Umesh K Baveja B.Tech, MBA

December 2004, Bangalore

Waste to Energy (WTE)~

Is it the solution to India’s waste problem?

WTE in India ~ Background

• First ambitious program to encourage WTE launched in 1995– To demonstrate that WTE is possible– Long-term target of producing 1700MW of energy from

priority waste streams– Operated under the aegis of National BioEnergy Board

(NBB), Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources (MNES)– Has an elevated status due to the contribution to reducing

greenhouse gas emissions and in encouraging the integration of “best practice” waste collection and transfer to Energy

– 16 cost sharing projects ~ usage of Bio-methanation– To establish a fiscal and financial regime necessary for WTE

Energy from Waste• Potential of Power Generation in India from Waste

Urban and Municipal Wastes : 1000 MW

Industrial Wastes : 700 MW(Dairy, Distillery, Press Mud, Tannery, Pulp and Paper and Food Processing Industries)

TOTAL : 1700 MW

• Common perception – WTE is most applicable to India- Reduces waste by 60 - 90% - Recovers resources - Aids safe disposal of waste – avoids pollution of land, water

and air- Reduces Greenhouse gases

But, is WTE the solution for India’s waste problem?

Physical Characteristics of typical MSW in India

Contents Available in %

Paper 4.68

Plastics 0.71

Metals 0.64

Glass 0.45

Ash and Fine Earth 40.03

Total Compostable matter 38.75

Chemical Characteristics of typical MSW in India

Characteristics % availability

Moisture content 25.2

Organic matter 23.4

Carbon 13.08

Nitrogen 0.58

P as P2O5 0.66

K as K2O 0.70

Composition of urban solid waste in Indian cities

Is WTE the answer to India’s waste problem? (1)

• Indian waste unsuitable for production of energy– 80% of the waste in India is organic and moist– Have low Calorific value (800 - 1,050 Kilo calories

per kilogram) – Experience in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai (see

notes page)• WTE technologies are regarded as “unused,

suspect” technologies– WTE tech introduced in India so far are NOT based

on a world-wide tried and tested model– Technologies like bio-methanation, incineration,

combustion etc have toxic by-products that cause serious environmental problems like Acid rain, fog

WTE technologies / projects are environment unfriendly

– Cost of a typical 5MW WTE plant ~ Rs 40 crores– Consumption ~ 150 tons of urban waste for each MW

of electricity

Is WTE the answer to India’s waste problem? (2)

Which is an investment of Rs 8 crore per MW ie, FOUR times cost of conventional Thermal power!!

And, the subsidy exceeds 50% of total project cost!

An unjustifiable public investment of Rs 20 crore for 800 tonnes of urban waste disposal! And a cost that should be borne specifically by the waste generator

+

Which is …

WTE projects are economically unviable in India

WTE Projects in Maharashtra

Municipal Corporation

Promoter Capacity

Municipal Council of Greater Mumbai

a) MSW Pvt. Ltd, Mumbaib) Waste Management Ind.

Ltd, Mumbaic) EDL India Ltd, New Delhi

14.98 MW10.0 MW

21.0 MW

Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corp

Not Finalised 5.52 MW

Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corpn

Soundcraft Indus, Mumbai 3.9 MW

TOTAL

51.88 MW

WTE plant ~ Lucknow

• 5 MW Power Generation Project for MSW– Promoter

• Asia Bio-Energy (A consortium of companies in Austria,Germany, Singapore and India)

– Technology• BIMA (Biogas tech) from Austria plus some equipment

from Germany

– Capacity• 5.0 MW (nett), 5.6 MW (gross) power, 80 TPD manure

– Input waste• About 500 TPD

– Project cost• Rs 73 crore

WTE plant ~ Lucknow

WTE ~ major processes involved

• Pre-treatment: Removal of inerts / inorganic / non-biodegradable matter and homo-genisation of feedstock

• Energy Recovery: Anaerobic Digestion / Gasification / Combustion

• Post-Treatment: Stabilisation of treated / processed material for final disposal / utilisation

Incineration is a losing Financial proposition for all (1)

• Incineration is the most costly discard management option– Incinerators are at least two times more expensive

than landfillsCapital costs of incineration v/s recycling and composting

Incineration is a losing Financial proposition for all (2)

• Incinerators contribute to countries' indebtedness– In the US, on a per ton basis, sorting and

processing recyclables alone sustains 11 times more jobs than incineration

• Incinerators are capital-intensive rather than labor-intensive– While Recycling / Composting is more labor-

intensive than capital-intensive

Incineration is a losing Financial proposition for all (3)

• Wet organic materials, common in a country like India, may reduce the capacity of or shut down incinerators– In 1986 in Delhi, an incinerator was closed within

a week after its completion because the garbage from the surrounding communities was too wet to burn. The facility cost more than US$10 million to build!!

Incineration is a losing Financial proposition for all (4)

• Incineration will adversely impact the informal sector and the informal sector will diversely impact incineration– Incinerators will impose hardships on if not

jeopardize waste pickers’ livelihoods

• Energy revenues from incinerators are often over-estimated

Incineration is a losing Financial proposition for all (5)

• Incinerators may require transfer stations, which is an additional cost

• Pollution control equipment and pollution regulation and enforcement are expensive and increase costs– Incinerators are major contributors to air pollution– release pollutants such as dioxins, heavy metals,

oxides of nitrogen, sulfur oxides, particulate matter, and numerous volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere

– Neither high temperatures nor pollution control equipment can make incinerators safe

Incineration is a losing Financial proposition for all (6)

• Incinerators produce a toxic ash that requires disposal in engineered landfills, significantly adding to costs– Ash management poses severe environmental

and economic problems

• Incinerators often receive far less tonnage than they were designed to process, leading to financial problems– Example ~ Montgomery County, Maryland, US

Incineration is a losing Financial proposition for all (7)

• Lack of infrastructure in lesser industrialized countries may doom incinerators to financial failure

• Citizens and taxpayers pay for incinerators' financial problems– Construction of incinerators generally ties

governments into long-term contracts guaranteeing delivery of waste tonnage to the facilities at a specified fee (these fees usually escalate as time passes)

Incineration is a losing Financial proposition for all (8)

• Incinerators hamper least-cost options such as recycling– Materials commonly burned in incinerators such

as paper, garden discards, and some plastics have a much higher value when used as raw materials than when used as fuel

• Incineration consultants and "experts" can add millions to the costs

Incineration is a losing Financial proposition for all (9)

• Incineration's high investment costs increase potential for corruption

• Incinerators not only put the livelihoods of waste pickers at risk, but they also reduce overall employment and business opportunities from reuse and recycling

Job creation in the US from reuse and recycling versus disposal

Incineration is a losing Financial proposition for all (10)

• Incineration has high public health costs– Numerous studies have reported increased

incidence of cancers, respiratory ailments, and congenital birth defects among residents residing near incinerators

• Incineration wastes resources and energy– If the United States burned all its municipal waste

it would contribute less than 1% of the country’s energy needs (Source: Dr. Paul Connett, “Municipal Waste Incineration: A Poor Solution for the Twenty First Century”)

Incineration is a losing Financial proposition for all (10)

• Incinerators lower property values– truck traffic, blowing trash, birds and rats

attracted to trash, noise, odor, and pollution caused by incinerators can all contribute to a drop in property values

• Incineration encourages continued waste generation, diverts attention from real clean production and zero waste solutions, and reinforces the notion that unwanted discards are a local community responsibility and cost

In summary,

three to five times more

energy can be saved by recycling

materials than by burning them!!

So, what are the alternatives?

Recycling

Composting

The Alternatives ~ Examples (1)

• Mumbai– A neighborhood participating in the Advanced

Locality Management program in Andheri, Mumbai reduced its garbage disposal by half within two years (source: Shiv Kumar, “Mumbaiites resort to self-help to tackle civic issues,” India Abroad News Service, June 5, 2000)

• Chennai– A community-based organization, Exnora

International, has developed a decentralized recycling / composting approach that has the potential to divert 90% of municipal discards

High waste prevention and diversion levels are possible and cost-effective

The Alternatives ~ Examples (2)

• Pune– Municipal government granted adult waste

pickers authority to collect recyclable scrap by endorsing photo identification membership cards for a newly formed waste picker collective

– Further promoted public awareness of a new discards segregation system in which the waste pickers collect, at curbside, segregated organic and recyclable materials

– Households pay a mandatory fee to the waste pickers in return for this service. This program has benefited everyone involved (source: Poornima Chikarmane and Lakshmi Narayan, “Formalising Livelihood: Case of Wastepickers in Pune,” Economic and Political Weekly, October 7, 2000)

Collecting segregated recyclables and organics for composting

The Alternatives ~ Examples (3)

• Patna– Provides little door-to-door waste collection, and

does not operate any composting facilities or sanitary landfills

– Some of the apartment dwellers have created an innovative way to handle their organic discards using their balconies and window sills

– Residents combine organic waste, soil, floor sweepings, and dried moss from roof tops in clay pots. The mixture matures into compost in three to four months. Residents use the finished compost to grow flowers, ornamental plants, spinach, and tomatoes (source: I. Maumdar, “India,” Warmer Bulletin, Number 34, August 1999, p. 3.)

Vermicomposting

Chennai ~ Incineration vs Recycling approach

The key to healthy communities is to redirect the

millions of dollars in investments slated for

incineration systems into waste prevention

and reduction and zero waste systems

that maximize both return

on investments and economic

development opportunities