Brahmapuram fire: Climate Crisis triggered by improper management of waste

On March 2, a fire broke out in Kochi's Brahmapuram dumping yard. The

garbage yard, which is spread across approximately 110-acres of land,

included a large amount of plastic waste. The fire kept smoldering over the

following 12 days, casting a noxious cloud over Kerala's commercial city.

While initiating suo motu proceedings for the incident at the Brahmapuram

garbage facility, the National Green Tribunal's major bench on Friday asked

the Kochi Municipal Council of Kerala to pay an environmental compensation

of Rs 100 crore under Section 15 of the Tribunal Act for environmental

damage.

The facility collects all garbage, both biodegradable and non-biodegradable,

from Kochi and adjacent towns. Non-biodegradable garbage is heaped up at

the site while biodegradable waste is processed in the facility. Locals had

often accused the corporation of igniting the waste rather than handling it

scientifically.

This openly discarded garbage contained combustible materials such as lowquality plastics, which have a greater calorific value of nearly 2,500-3,000 kcal/kg (compared to around 8,000 kcal/kg for coal), as well as rags and

textiles. Throughout the summer, the biodegradable part composts

significantly quicker, raising the temperature of the heap to above 70-80° C,

which may be a contributory factor to the fire at this dump. The presence of

flammable compounds enhances the danger of fire in open dump sites due to

the anaerobic breakdown which releases methane gas out of refuse. Surface

and subsurface fires are common in such locations.

This was not Brahmapuram's first landfill fire. According to studies conducted

by the CSIR-National Institute for Multidisciplinary Science and Technology in

2019 and 2020, several fires emitted very harmful compounds into their

surroundings; these substances are also likely to have been produced in this

fire.

According to research conducted by the National Institute for Interdisciplinary

Science and Technology (NIIST), a low level of cancer risk persists in the

exposed community due to the emission of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins

(PCDD/Fs) and dibenzofurans from inadvertent solid waste open fires. Dioxins

are a type of very carcinogenic persistent organic pollutant that is released

through combustion operations such as waste incineration and open solid

biomass burning. Because substantial amounts of PM10 and PM2.5 were reported, the pollutants emitted by this fire incidence have caused various health

complications among the inhabitants. In the days following the fire, the Air

Quality Index (AQI) in Kochi dropped. The smoke has caused symptoms such as

respiratory problems, headaches, coughing and colds, drowsiness, and eye

discomfort.

The yard resides in a land-filled wetlands next to a river that supplies drinking

water to a few panchayats nearby, and leaching from the waste has already

poisoned the Kadambrayar river. More than a half-dozen municipal

governments dump their garbage at the landfill.

The Brahmapuram dumpsite was an unsuccessful windrow composting facility

and a waste-to-energy plant that had yet to commence operations. The

Brahamapuram solid waste facility is a windrow composting plant placed in a

paved floor with a roofed structure with open sides. This structure had

partially collapsed and constituted a safety threat. Board officials who visited

the facility in February noted that all the windrow sheds were in disarray.

Hard slurry coming from the windrow compost yards and the principal

biodegradable dumping location clogged the drains supplied. When agency

officials claimed that work on drains around the plant was nearly finished, it

was discovered that the drains were partially open, with the possibility of

slurry flowing out from open dumping sites as well as storm water

encroachment into the drains. The windrow compost plant should be

appropriately enclosed and protected with enough covering, according to the

Solid Waste Management Guidelines.

The PCB (Pollution Control Board) discovered that there was no windrow

creation strategy. The windrow size was not followed. Because the entire site

had been overfilled with legacy waste, it was difficult to follow a scientific

windrow pattern or windrow turning pattern.

The Kerala government reported the NGT in May last year that Zonta Infra

Tech Private Limited had begun the process of 'biomining' — separation and

conversion of old dump yard waste into reusable resources — at

Brahmapuram in January 2022, and that 28% of the work had been completed

by May. But, with the proposal to build a new waste-to-energy plant at the

site, which would need a steady supply of massive amounts of garbage, the

Kochi Municipal Council sat back and neglected to guarantee that the fire

hydrants at the yard remained operational. This, along with the noxious smoke

emitted by the waste mounds, proved to be an additional blow for the

rescuers.

Inadequate waste management contributes directly to climate change by

introducing carbon-based particles into the atmosphere. As a result, warmer

air is produced, resulting in a devastating greenhouse effect. The thick black

smoke from the fire blanketed the facility's surroundings, raising the

temperature a few Celsius.

Pollutants spewed by the open fire have damaged the ecosystem and the

residents who reside adjacent. Toxic material inhalation may cause a large

increase in respiratory illnesses, and symptoms may endure for a long period.

This tragedy has had a significant impact on the normal functioning of society

as a result of poor governance by the people in authority. Despite the

frequency of such occurrences in the past, no waste management action has

been initiated to guarantee effective waste management.

Inadequate management of municipal solid waste results in air and water

pollution, land degradation, climate change, and methane and toxic leachate

emissions. Moreover, these effects impose major environmental and public

health costs on inhabitants, with marginalized socioeconomic classes bearing

the brunt of the burden.

Many global operating agendas, charters, and visions highlight the need of

waste management in attaining sustainable development. Sustainable solid

waste management, for example, can aid in the achievement of several United

Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including ensuring clean

water and sanitation (SDG6), developing sustainable cities and inclusive

communities (SDG11), mitigating climate change (SDG13), protecting life on

land (SDG15), and demonstrating sustainable consumption and production

patterns (SDG12). It also supports a circular urban economy, which

encourages resource conservation, material reuse, and recycling for waste

elimination, pollution reduction, cost savings, and green growth.

Cities can design and implement an integrated solid waste management

approach that focuses on improving municipal operations to handle all phases

of solid waste management in a sustainable manner: generation, separation,

transportation, transfer/sorting, treatment, and disposal. Life Cycle

Assessment (LCA) can also help with method selection and waste management

planning.

To accomplish circular economy and sustainable development goals, local

governments should effectively implement and design waste management

regulations that emphasize waste reduction, reuse, and recycling.

Employing environmentally friendly technology or upgrading existing facilities

can aid in the preservation of critical natural resources such as flora and

fauna, surface and subterranean water, air, and soil.

The extraction and reuse of materials, energy, and nutrients is critical because

it offers employment, improves people's health, and preserves the

environment. According to one research, recycling 24% of solid waste in

Thailand reduced the negative health, social, environmental, and economic

implications of landfills. Green consumption, such as the use of bioplastics,

can help lessen the negative environmental implications of solid waste.

Municipal authorities should address waste management challenges

holistically, such as a lack of strategic plans, inefficient waste

collection/segregation and recycling, insufficient budgets, a shortage of

qualified waste management professionals, and weak governance, before

forming an integrated financial regulatory framework. Other elements that

influence waste management effectiveness include waste creation rate,

population density, economic state, amount of business activity, culture, and

city/region. A sustainable solid waste management system can be successful

to safeguard both human health and the environment, if implemented.

References

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/thiruvananthapuram/brahmapura

m-fire-ngt-rs-100-crore-penalty-kochi-municipal-corporation-8504708/

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/playing-with-fire-the-hindueditorial-

on-the-brahmapuram-fire-and-how-kerala-needs-to-have-arelook-

at-its-waste-processing/article66638467.ece

https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/brahmapuram-fireenvironmental-

disaster-was-waiting-hit-kochi-174474

https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2023/03/16/pollution-crisisbrahmapuram-

waste-yard-csir-pollution-control-board.html

https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2023/03/16/brahmapuramfire-

poisoned-kochi-food-testing-pollution-pinarayi-vijayan.html

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/brahmapuram-fire-invitessocial-

legal-implications/article66588508.ece

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/kochis-brahmapuram-a-dumpfire-

that-raises-a-stink/article66638572.ece

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/explainedwhy-

do-landfills-catch-fire-and-what-can-we-do-aboutthem/

article66618251.ece#:~:text=In%20summer%2C%20the%20biodegra

dable%20fraction,to%20go%20on%20for%20months

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