Tension is simmering in North Chennai, as the Greater Chennai Corporation refuses to budge on its proposed Waste to Energy plant in Kodungaiyur despite stiff opposition from the residents.
This is the first time coordinated protests have taken place against the project, with 8,000 people hitting the streets. The Federation of North Chennai Residents Welfare Association (FNCRWA) has been formed in the backdrop of opposing this project.
The residents staged a human chain protest on May 25 against the Greater Chennai Corporation’s (GCC) proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in Kodungaiyur, a residential area and wetland. The 4.5 km human chain, which stretched from Ezhil Nagar to the Dr Ambedkar Arts College, was organised by civil society organisations, including FNCRWA, Vyasai Thozhargal, Chennai Climate Action Group, and others.
The protest also featured GCC councillors from political parties, including the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Congress, and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi. Prominent citizens such as S Janakarajan, the president of the South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies, Carnatic musician and activist TM Krishna and others also took part in the protest.
The protesters signed a declaration calling on the government to uphold Article 21 of the Constitution (right to life), citing a threat to public health due to toxins, dioxins, and furans that burning waste at the dumpyard will release.
Around 352 acres of land is currently being used for dumping waste in Kodungaiyur. The GCC has proposed a waste-to-energy (WTE) plant here, which will burn a total of 2,100 tonnes of waste and produce 300 MT of fly ash, according to the corporation.
However, Chythenyen DK, a researcher on WTE incineration projects, told TNM that the facility would generate an estimated 500-800 MT of ash. The release of toxic gases from the plant is another significant concern for the protestors.
“The next generation is growing up with breathing issues, skin disease, and heart issues. My father suffers from asthma. At least the next generation should be protected,” said M Selvi, a resident of Kannadasan Nagar in Kodungaiyur.
Even though segregation of waste at the source is a mandatory practice as per GCC’s 2019 Solid Waste Management By-Laws and the Solid Waste Management Rules of 2016, the practice is often lax in the city. Over 7,600 tonnes of garbage is produced every day within GCC limits, of which the Kodungaiyur and Perungudi dumpyards see more than 5,300 tonnes. The waste in these yards is a mixture of household, medical, and construction waste.
Currently, the project is in its initial stages. The contract for the project has not been awarded yet, but two bidders – Delhi MSW Solutions and Brij Gopal Construction Co. Private Limited – have expressed interest. According to Chythenyen, the lowest bidder has been identified as Delhi MSW Solutions, a subsidiary company of Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited. The company’s WTE plant in Narela had been fined by the Delhi PCB for excess cancer-causing dioxins and other chemical components.
Similarly, Chythenyen says a report filed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on April 15, 2024, flags violations in the WTE plant set up by Ramky in the Jawahar Nagar dumping yard in Hyderabad. In fact, in 2021, three of the four WTE plants in Delhi had been fined for gross violation of emission norms.
There are also questions of practicality in the setting up of the plant. Waste must have a high calorific value and little moisture for it to be suitable for WTE processing.
A report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in 2018 said that the calorific value of waste in Indian cities ranges from 1,411 kcal/kg to 2,150 kcal/kg, with high moisture content. In contrast, countries such as Sweden, Norway, Germany and the United States have waste with calorific values ranging between 1,900 kcal/kg and 3,800 kcal/kg.
An article in the India Development Report (IDR) titled “Waste to energy: Smokescreen or solution?” stated that bottom ash produced as a by-product of the burning could be as high as 30-40% of the total feed of waste burnt. Questions persist regarding the means of disposal of this by-product, as bottom ash often ends up in dump sites, polluting groundwater and soil.
Organisations on the ground are well aware of this and have raised the slogan “Kodungaiyur kuppamedum vendam, engale kollum erivilayum vendam.” (We don't want the Kodungaiyur dumpyard or the incinerator.)
Why are companies still opening these plants despite such operational difficulties? The IDR report pointed to profit as the main reason.
The report said that there are “substantial tipping fees” paid by governments to contractors based on the weight of the waste handled. This means that the companies also prioritise unsegregated waste, which is heavier than segregated waste. “For example, in Indore, the tipping fee is Rs 1,080 per tonne, while in Delhi it is Rs 2,000–2,700. Consider a scenario where a city provides nearly 6,000 tonnes of waste to three private parties daily. Even at Rs 2,000 per tonne per day, this amounts to approximately Rs 1.2 crore. This could be why Delhi, for example, operates four WTE plants, burning close to 5,600 tonnes of waste a day, when only 1,100 tonnes are fit for incineration,” the report observed.
An unsegregated waste dump such as Kodungaiyur could well turn out to be lucrative for the contracting companies if the plan goes through.
The question of Kodungaiyur is further complicated by its location in a marshland and the waste already dumped there. Sarath, founder of Vyasai Thozhargal, one of the organisations heading the protest, says that the dumpsite was a marshland that lost its characteristics due to 40 years of constant waste dumping. The Captain Cotton Canal, Buckingham Canal, and Otteri Nullah all flow through the region.
These water bodies, which join the sea near Ennore, take rainwater away from the city during floods. During high tides, when the sea pushes back, the wetlands take in the water and replenish the groundwater. Therefore, dealing with the dumpyard is a necessity if Chennai is to deal with its flooding problems. “The government is asking us to deal with a ghost by bringing in a bigger demon,” said Sarath.
Kodungaiyur is an area with a high flooding probability, and the plan to set up the WTE plant goes against the GCC’s Climate Action Plan directive that waste management facilities are to be set up in low flooding areas.
A climate action plan report by the Poovulagin Nanmargal, an environmental civil society organisation, stated that land surface temperatures are the second highest at the waste disposal sites at the Perungudi and Kodungaiyur dump yards after the Chennai airport.