Hiroshima Peace Declaration on 81st anniversary of atomic bombing [Full
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The following is the full text of the Peace Declaration read on Aug. 6 by
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui at a ceremony to mark 81 years since the 1945
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Showing posts with label 2026. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2026. Show all posts
Can polluting industry be made non-polluting by shifting it from "Red Category" to "Blue Category" by terming waste burning an "essential environmental service"?
Written By mediavigil on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 | 10:55 PM
Referring to the observation of noted scientist Dr. Bruno Terne made in 1893 at the Philadelphia Franklin Institute, Dr. Gopal Krishna, a practicing advocate and an environmentalist and the founder of ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA), an alliance against ecocide and insectageddon delivered a speech on "Waste-to-energy: Impact on workers, communities and environment" as part Labour Justice Lecture Series, wherein, he denounced the 21 Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)-based Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plants which are currently operational across the country. Dr Bruno Terne had argued against burning natural fertilisers in incinerators while at the same time extracting and transporting fertilisers from continent to continent. He had said that in this century of progress, with our knowledge of chemistry, and with the most complete machinery at our disposal, it seems like a lapse into barbarism to destroy this most valuable material simply for the purpose of getting rid of it, while at the same time we are eager to obtain these very same materials for agricultural fields by purchase from other sources.
Dr Krishna pointed out that disregarding public health crisis due to air pollution, union government has exempted Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plants from prior environmental clearance and in an indefensible act shifted them from Red category (high pollution potential) under the Central Pollution Control Board’s industry pollution index, to Blue category. This category was created in 2025 for “facilities essential to control, abate, and mitigate pollution generated from domestic and industrial activities”. Delhi's four waste power plants in Okhla, Ghazipur, Narela-Bawana and Tehkhand promotes biomass burning unmindful of the morbidity and mortality due to air pollution load and food chain contamination. This exposes the double speak of governments in Delhi who blame Punjab and Haryana farmers for burning biomass which causes air pollution related public health disaster in the national capital Region. Similar plant is proposed in Ramachak Bairiya, Sampatchak block of Patna district.
Dr. Krishna's speech is here:
Dr. Krishna dwelt on the issues of waste workers’ rights, privatisation and the politics of waste management. Indian urban population is over 54.27 crore. Although more than 90% of municipal solid waste is collected in India, only 5-4% receives adequate treatment, highlighting a significant gap between collection and effective processing. In practice, only 21 Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)-based Waste -to-Energy (WtE) plants have a cumulative installed capacity of 248.8 MW.
Recalling the anti-environment and anti-public health legacy of Sheila Dikshit and Rakesh Mehta which has distorted waste management in the national capital region and elsewhere, Dr. Krishna located the public health crisis in a historical context. The first waste/refuse destructor, now called incinerator was built in Nottingham, England in 1874 to reduce the volume of municipal/ urban waste. It was the moment of the birth of bad idea. USA constructed its first incinerator on Governor's Island in New York in 1885. Germany adopted and altered it to establish it's first incineration plant in Hamburg in 1856. Japan built its first waste incinerator plant in Kobe in 1963. Singapore built its Ulu Pandan incineration plant in 1979. Among the BRICS counties, India established a Danish technology based plant in Timarpur, Delhi in 1987, which ram for 21 days. When Rajiv Gandhi, as Prime Minister visited it, the defunct waste incinerator plant was made to run on diesel, not by incinerating/burning waste. CAG's audit report of 1990 led to its official closure in 1990.
Refusing to learn lessons from the recommendations of CAG, as Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit disregarded the letter of Jairam Ramesh, the then union minister of environment and forests. After visiting the Okhla based waste incinerator power plant, he had written to her pointing out several anomalies such as the failure to take the public into confidence in the prescribed manner. Notably, tests ordered by the National Green Tribunal has shown Dioxins, a dangerously toxic substance released by incineration, to be several times more than permissible limits. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) did not have any means to test for dioxins continuously, online and on a readily verifiable basis. Residents have repeatedly complained to CPCB and Delhi Pollution Control Committee about excessive pollution released daily by the plant on a daily, causing eye irritation and breathing difficulties. The burning of waste results in the emission of a cocktail of pollutants – SOx, NOx, SPM, RSPM, dioxins, furans and heavy metals like lead, cadmium and mercury (from batteries and CFLs). As commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Delhi and later as Delhi's power secretary and chief secretary, Rakesh Mehta allowed himself to be misled by D. K. Mittal, the then CEO of The Timarpur Waste Management Company Pvt. Ltd. (TWMCPL), a subsidiary of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. (IL&FS). Mittal was also a serving IAS officer, besides being the CEO, Special Infrastructure Projects, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS). They disregarded the White Paper of Union Ministry of Environment and Forests said that the failure of waste incineration plant at Timarpur, a project initiated in the mid-80s supported the fact that thermal treatment of municipal solid waste is not feasible in situations where the waste has a low calorific value. It added: "A critical analysis of biological treatment as an option was undertaken for processing of municipal solid waste in Delhi and it has been recommended that composting will be a viable option."
Dr Krishna pointed out that Burning biomass is not green, it is not a source of renewable energy. Keeping in mind the characteristics of Indian municipal solid waste, a Supreme Court committee had recommended composting and recycling. It is relevant to recall that Delhi High Court's judgment dated January 15, 2013 established the health impacts from the incinerator based on existing medical literature. The High Court judgment reads: "Both older and more modern incinerators can contribute to the contamination of local soil and vegetation with dioxins and heavy metals. In several European countries, cow"s milk from farms located in the vicinity of incinerators has been found to contain elevated levels of dioxin, in some cases above regulatory limits. Increased levels of dioxins have been found in the tissues of residents near to incinerators in the UK, Spain and Japan. At an incinerator in Finland, mercury was increased in hair of residents living in the vicinity. Children living near a modern incinerator in Spain were found to have elevated levels of urinary thioethers, a biomarker of toxic exposure. " It notes that "After 2 years of operation of incinerator, dioxins levels were found increased by about 25% in both groups living between 0.5 to 1.5 and 3.5 to 4.0 km away (201 people) of people. In the repeat analysis, the increase was in the range of 10-15%".
The judgment records that "Mothers living close to incinerators and crematoria from 1956 to 1993" showed "increased risk of lethal congenital abnormalities, in particular, spinal bifida and heart defects, near incinerators: increased risk of stillbirths and anacephalus near crematoria". With regard to "Residents from 7 to 64 years old living within 5 km of an incinerator and the incinerator workers" the judgment observes, "Levels of mercury in hair increased with closer proximity to the incinerator during a 10 year period". The judgment recorded that "Residents living within 10 km of an incinerator, refinery, and waste disposal site" showed "Significant increase in laryngeal cancer in men living with closer proximity to the incinerator and other pollution sources". The *"Residents living around an incinerator and other pollution sources" showed "Significant increase in lung cancer related specifically to the incinerator". *The *"People living within 7.5 km of 72 incinerators" displayed "Risks of all cancers and specifically of stomach, colorectal, liver and lung cancer increased with closer proximity to incinerators".
All municipal waste combustors–regardless of technology–release a number of pollutants, including cadmium, lead, mercury, dioxin, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter. Dioxins and heavy metals like mercury are of particular concern because they are toxic, persist in the environment and accumulate in biological matter. The claim of waste technologies and waste to energy policies to solve the waste and climate crisis is dubious. The fact is that it upholds linear, extractive systems, exacerbating the waste crisis and climate crisis. They ignore root causes, harm communities, and distract from proven, community-led zero waste practices. They harm frontline and low-income communities. They delay meaningful action and climate targets, justify overproduction and consumption, waste public money and political will and undermines and distracts attention from real zero waste alternatives. Waste incineration is the most expensive and polluting way to manage waste or to generate energy.
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notified the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2026. It covers waste management in both urban and rural areas. TWA had sought its expansion of the ambit of the Rules, when Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 was being framed. The new rules have superseded the 2016 Rules, which had superseded the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000, India’s first dedicated regulations for managing municipal solid waste under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. It came into full effect from April 1, 2026. The revised rules refer to the principles of Circular Economy and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) but fails to act as per these principles in letter and spirit. The Rules envisage an institutional arrangement which is “too centralised, too technocratic”. it ignores municipal autonomy and subsidiarity guaranteed under the 74th Constitutional Amendment.
The promise of waste-to-energy projects made in the new Rules are anti-environment, and anti-people. The callousness of AAP, BJP and Congress towards the sad plight of residents of Okhla, Narela-Bawana and Ghazipur, environment and the livelihood of waste pickers due to hazardous waste to energy incinerators is unacceptable. No lessons have been learnt from the bitter opposition to waste to energy incinerator plants in Delhi, Telnagana and Bihar due to their adverse public health consequences. The plant in question has violated every rule in the rule book. It is a matter of fact that such plants have consistently failed in India.
The consent of the people is a ‘must’ before granting environmental clearances under the environmental laws. But now such projects seem to be enjoying a law holiday. The cumulative impact assessment was never taken. The people of National Capital Region never gave their consent for this hazardous project in their proximity. There is documentary evidence that the public hearing that was conducted was fake, it was conducted at Saket.
The environmental clearance given to such projects are aimed at grabbing subsidies being offered by Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) and to earn carbon credits from these polluting waste based power plants. The cumulative impact assessment of the pre-existing waste incinerator and the new municipal waste incinerator has never been done. The emissions from both these units are already becoming part of body burden of residents of national capital region and across the country. The minutes of the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority for the NCR (EPCA) has revealed that Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was asked about the actions taken to improve Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management in Delhi. “To this MCD replied that individual waste to energy projects have been already given to Jindal, Ramky and GMR, which will result in minimal inert residue for land filling along with the generation of electricity,” the minute reads. This is factually deceptive and scientifically incorrect.
As per the Manual on Municipal Solid Waste Management, Union Ministry of Urban Development, physical composition of Indian waste shows that inert material constitutes from 43.59 % to 53.90 % and compostable matter constitutes 44.57 % to 30.84 %. Thus, the total inert residue from waste to energy incinerator projects will be significantly higher after the incineration of waste which will produce toxic ash as well that requires disposal in engineered landfills.
This grave situation has emerged due to evidently flawed waste to energy policy of central government, state government and the MCD which are providing incentives to hazardous incinerator and co-incineration incineration technologies like Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF).
Notably, the new rules provide for the levy of environmental compensation based on the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle for non-compliance, including cases of operating without registration, false reporting, submission of forged documents or improper solid waste management practices. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) have prepared the relevant guidelines, while State Pollution Control Boards and Pollution Control Committee levy the environmental compensation. The new rules create specific waste management obligations like:
Four-Stream Segregation (Rule 5): Significantly, four-stream segregation of solid waste at source has been made mandatory under the SWM Rules, 2026. Waste is required to be segregated into wet waste, dry waste, sanitary waste and special care waste.
Extended Bulk Waste Generator Responsibility (Rule 6): Entities with floor area exceeding 20,000 square meters, water consumption above 40,000 litres per day, or waste generation over 100 kg per day are required to process wet waste on-site or obtain Extended Bulk Waste Generator Responsibility (EBWGR) certificates.
Landfill Restrictions (Rule 14): Only non-recyclable, non-energy recoverable, non-reusable, non-biodegradable waste may be landfilled. Higher tipping fees apply to unsegregated waste.
Notably, Rule 8 of the new SWM Rules introduces an economic incentive mechanism encourages local bodies to generate carbon credits through waste management activities but this is contrary to the core regulatory principle for carbon credits. The waste handling and disposal is an eligible sector for the voluntary Offset Mechanism Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), established under the Energy Conservation Act, 2022. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency has established the institutional framework and elligibility criteria for the same. The CCTS framework local bodies, municipal corporations, and private waste management firms are permitted to earn CCCs where each certificate represents one ton of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) reduced, removed, or avoided.
The flaw with regard to additional action-apart from business usual action-which was there in the original waste to energy policy of the government of India remains intact. Given the fact that biomass burning for energy generation can neither be deemed either environmental action nor an additional environmentally sound action, carbon credits cannot be rewarded for additional environmental action. Such projects cannot be deemed to have complied with legal obligations either under the international climate law or national CCTS scheme. There is manifest conflict between carbon credit eligibility criteria Energy Conservation Act, 2022 and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the parent international climate law on the one hand and the new SWM Rules 2026 which mandates segregation, composting, bio-methanation, RDF production, and landfill diversion, on the other hand. These activities constitute legal compliance only under one national law, the new SWM Rules but not under Energy Conservation Act, 2022 and the laws like Paris Agreement under the UNFCCC, which require additional environmental action. The requirement of “additionality” for carbon trade was envisaged under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol under UNFCCC to pave the way for earning carbon credit. It is intriguing that local bodies too have been encouraged to generate carbon credits as part of carbon trade, which is a fake environmental/climate solution.
Incineration by another name, use of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) by industries
The new rules define Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) as fuel produced by shredding and dehydrating municipal solid waste with high calorific value, primarily consisting of non-recyclable plastic, paper and textiles. Industrial units, including cement plants and waste-to-energy plants that currently use solid fuel, have been mandated to replace it with RDF. This provision ignores the fact that waste incineration or co-incineration is a process which emits green house gases and persistent organic pollutants. It ignores the lessons from the failure of RDF based waste-to-energy plant in Timarpur, which designed to incinerate 300 TPD of waste and produce 3.75 MW of electricity.
Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) Mandates (Rule 11): Industrial units within specified distances from RDF plants are required to replace solid fuel with RDF. The substitution rate increases from 6% (upon rule implementation) to 10% (after three years) to 15% (after six years).
The new rules mandate mapping and assessment of all legacy waste dumpsites and provide for time-bound biomining and bioremediation, with quarterly progress reporting through the online portal. This is a positive provision.
Dr Krishna concluded: "The opposition political parties must promise to work for abandonment of the harmful policy which promotes waste incineration based power plants to save irreparable damage to sustainable and sane municipal solid waste management practice. The Ministry of Power can vouch for the fact that the energy from municipal is inconsequential compared to the colossal public health concerns. Like the old MSW Rules, new rules ignore the emerging public health threats from the waste to energy incinerator in the vicinity of residential premises."
The lecture program brought together workers, organisers, researchers and activists to examine how privatisation, waste management policies and waste-to-energy projects affect workers’ rights and livelihoods. It brought out the connection between labour rights, climate justice and laid a roadmap for developing recommendations for waste management that prioritises workers’ dignity, safety and participation. The participants recalled how waste workers keep cities clean and functional although they face insecure livelihoods, hazardous working conditions and exclusion shaped by caste, class and gender. The lecture was organised by Lokadhikar, Asangatith Mazdoor Sangarsh Morcha and SRUTI on September 22, 2026 at Indian Social Institute, Lodhi Road, New Delhi
Also read:Why Urban Waste Continues to Follow the Path of Least Resistance