There is a constant discussion on what to do with waste, now talking about industrial waste. While landfills in the wrong places are bad, and the discussion of if the waste is necessary in the first place is non-existant; incineration is the most hazardous of all methods on handling waste. With the released “Guidelines on Co-processing in Cement/Power/Steel Industry” by the Indian Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 2010, cement plants were turned into hazardous waste facilities by allowing them to incenerate their accumulated pile of industrial post-production and post consumer municipal waste.
Regarding this official approval of industrial waste inceneration as extremely critical, CEM together with its partner GAIA conducted an assessment. The results of the study exposed the CPCB decision to be at the expense of the environment, with the sanction to burn the hazardous waste being in violation with numerous active laws such as the Environmental Protection Act, EIA Notification and Hazardous Waste Rules. The study included the assessment of the pollution from such cement plants, the effectiveness of the monitoring mechanisms by the local agencies and the long term monitoring and regulating capablilties of the cement units by the CPCB.
For more detail, read the report:
Report on Cement Co-incin Jan 2014