Residents across Chennai staged a Kolam (Rangoli) protest on Bhogi on Monday, January 13, against the Greater Chennai Corporation's (GCC) proposed waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration project, which aims to burn 2,100 tonnes of garbage daily.
Protesters from Vyasarpadi, Kodungayur, Adyar, Besant Nagar, Ramapuram, Ambattur, and other areas created Kolams with messages such as, "We are ready to not burn the garbage this Bhogi, is the Chennai Corporation ready?" They also used hashtags like #NoBurn, #ScrapWTE, and #SegregateWaste.
The GCC had proposed the WTE incinerator in 2024 to process 2,100 tonnes of waste daily, including 358 tonnes of rigid and flexible plastics, 105 tonnes of paper, and 42 tonnes of PET bottles.
Chythenyen DK, a researcher on WTE incineration projects, said, “In 2024, The New York Times conducted an investigation highlighting the environmental and public health impact of the four WTE plants in Delhi. We are also witnessing European countries working to shut down similar waste-burning projects.”
He added, “A study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2015, commissioned by the Government of India, stated that Chennai's waste generation forecast does not necessitate a WTE incinerator until 2030.”
The WTE project has been categorised as a red industry, indicating its highly polluting nature. The GCC has identified Kodungaiyur, already home to several red category industries, as the site for the incinerator.
The protest, coordinated by the Alliance for Incinerator-Free Chennai (AIFC), also called for waste minimization, source segregation, and the implementation of penalties for non-compliance, alongside scrapping the WTE project.