The State government, through an order recently, established AP Environmental Waste Management Corporation Limited (APEMCL) which acts as a facilitator between waste generating industry and companies that use industrial waste for other purposes such as fuel. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will formally launch the corporation soon.
The APEMCL will provide an effective mechanism for collection, transportation, storage, treatment, processing, delivery, and disposal of industrial and other waste. The corporation, which works in coordination with the AP Pollution Control Board (APPCB), will also follow the ‘platform business model’.
When contacted, APPCB Chairman B.S.S. Prasad says that the APEMCL obtained the authorisation of the APPCB on February 17 as a facilitator of the waste disposal from a generator to the receiver. Both generator and receiver should benefit from the disposal of the waste. So, a pricing committee for fixing the charges for the waste management plus a service charge for the corporation. It will be in line with the pricing strategy adopted by the bio-medical waste sector. A tripartite agreement will be reached between the generator, the receiver and the APEMCL in the process.
Categories
The industry has to dispose of the hazardous and other wastes as per the disposal option given through the APEMCL. A total of 5,485 industries located in the State fall under red and orange categories (Industrial sectors having pollution index score of 60 and above - Red category; industrial sectors having pollution index score of 41 to 59 – Orange category). Of this, 2,550 fall under Visakhapatnam zone, while 2,117 are in Vijayawada zone. Remaining are in Kurnool zone, he says.
These industries generate significant quantities of liquid waste, hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste and air pollutants. The waste generated by these industries can be a source of fuel for other industries. For instance, the waste generated in a pharma industry can be fuel, if processed, to cement companies. So, the government came up with the decision to manage and scientifically dispose of the waste, he says.
Objective
The existing waste transportation, storage, treatment, and disposal facilities in the State are apparently not equipped to handle such large amounts of waste. Here, the role of APEMCL comes into the picture. One of the objectives of APEMCL is to enhance these facilities so that they can sufficiently deal with industrial and other waste, he says.
The government has constituted the Board of Directors for APEMCL with Special Chief Secretary (Environment Forests Science and Technology EFS&T) as Chairman. APPCB chairman will be the member secretary of the Board. While commissioner (industries), APIIC managing director, Commissioner (transport) and APEMC managing director will act as directors. The government is yet to appoint the managing director of the board, he adds.
