Clean India campaign on wrong track

UNDERLINING waste problem as a “serious public health threat”, Niti Aayog’s Draft Three-Year Action Agenda of April 2017, plans to set up 100 waste-to-energy (WTE) plants to deal with 1,70,000 tons per day of municipal solid waste for some 7,935 urban centres. It draws on the May 2014 report of the Planning Commission’s Task Force on WTE and recommendations in the October 2015 report of the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Clean India Mission, which recommended WTE plants for bigger municipalities and clusters of municipalities. The Action Agenda states “Incineration or ‘waste to energy’ is the best option” even as Annexure A of the Kyoto Protocol marks out waste incineration as a source of greenhouse gases. This Protocol remains relevant because the Paris Agreement on climate crisis will come into operation only from 2021. Read more

Courtesy: The Tribune