Segregation of waste at the source and composting are ecologically friendly ways of dealing with waste, and waste-to-energy plants like the one proposed at Brahmapuram are likely to do more harm than good, according to a seminar on waste management held in the city on Saturday.
Organised by Greater Cochin Development Watch, an NGO, the seminar questioned the need for a waste-to-energy plant that incinerates waste. According to Shaiju P from the Department of Chemical Oceanography, Cochin University of Science and Technology, the city corporation does not collect enough waste to make a plant like this financially and technically viable. Further, since the plant will incinerate waste, it will generate pollutants like fly ash, greenhouse gases and waste water.
According to Shibu K.N., a zero-waste consultant, projects like these are part of a current trend of companies making tall claims and placing impossible contracts before the government. “Waste becomes wealth for a few organisations,” he said. He stressed the need to acknowledge the social divide created by waste. “Waste is a caste, class and gender issue. Women and members of lower castes and classes are expected to clean waste. Till we understand such barriers, we cannot manage waste effectively,” he said.