Environment Ministry Subservient to Commerce Ministry
Environment Ministry Subservient to Commerce Ministry, permits traders
to import hazardous wastes
Both Ministries acting under influence of hazardous waste traders in
contempt of Supreme Court orderࠠ࠼br>
New Delhi 23/ 5/2012: ToxicsWatch
Alliance (TWA) disputes the contention of the Jayanthi Natarajan, Union
Minister of Environment and Forests in the Lok Sabha on May 21, 2012 wherein
she said "Import of such (hazardous)
wastes for disposal is not permitted. Import is permitted only for recycling or
recovery or reuse with the permission of the Ministry of Environment and
Forests and/or Directorate General of Foreign Trade," of Union Commerce
Ministry. Her reply that defines hazardous waste as recyclable material
appears to be an exercise in sophistry. The
reply is attached.ࠠ
If this reply of Union Minister
of Environment and Forests is read with the attached 'Statement of Hazardous Goods Lying at Ports' given to the
Parliament by Union Minister of Shipping, the true nature of the goings on
stands exposed. How is it that waste oil which is officially admitted as waste
oil referred to as hazardous good. TWA has sent a letter to the Prime Minister
as well. The same is attached. ༯span>
TWA underlines that as per the
official National Inventory of Hazardous Waste Generating Industries, total
waste handling capacities of Treatment Storage Disposal Facilities (TSDFs) is
about 1.5 million tonnes per annum (MTA) and there is a deficit of about 1.2
MTA for land fillable wastes and about 0.9 MTA for incinerable wastes. When the
country does not have the even the required capacity of TSDF, how can import of
hazardous waste be "permitted" in the name of "recycling or
recovery or reuse" and still have the Parliament and the countrymen believe that "Import of such (hazardous)
wastes for disposal is not permitted."
Union Minister of Environment and
Forests did not provide complete details to the Parliament in her reply when
she said that "during the last three years, has given permission for
import of Lead Scrap, Plastic waste generated from industrial process,
non-activated glass cullets, etc. by actual users for recycling in an
environmentally sound recycling facilities."
TWA demands that both Commerce
and Environment Ministry should come out with a White Paper on Domestically
generated hazardous waste and Import and Export of Hazardous Waste explaining
which of them are being used, reused or processed for recovery. Commerce and Environment Ministry should
reveal how of "Lead Scrap, Plastic waste generated from industrial
process, non-activated glass cullets, etc" that is generated within the
country is reused. Why should Union Environment Ministry choose to simply act
subservient to Union Commerce Ministry given the fact that the latter's mandate
is not to save environment.
As per a 54 page Report of the
Committee to Evolve Road Map on Management of Wastes in India, Union Ministry
of Environment & Forests there are about 36,000 hazardous waste generating
industries in India which generate 6.2 million tonnes out of which land
fillable hazardous waste is about 2.7 million tonnes (44%), incinerable
hazardous waste is about 0.4 million tonnes (7 %) and recyclable hazardous
waste is about 3.1 million tonnes (49 %). Indiscriminate and unscientific
disposal of wastes in the past has resulted in several sites in the country to
become environmentally degraded. Isn't our own hazardous waste sufficient?
TWA demands that both Commerce
and Environment Ministries and the coordination Committee explain whether they
have dealt with the "141 hazardous waste dumpsites that have been
primarily identified in 14 States/UTs out of which 88 critically polluted locations
are currently identified." If they are unable to deal with the
domestically generated waste in a scientific and environmentally sound manner
and are compel them to dump them, how can Environment Ministry's reply to the Parliament that implies that India has
the capacity to deal with the imported hazardous waste for any purpose be
deemed convincing.
It has come to light from the the
Minister's statement that a co-ordination committee comprising of
representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce and
Industries, the Ministry of Shipping, Central Pollution Control Board and
select State Pollution Control Boards has been constituted that claims to be
"working to sensitize the Customs authorities regarding enforcement of
these Rules in order to check illegal import of hazardous waste into the
country." It appears that through linguistic manipulation waste is been
re-defined as non-waste. What has become evident is that Indian regulations offers least
resistance to dumping of hazardous wastes. In fact it welcomes hazardous wastes
trade in the name of "recycling or
recovery or reuse" of hazardous wastes.
The
Ministry appears to be have
done its homework to justify hazardous waste trade in various disguises.
Under
Rule 23 of Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and Transboundary
Movement)
Third Amendment Rules, 2008 refers to the 㒥sponsibilities of
Authorities䊷hich is specified in its Schedule VII that provides the List
of Authorities
and Corresponding Duties䠷herein it is mentioned that Directorate-General
of
Foreign Trade constituted under the Foreign Trade (Development and
Regulation)
Act, 1992 has a duty to ㇲant License for import of hazardous wastes䮠
It is noteworthy that since 1989
till 2012, there has been several amendments to the Rules. Interestingly, the new 7 page Draft Hazardous
Wastes (Management, Handling and Transboundary
Movement) Fifth Amendment Rules, 2011 engineers these Rules and inserts a new
definition of waste. It reads: "㨺ea) 㷡ste䠭eans materials, that are
not products or by-products, for which the generator has no further use in
terms of his/her own purposes or for production, transformation or consumption,
and of which he/she wants to dispose." Its Explanation1 reads:
"Wastes may be generated during the extraction of raw materials, the
processing of raw materials into intermediates and final products, the
consumption of final products, and through other human activities. Residuals
recycled or reused at the place of generation as a part of process are
excluded." Its Explanation 2 reads: "By-product means a material that
is not solely or separately produced by the production process but gets produced
in the process and is used as such." TWA hold that the amendments are
being done under undue influence of the global hazardous waste traders. The new
Draft Rule is attached..ࠠ
The subordinate legislation with
regard to Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement)
are contrary to the orders issued by the Supreme Court. The order dated 14th
October, 2003 endorsed Basel Convention as well. The new notification is in
contempt of the Court and violates the spirit of the Basel treaty by allowing
traders to deal with hazardous wastes who are endangering public and ecological
health.
It is indeed strange that while
the Environment Ministry admits that there is huge deficit of capacity to deal
with hazardous wastes generated in the country, the new Hazardous Waste Rules,
Amendments and Procedures permit traders to import hazardous wastes.
It is clear from the the existing
Hazardous Waste Rules (including the amendments till 30 March, 2010) that it
promotes trade in hazardous waste unmindful of the National Environment Policy
that acknowledges how "Environmental factors are estimated as being
responsible in some cases for nearly 20 percent of the burden of disease in
India". Supreme Court Monitoring
Committee (SCMC) on Hazardous Wastes members opine that "Truly, we take
three steps forward and then five steps backward."
Earlier, the court had ordered on
May 5, 1997, "no authorisation or permission (for hazardous waste) would
be given to any authority ... which has already been banned by the Union
government or by any order made by any court or any other authority...(In
addition to this) no import would be made or permitted 堵nder the Basel
Convention."
The National Environmental
Engineering Research Institute (NEERI)'s Status Report on Management of
Hazardous Waste in India noted, "Lack of laboratory facilities for
analysis of trace organics such as PCBs could either result in holding up of
supplies for long periods of time merely on grounds of suspicion or lead to
illegal imports of waste oil under the garb of used oil. As a first step, a
through assessment of laboratory facilities available at all the ports, in
particular, facilities available both in terms of equipment and trained
man-power and equipment for analysis of all important heavy metals and trace
organics, should be taken up and a time-bound plan prepared for their
upgradation. Till such time all the ports are upgraded both in terms of
equipment and training of laboratory personnel,, it would be necessary to
consider channelisation of all hazardous wastes through selected ports well
equipped to handle them and for this purpose, ports may be categorised
suitably." The situation remains unchanged.ࠠ
In its report the SCMC on
Hazardous Wastes has recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
inquiry into the unpardonable breach of environmental security and contempt of
court by the non- traceable illegal waste oil importers and concerned
officials.
The intent of the Commerce and
Environment Ministry stood exposed when it proposed an amendment to the
Hazardous Wastes (Management & Handling) Rules; after amendment it was to
read "Hazardous Materials (Management, Handling and Transboundary
Movement) Rules, 2007. The proposed rules was to have the effect of exempting
transit countries from obtaining prior informed consent for all shipments of
hazardous waste to India. The proposal also stated that as long as a material
contains less than 60 per cent contamination by a hazardous constituent, then
it is safe for our ecology. Waste asbestos embedded in the structure of the
scrap material is not banned. This sleight
of hand at redefinition attracted widespread criticism from environment and
public health groups. Startled by the proposed rules environment and public
health researchers and activists termed it as a gross act done at the behest of
hazardous waste traders. Even the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has
expressed its concerns in November 2007. The Supreme Court's own Monitoring
Committee on Hazardous Wastes, had also objected. As a consequence the word
"wastes" was not replaced with "materials" but
"Transboundary Movement" remains. In effect, the original Rules was
mutilated and the process of mutilating it further is underway .ࠠࠠ
As a consequence hazardous waste
importers are bringing in lakhs of tonnes of hazardous waste into India
without facing any legal hurdle. Earlier, Environment MinistryⳠHazardous
Waste Rules prohibited import of waste oil, ash and residues from incineration
of municipal solid waste, plastic, and unsorted waste scrap. But the same was
allowed under the Open General License of the export-import policy of the
Commerce Ministry. This led to import of ash and residues from incineration of
municipal solid waste has increased by about 130 times during 2006-2009. The
import of plastic waste increased by seven times during this period. Countries
such as Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom have realized that Indian
regulations are hazardous waste friendly. There was a 48 per cent increase in
hazardous waste trade import during 2006-2009.
Acknowledging such a situation,
the then Union Environment and Forest Minister had written a letter to Union
Commerce Minister Anand Sharma in April 2010 urging alignment of Hazardous
Waste Rules and Export-Import policy to reduce 㳣ope of confusion䠡t
implementation level. ㉠suggest that a joint group of the two ministries be
set up to resolve the issue䬠the minister said and had further added that some
export-oriented units especially those in the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) were
importing hazardous waste without seeking approval from either the Ministries.
They were also operating without a mandatory 㣯nsent to operate䠵nder
environmental laws aimed at protecting the environment. The minister had said,
の impression also seems to have gained ground that such units are exempt from
the provisions of environment regulations can import hazardous wastes without
any permission. These impressions need to be corrected䮠What has happened since
then is that instead of aligning and factoring in environmental concerns in the
hazardous waste trade, blind profiteering has taken precedence over public
health concerns. The Hazardous Wastes Rules do not apply to SEZ. TWA demands that the names of SEZs which are
importing hazardous wastes must be disclosed.
The hazardous waste case is due
for hearing in August 2012 in the apex court.
For details: Gopal Krishna. ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA), Mb-
09818089660, E-mail- krishna1715@gmail.com, Web: toxicswatch.blogpsot.com
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