The efforts to prevent microplastic contamination detected in the upstream of the Periyar River from a 2-acre site along the Edayar industrial area stretch have hit a roadblock.
The management of the now defunct company, which was pulled up by the authorities for the unscientific dumping of plastic waste and incinerator ash generated from the processes in about 81 cents out of the 2 acres, has refused to undertake remedial work stating that the dumping site of around one acre close to the river belonged to the Kadungalloor panchayat.
The management stated its position before the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal, which had taken a serious view of the unscientific plastic dumping at the site. “Since about one acre was used by many others as dumping yard and now as a place to stock and sort plastic waste by the Kadungalloor panchayat, the responsibility of sealing off the river bank cannot be imposed on us. There is about 79.5 m of river frontage for one acre of government land. The 81 cents assigned to us share a border of 2.5 m only with the government land”, it claimed.
The Kerala State Pollution Control Board had issued a letter dated September 25, 2025, to the management asking them to adopt preventive measures that include constructing sheet piles in the river bank in order to prevent chances of micro plastic run off reaching the river from the site.
A joint committee set up by the board had earlier found microplastic contamination in the upstream of the Periyar along the Edayar industrial area. The panel had also found microplastic pollution in the soil samples collected from the site and in water samples drawn from the river adjacent to it.
Published – November 11, 2025 07:24 pm IST
