and is in danger of collapsing at any moment.

The History

The Kochi Corporation purchased 37 acres of property in Brahmapuram in 1998, to construct a waste treatment facility there. A contract was signed with the Andhra Pradesh Technological Development Corporation in 2005. Following that, a 15-acre marsh was cleared and a facility was constructed. The treatment plant with a daily capacity of 250 metric tonnes of trash was established there in 2008. 

Present Status

Presently, the Brahmapuram landfill occupies 110 acres, which have been set aside for the disposal of solid waste, such as biodegradable and non-biodegradable trash, a septage waste treatment plant, etc. In addition to the Kochi Corporation, the waste collected from municipalities of  Angamaly, Thrikkakkara, Thrippunithura and Aluva and 3 Grama Panchayaths- Kumbalangi, Cheranallur and Vadavucode-Puthencruz are also dumped here. It is anticipated to be 5.5 lakh tonnes of trash as of March 2023, of which 34% are plastic and other non-biodegradable materials.

What the Experts say

Dr. Muralee Thummarukudy, Operations Manager at the Crisis Management Branch of the United Nations Environment Programme, told CFC, “While it is very natural and tempting to focus on the fire event and especially on the dioxin, I think the real questions one should ask is about modern waste management in a city of more than 1 million people. The city should use this opportunity to design and implement a modern waste management center for all its waste streams and educate its people about waste minimization and recycling. A time-bound project for legacy waste management should be put in place”.

Sridhar Radhakrishnan, Director of Thanal, has given a detailed explanation to Thou News about the Brahmapuram incident. According to him, the Brahmapuram site is not an ideal plot for waste management, and fire outbreaks in 2023 are not an isolated event as this location has experienced fire outbreaks every summer since 2018. It is because there are no proper waste disposal methods, and all types of waste are dumped together. During summer, the region gets extremely dry with methane gas produced from bio-degradable waste which renders the place more vulnerable to fire outbreaks. He also pointed out three reasons why the location is unsuitable for waste treatment. First, Brahmapuram was initially a wetland, and it is ill-advised for use for commercial purposes. Secondly, the two rivers Kadambrayar and Chithrapuzha – the water source for six panchayats flow near this region. Due to leaching out, these rivers are getting polluted by organic wastes.

The window composting facility needs to be improved for the treatment of non-biodegradable trash, i.e.; they can treat organic waste but not mixed. There was no evidence of scientific waste management at the location. The refuse-derived fuel (RDF), one of the primary end products of biomining, is of inferior quality because there has been no material-wise sorting at the facility.

The fire outbreak in the dumping yard exposed people in the city and suburbs to high levels of toxic dioxins. According to research conducted by the Environment Technology Division of the CSIR-NIIST in Thiruvananthapuram on two significant fire occurrences in February 2019 and 2020, the average dioxin levels in the ambient air were up to 50 times higher than the reference and field blank data. 

“While the levels of dioxin do increase in the short term, its concentration and duration are not of a level (typically) to be of long-term health harm. Health studies after an incident are very complex to attribute any manifested health impacts to one incident or pollutant,” Dr. Muralee Thummarukudy added. 

What is Dioxin?

“Dioxins belong to the so-called “dirty dozen” – a group of dangerous chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs).”- WHO (2016). There are many hundreds of these compounds, which belong to three related families: polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Even though hundreds of PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs exist, only a few of them—those with chlorine atoms in specific positions—are toxic. These elements are considered highly toxic environmental pollutants as they frequently build up in the food chain. It is estimated that the half-life of dioxins in the body is 7 to 11 years. As these compounds are fat-soluble, due to biomagnification, the” higher an animal is in the food chain, the higher the concentration of dioxins.”

Dioxins (PCDDs and PCDFs) are primarily produced as a by-product of industrial processes, including smelting, chlorine bleaching of paper pulp, and the manufacturing of some herbicides and pesticides. They can also be produced due to natural events like volcanic eruptions and forest fires. Unfortunately, uncontrolled waste incinerators (solid waste and hospital waste) are frequently the worst offenders when it comes to dioxin emissions into the environment because of incomplete combustion.

Effect of Dioxin

Short-term exposure of people to high amounts of dioxins may cause liver dysfunction as well as skin lesions like chloracne and uneven skin discoloration. The immune system, the developing brain system, the endocrine system, and the reproductive systems have all been shown to be compromised by long-term exposure. Chronic exposure to dioxin can lead to cancer. The World Health Organization (WHO) has determined that a 65 kg person can only tolerate 1.66 micrograms of dioxin annually. However, 72 milligrams of dioxin were leaked in 2019. The study conducted by CSIR-NIIST discovered that the total dioxin emission during the 2019 and 2020 fires was 306 and 221mg toxicity equivalence (TEQ), respectively. The research found that the typical dioxin levels in the air after the fire were up to 50 times higher than the reference and field data. In contrast to the previous two fires, which burned for two and four days, respectively, this one has been burning for more than ten days; therefore, the emission level may be even higher.  

According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) Air Quality Index, the air quality in Kochi has declined since August 2022. Since December, the issue has gotten worse. The fire that started on March 2 in the massive city dump yard’s garbage mounds worsened the situation further. The Brahmapuram waste treatment facility fire broke out when the Air Particulate Matter index was 300. (the limit approved by the United Nations is 50). Following the Brahmapuram fire, there was an increase in chemical particulate matter and PM-10 coarse particle pollution. Sulfates, nitrates, chlorides, and carbon are all present in high concentrations in the air at PM-10. The CPCB’s air chemical detector data show that sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations have increased in the atmosphere. Environmental scientists have issued a warning because of this, stating that summer rain may have higher concentrations of sulphuric acid and nitric acid.

Waste management has always been an issue in many regions of India, but we do have success stories. Proper solid waste management needs to be ensured because the impacts of improper waste management are not limited to a particular location. 

Sources:

1. https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2023/03/14/brahmapuram-impact-acid-rain-likely-with-early-spells-of-summer-shower.amp.html
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4. https://www.wastetowealth.gov.in/success-stories
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8. https://www.csir.res.in/sites/default/files/6%20to%2010%20November%202019%20News%20Bulletin.pdf
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