Kerala’s waste makeover meets poll silence

Early in March 2023, a major fire engulfed the landfill at Brahmapuram, where much of the waste from the Kochi Corporation area and its surrounding municipalities used to end up. As the blaze continued to eat up the mounds of waste for days, Kerala’s public sphere was filled with questions on the effectiveness of the waste management measures being taken up by the State government and local self-government institutions.

However, two years down the line, as the State gears up for local body elections, waste management finds only a passing mention in the campaigns of the various parties, although it is one of the major responsibilities of the local bodies. The Brahmapuram fire, in a way, became the catalyst for the State government to launch the Malinya Mukhtham Navakeralam campaign, under which wide-ranging steps including the setting up of more infrastructure for waste collection and processing, stepping up of waste collection, and even changes in laws were initiated.

The panchayat and municipal Acts were amended to make user fee for waste collection by the Haritha Karma Sena compulsory. Although there was opposition from the ground initially to the move, the door-to-door collection of waste which was less than 50% before the fire went up to close to 90% within a year. The number of material collection facilities across the State also increased.

According to the Local Self-Government department’s statistics, 59 legacy waste dumps across the State, covering an area of 127 acres and holding 19.13 lakh tonnes of waste, have been cleared. Lalur, one of these dumpsites in Thrissur, has now been transformed into the site of the I. M. Vijayan Sports Complex, which was inaugurated earlier this month. As part of the Brahmapuram master plan, a ₹310-crore bio-park plan has also been initiated at Brahmapuram.

Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala dismissed the State government’s claims on waste management as “absolutely incorrect”. Although he agreed that the Haritha Karma Sena has improved waste collection, he said that disposal is ineffective.

“The government could have done waste management properly by engaging local bodies, but unfortunately it has not provided sufficient funds to them. So, even though the Corporations or municipalities wanted to take up waste management measures, they were unable to do it. Waste continues to be a big problem in the cities. That is why we said that we will do it effectively if we win these local body elections,” he told The Hindu.

The I.M. Vijayan Sports Complex at Lalur, once the dump yard of Thrissur city.
| Photo Credit:
K.K. NAJEEB

Minister for Local Self-Governments M.B. Rajesh says that the Opposition parties are probably shying away from raising waste management as an election issue probably because it will end up highlighting the effective steps taken by the government.

“The UDF’s election manifesto promises on waste management makes it clear that they are unaware of the ground reality. The biggest change has been in solid waste management with the ensuring of 98.5% door-to-door collection of non-biodegradable waste and the setting up of compressed biogas (CBG) plants, five of which will be operational soon, addressing almost a good part of the biowaste. Four Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) plants to handle non-recyclable, non-biodegradable waste have been completed, while four regional plants to handle sanitary waste have been tendered. The remaining challenge is to handle liquid waste and to increase awareness to prevent littering,” Mr. Rajesh said.

One of the issues the government has been facing is the local opposition to the setting up of waste management facilities, as witnessed in Avikkal Thodu in Kozhikode against the setting up of a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in 2022. Much of the opposition has been fuelled by the past experiences related to the Vilappilsala waste treatment plant in Thiruvananthapuram and Njeliyaparamba plant in Kozhikode. The government has pointed at the smooth operation of the STP at Muttathara in Thiruvananthapuram as part of awareness campaigns. The Muttathara plant and the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation’s licensing system introduced in 2019, which has addressed much of the septage waste dumping issues, could be a system which can be replicated elsewhere.

Earlier this year, a minor fire broke out at the garbage dumping site in Brahmapuram. Although it was put out soon, it served as a reminder that waste management is a continuous process which requires constant attention. The local self governments set to take charge next month have their tasks cut out.