Tonnes of municipal refuse goes waste

HYDERABAD: Everyday, 500 truckloads of municipal waste are dumped at two plots at Autonagar in Hayatnagar mandal in Ranga Reddy district.
In addition to this, 10 tonnes of bio-medical waste is generated in the city, of which hardly 50 per cent is treated. This waste is wasted at a time when the state has a demand for 175 tonnes of refuse and agro-waste for the 32 biomass power plants and waste-to-energy plants in the state.
Accumulated waste, which results in air and water pollution, poses a major health hazard to human beings and animals.
Though the AP Pollution Control Board (APPCB) has set up a separate cell to monitor biomedical waste disposal, many industries, hospitals and establishments dump waste at public places.
Despite imposing a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh on organisations violating the safe waste disposal norms, such activities continue. There is little effort on the part of the MCH or the municipalities to auction the dumped waste, sources in the government said.
The accumulated waste can be converted into refuse-driven fuel including pellets, brickets and fluff, and agrowaste can be converted into electricity at the waste-toenergy plants, an official said.
Not just pollution from heaped municipal waste, the depletion of natural resources, particularly the forest cover, and increasing population can cause rise in temperatures, resulting in natural calamities including floods and droughts, Forum for Better Hyderabad president captain J Rama Rao said.
At the global level, depletion of forest cover has been reported at 12 per cent, while in the state, the forest cover has increased over the last three years, principal secretary to the government on environment and forests Tishya Chatterjee said.
Annually, 25,000 crore saplings have been planted in the state since 2000 to increase the forest cover. Even if 50 per cent of the saplings survive, the increase in forest cover would be high.
With 80,000 hectares of forest cover, the state has the highest growth rate in terms of the density of forests in the country, he said.
The rise in temperatures is a result of the accumulation of green house gases including methane emanating from paddy fields and the bulk of unburnt hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide from vehicular pollution, he said.