Bhopal Toxic Waste Disposal: Malwa’s Dark Morning

Indore is my birthplace. Forty years ago, I came to Bhopal from Indore to work for the Bhopal gas tragedy victims. (The world’s biggest industrial disaster in 1984 saw a poisonous gas leak from the Union Carbide factory killing thousands and maiming generations.)

Thursday (February 27, 2025) morning has been the darkest morning of Malwa. 

In the name of toxic waste disposal, Malwa's environment has started becoming extremely poisonous. (A trial run has begun for the incineration of 10 tonnes of toxic waste from the Bhopal Gas tragedy site.)

Pithampur has again been converted into a police cantonment to suppress possible public protest over poisoning of public drinking water.

In today's socio-economic system, development has become unsustainable and unplanned, and the disposal of toxic chemicals generated due to that unplanned development is also being carried out in a similar unsustainable and unplanned manner under police surveillance.

The Supreme Court has asked the petitioners against poisoning of the environment of Pithampur to approach the High Court. This decision was taken even though it is well-known that the High Court had already brought the petitions to the notice of the government.

The High Court should be sensitive and take cognizance of the issue of water, the lifeline of the people, who are caught amid a tussle between the government and the court.

The waste brought to Pithampur is not ordinary toxic waste. It is highly poisonous waste from the biggest industrial tragedy of this century that took place in American company Union Carbide’s factory in Bhopal.

This extremely toxic waste contains heavy metals, such as mercury, arsenic and other known and unknown deadly chemicals.

Bhopal's toxic waste is a mixture of many known and unknown chemicals. The disposal process for each chemical is different. It is almost impossible to safely dispose of a mixture of deadly toxic chemicals.

The government and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) should make it clear what kind of waste exactly will be incinerated. According to a government report of 2010, apart from one tonne of mercury, which was lying in the open in the Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) plant in Bhopal, there was 11 lakh tonnes of toxic waste. This is likely to exceed 25 lakh tonnes due to leakage. Will this also be burnt in Pithampur?

If not, then what is the justification for burning only 350 tonnes of toxic waste of Bhopal in Pithampur?

Despite strong opposition and protests from the people of Pithampur and Malwa, continuous trials of highly toxic waste disposal are being conducted since 2010 in the treatment, storage and disposal facility (TSDF) of Ramky Enviro, which is considered close to the power at the Centre.

Many toxic waste disposal trials have failed in the past.

In fact, due to several such trials of 10 tonnes of waste each time, the underground water, water in wells etc. of the area, has become poisonous and is not fit for drinking, bathing etc.

A large area of agricultural land near Ramky Enviro company has reportedly turned barren and the farmers there have been forced to work as labourers in other places.

Water testing done by an organisation this year, found the presence of poisonous chemicals, trichlorobenzene and dichlorobenzene etc., from the Bhopal industrial waste.

If this is the adverse effect of only 10 tonnes of waste, then what will be the consequence of 337 tonnes of toxic waste on the water quality is beyond imagination.

The 2015 toxic waste disposal trial has been declared successful by the government and the court, but several chemical scientists from government institutions have raised serious questions on the methodology of CPCB's trial runs.

Burning toxic waste through an incinerator is itself an outdated method.

Also, according to several scientific studies across the world, wherever incinerators are installed to burn garbage, the incidence of cancer has been found to have increased manifold.

According to a report released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the US, dumping the remains of toxic waste in landfills is not safe for the environment. Seepage of these remains after disposal of toxic waste is inevitable. This can cause permanent damage to the environment.

Considered as the ground for burning toxic waste by the High Court and the Supreme Court, the entire process of the Bhopal gas tragedy waste disposal in Pithampur TSDF is based on the 2013 and 2015 reports of CPCB.

But, according to scientists, there are huge gaps in the garbage disposal process outlined in these CPCB reports. An unaffordable and unsustainable process has been adopted for toxic waste disposal. Also, the CPCB reports have not highlighted several key issues.

According to the CPCB’s 2015 report, various components of 350 tonnes of toxic waste of Bhopal were found to contain neurotoxins or brain-affecting mercury in very high quantities, the technology of safe disposal of which is not available in our country.

Also, the amount of mercury in Bhopal's toxic waste is about 700 to 900 times more than the normal or base value.

Elemental mercury in excavated waste or soil (152 to 754 mg/kg) is more than 700 times the normal level in Bhopal's waste.

Semi processed residue (162.02 to 904mg /kg) is 900 times more than the normal level.

Reactor residue (261 to 615 mg/kg) is about 600 times the normal level.

Naphthol residue is 151.68 to201mg/kg while Sevin 2 residue is 41.66 to45.22mg/ kg.

The International Basel, Minamata and Stockholm Conventions on Toxic Waste Disposal do not permit the burning of high concentrations of heavy metals and POPs (Persistent Organic) pollutants, such as mercury, etc.

Despite India being a signatory to all these conventions, the CPCB is not implementing them.

Its 2015 report does not even mention the process of disposing of mercury or the amount of mercury in the waste disposal. Details about the quality of mercury and other heavy metal filters, disposal of filters and construction of landfill have also not been given. It also does not mention bottom ash residue after disposal.

According to the 2015 CPCB report, there will be use of large amounts of sulphur, a major environmental pollutant, in the Pithampur TSDF during trials, which will go through various processes and end up in the landfill. This will be a big disaster for the environment.

The CPCB report of 2015 does not also mention how many samples of toxic chemicals like dioxin and furan were taken and in which lab they were tested.

Recall that in 2015, even after burning toxic waste at 1200 degrees, only 12.45% of the total waste was burnt, which means that the remaining toxic waste was dumped unburned in the landfill, which is very dangerous. The remains of toxic waste in the landfill were not even examined to find out whether the waste was fit to be put in the landfill or not.

During the 2015 trial runs, which was considered as the basis by the Supreme Court and the High Court, 8,000 litres of diesel was used for 10 tonnes of waste, whereas lakhs of tonnes of diesel would be required to dispose of 337 tonnes of Bhopal's waste.

Diesel fumes will pollute as well as affect all consequences of toxic waste disposal.

Hence, the entire process of disposal of Bhopal's highly toxic waste in Pithampur TSDF will increase pollution by pumping hazardous chemicals into the environment of Malwa region manifold.

The writer is a social activist based in Bhopal. The views are personal.