Recycling & EnvironmentYear 6, Issue no. 26

TOP NEWS INSIDE

Green hydrogen purchase to be mandatory for some sectors: R K Singh

Delhi air pollution: How cooking took over from farm fires a as number 1 toxin

UP pollution control board becomes first with four NABL accredited river water testing labs in India

S. Korea promotes pyrolysis recycling to convert waste plastics into fuel

REIAI Weekly E-Newsletter

Sooner or later, we will have to recognise that the Earth has rights, too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans.

Evo Morales

Ministry may give green nod to Adani’s coal-to-PVC plant

RECYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

2 Recycling & Environment

R K BansalSecretary & Director General

Friends,

The draft EIA Notification 2020 is again in the news. Green energy is getting a push, this time from the largest industry house of the country, viz, Reliance. Chennai Corporation is becoming a role model in waste management and health services to other states in the country. NITI Aayog and MEITY come out with a strategy paper for promoting RE and CE in EEE sector. Air quality in many cities continues to be poor despite the reduced activities on account of the lockdowns necessitated by the second wave of Covid 19. These and many other interesting and exciting developments are included in this week’s issue of Recycling & Environment.

In this week’s piece by Mr K. P. Nyati, he takes you from wealth generation to the impacts on environment thereof and mentions a few alternative choices to reduce the same.

We look forward to receiving your contributions to the newsletter and feedback on how to improve and enrich the content further.

Happy reading!

25 June 2021

Message from Director General

3

K P Nyati Executive Director & Founder

In last few weeks, we discussed the wealth generating activities, having begun with the importance of SOMEWHERE. We ended up by seeing this SOMEWHERE depleting in terms of its ability to provide us with the primary resources we need. Should our population continue to rise, and per capita consumption of these resources maintain its upward trend the ability of somewhere – for example mining - shall get further compromised. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves - do we have a choice? Alternative paths? Yes, we have choices and a few of them could be as follows.

ONE: Give impetus to reuse, recovery and recycling activities, to bring back the very primary resources into the economy. Why should anything that we discard, need to end up in the landfills or waste piles? Why should we not use the landfills or dumpsites of the past as above-ground mines?Of course, there are challenges - perhaps multiples of them. For example, waste segregation currently is a big problem. Not merely as wet and dry waste but also within the generically called plastic waste where segregation into PET, HDPE, LDPE, PVC and so on remains to haunt us. In nutshell, we are unable at the moment to segregate waste into easily recyclable resources. Yet another challenge for the recycling industry is how to stop downcycling the resources it recovers in terms of quality of recovered resources.

TWO: Why the hell do we generate so much of waste in the first place? Can we not minimise generation of waste in all our activities, including of course, wealth generating activities? Can we not pursue the goal of making all our activities into Zero Waste activities? Some may call such an idea absolutely utopian, while others may argue that if the idea is worthwhile or desirable, one should endeavour to make progress in that direction.

There could indeed be many other choices or pathways. One should encourage, no body would argue, alternative choices. For instance, someone may cite the need of finding replacement resources, materials that could take place of resources we currently use for designated purpose or utility, as we move towards future.

Thankfully, people have started asking the right questions. For example, the citizens of Iceland and other Nordic Countries questioned as to why tooth paste tubes should have additional packaging? That cardboard/paper box in which the toothpastetube is sold in the market! In fact, customers refused to buy toothpaste from stores that were selling with the additional packaging. This story was shown on TV a couple of years ago as well.

But we must appreciate the fact, that this simple act of customers might have delivered many benefits. On one hand, this act benefits the issue of resources - not needing the packaging. On the other, it delivers environmental benefits of not transporting this additional packaging to the stores. From stores to homes where we would have instantly put it in the dustbin; and it would have been transported again from dustbins at home to the landfills.

Look at Delhi. More than 20 million people live here. It can be visualized that at least one lakh tooth paste tubes must be getting sold every day. Now see the consequential environmental burden and burden on the pockets of Delhiites because they are paying for the cardboard box as well, despite the fact that it serves no useful purpose.

Some more next week.

The Journey continues

Recycling & Environment

4

Environment

"India has symbiotic relationship with Bhutan. Today, both countries signed an MoU which will open new vistas of bilateral cooperation in the areas of climate change, waste management, etc.," the minister tweeted.

India, Bhutan sign MoU for cooperation on climate change, waste managementThe environment ministry’s impact

assessment division granted standard terms of reference (TOR) to the plant on April 17. The grant of TOR is one of the first steps in the environmental clearance process.

Ministry may give green nod to Adani’s coal-to-PVC plant

Read more

In his letter to Javadekar sent on Monday, Dohling has said: “With great pain I write to you regarding issuance of Environmental Clearance by Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Impact Assessment Division to M/S Star Cement Meghalaya Ltd for Bryshirnot Limestone Division I in East Jaintia Hills District Meghalaya…despite stiff opposition from villagers and NGOs in the public hearing held on 19.10.2019, 31.01.2009 and 21.11.2020 conducted by Deputy Commissioner East Jaintia Hills district. It seems environmental clearance has been issued based only on the Deputy Commissioner, East Jaintia Hill’s Deputy Commissioner’s recommendation.’’

Meghalaya minister asks Centre to rethink green clearance to mining project in state

Dohling is a leader of regional party People’s Democratic Front party — a BJP ally and also a member of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance.

Read more

Read more

Under RPO, bulk purchasers like discoms, open access consumers and captive users are required to buy a certa in proport ion of renewable energy out of their total consumption of electricity. They can also buy RE certificates from renewable energy producers to meet the RPO norms.

Green hydrogen purchase to be mandatory for some sectors: R K Singh

Read more

RECYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

Recycling & Environment

5

Environment

The draft EIA 2020 which was published on March 23, 2020 has been in the eye of a storm since then because of widespread opposition to certain clauses in the draft which could weaken the process of granting environmental clearance...

Accept NEERI’s advice to rework contentious draft EIA 2020: Activists to CentreIn the midst of the deadly second

wave of COVID-19, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change sought public comments on its draft Fly Ash Notification 2021.

Environment Min’s Draft Fly Ash Notification Is an Attempt To Justify Pollution

Read more

Pushing back strongly at the union ministry of environment for introducing more than “30 amending notes” that allegedly “further dilute” the legally binding environmental safeguards of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, more than 100 civil society organisations and individuals have written to environment minister Prakash Javadekar. They have urged him to acknowledge the “20 lakh objections to the EIA draft 2020” after the draft was made public last year and to also “address gaps in the new report” compiled by Council of Scientific & Industrial Research — National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI) appointed by the ministry to collate those public comments.

Activists write to environment minister over concerns with new EIA draft

To avert a new flashpoint following nearly 20 lakh suggestions and objections about the green clearance processes, the ministry appointed CSIR-NEERI to compile the points of contention that could be incorporated in the revised draft.

Read more

Read more

Delhi is well behind its 2022 solar power target of 2,762MW of installed solar panels, having met an abysmal 7 per cent of the target so far. The analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment as part o f i ts State of Ind ia’s Environment 2021 report says this is also significantly...

Delhi yet to meet its 2022 solar power target, 7 per cent achieved so far

Read more

RECYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

Recycling & Environment

6

Environment

Coal transportation and evacuation cause more damage to the environment as compared to its production, Coal India Chairman and Managing Director Pramod Agarwal has said.

Agarwal, while speaking at the Economic Times Energy leadership Summit, said that as far as the environmental impact of coal usage is concerned, it is the consumption of coal which is majorly responsible for the detrimental effects.

Read more

Coal transportation and not production causes maximum damage to the envt: Coal India C h a i r m a n P r a m o d Agarwal

In nine months since September, a file containing a proposal seeking environmental approval to upgrade a highway in Sikkim has travelled about 1,500 km from Shillong to Kolkata to Guwahati, before returning to rest in an office in Kolkata. Until last week, the file had not been examined, an official in the environment ministry said.

India’s environment ministry created new offices – but failed to hire staff for them

Read more

Reliance will build solar manufacturing units, a battery factory for energy storage, a fuel cell-making factory and an electrolyzer unit to produce green hydrogen as a part of the business, Ambani said

RIL launches new clean energy business, to invest 75,000 crore in 3 years

Read more

CIL is planning to increase the capacity of the existing mechanized system, which carries only 150 million ton (MT), by 450 MT

RECYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

Recycling & Environment

“The local residents around Vaikunth crematorium have been complaining about increasing air pollution from the crematorium. They have also approached the NGT and Bombay High Court with a complaint," said Hemant Rasane

PMC appoints NEERI to undertake study on air pollution at Vaikunth crematorium

Expect better air quality as the state government plans to set up m o r e a c c u r a t e , l o w - c o s t monitoring sensors to identify air pollution hotspots in the Mumbai region.

Maharashtra: Low-cost sensors could track air pollution hotspots, says study

Read more

An analysis of the PM2.5 contribution of various sectors to Delhi’s air in the winter of 2020 by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) has revealed that emission from farm fires was highest in the first phase of the season, but local sources dominated in the subsequent periods. Emissions from household solid fuel usage for cooking and space heating was the primary contributor, followed by road and transport.

Delhi air pollution: How cooking took over from farm fires as number 1 toxin

Waste burning’s contribution to PM2.5 was estimated at 9%. Emissions from power plants and diesel-generator sets largely remained unchanged at 7%. Read more

Read more

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a notification to make the PUC (Pollution Under Control) certificate for all vehicles uniform across the country and also to link the PUC database with the National Register.

Govt makes pollution certificates uniform for all vehicles across India

Read more

7

Air Pollution

RECYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

Recycling & Environment

8

Air Pollution

The study that was commissioned by Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) was carried out over a span of 15 months, starting April 2019. The researchers studied admission records of six big government hospitals—Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Lok Nayak Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital and Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital, according to a press note released on Wednesday. The DPCC did not share the detailed report.

Read more

Every 10-unit rise in PM levels leads to 7 hospital admissions in DelhiAccording to the study, increase in cases of bronchitis, bronchial asthma is directly proportional to the increase in the air quality index (AQI) in Delhi.Every 10-unit increase in ultra-fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) leads to at least seven respiratory distress-related hospital admissions in Delhi every week, a study conducted by Maulana Azad Medical College shows.

Researchers compared the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) air quality data for Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai and Kolkata over the three months of March, April and May in 2019 – when there was no lockdown and 2020 and 2021 – when there was complete lockdown in these cities.

Pollution levels in lockdown months above permissible limits in Delhi, Lucknow; increased in Mumbai: Study

Read more

Data on air quality reported from six industrial cities in Punjab suggests that the particulate matter (PM10) concentrations in all six cities were greater than the permissible limit on more than 50 per cent of days in the first half of 2021 and that even during Covid lockdown the air quality in Punjab ranged from poor to very poor.

In first half of 2021, Punjab AQI was‘poor’ even during lockdown

Read more

RECYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

Recycling & Environment

9

Water Pollution

UP pollution control board becomesfirst with four NABL accredited river water testing labs in India

LUCKNOW: In a major development, nat ional accreditation board for testing and calibration laboratories (NABL) has granted certificate for the validation of quality & technical competence to three regional laboratories of Uttar Pradesh pollution control board including Ghaziabad, Bijnor and Prayagraj for river water quality and industrial effluent testing.

With a prime focus on clean river Ganga mission, the laboratories will help over 1,000 grossly polluting industries (major) Sugar, distillery, paper-mill, leather and 25,000 water populating units of dying & washing, food beverage, dairy, chemical industries, sewage treatment plants and others discharging effluent in river, tested.

Read more

WATCH - Delhi: Toxic foam veils Yamuna river, environmentalists worried over rise in water pollution

With poor air quality prevailing in the national capital, thereby lowering the visibility, water pollution in Delhi had also started increasing steadily. On Wednesday morning, visuals from Delhi's Kalindi Kunj show the dismal condition of the Yamuna river. A thick layer of toxic foam was seen floating on the surface of the Yamuna river in the national capital.

According to environmentalists, the reason catering to the formation of the toxic foam could possibly be attributed to the release of certain gases that reacts with few specific bacteria leading to frothing. The experts have further added that the formation of froth was a common phenomenon in Yamuna river. However, the same had increased gradually in past five to six years.

Read more

RECYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

Recycling & Environment

https://epaper.patrika.com/imageview_302587_59557812_4_1_24-06-2021_4_i_1_sf.html

10

Waste Management

South Korea will promote the adoption of pyrolysis plastic recycling to convert waste plastics and vinyl into processed oil that can be used as fuel or raw material to produce recycled petrochemical products.

S. Korea promotes pyrolysis recycling to convert waste plastics into fuelThe push for a global coherent

strategy to tackle ocean plastic pollution is gaining momentum amidst failure by some of the world’s biggest pol luters to endorse a United Nations-led process to enact a treaty.

NGOs and Governments Push for World Treaty on Plastic Waste

Read more

The Chennai Corporation is becoming a role model in Solid Waste Management and health services to other States in the country. On June 18, a group of officials from Punjab’s Ludhiana Municipal Corporation headed by its Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu visited Chennai to learn about the city’s waste management practices.

After they inspected various waste treatment facilities, segregation facilities, and composting practices of the Chennai Corporation, they were left awestruck and assured to implement similar practices efficiently in their home State.

Chennai Corp earns praise for waste management, health services

The Chennai Corporation is becoming a role model in Solid Waste Management and health services to other States in the country.

Read more

Read more

Electronics are integral to modern society, but electronic waste (e-waste) presents a complex and growing challenge in the path toward a circular economy—a more susta inable economic system that focuses on recycling materials and minimizing waste.

Research Project on Circular Economy of e-Waste

Read more

RECYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

Recycling & Environment

11

Waste ManagementTo reduce the load on the Bandhwari landfill, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) is planning to develop material recovery facilities, for segregating waste at a secondary level, officials said on Wednesday. A material recovery facility will have various types of machines to segregate waste at different stages, through which items such as plastics, glass bottles, metals and paper, among other such items, can be recovered, recycled, and sold.

Material recovery facilities to replace secondary waste collection pointsCurrently, all waste collected from households is dumped at a waste collection point or waste pit, marked as secondary points, from where it is carried to the landfill for processing.

Read more

After the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) failed to comply with tribunal directions by not clearing the legacy waste as stipulated, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed encashment of the PMC’s bank guarantee of Rs 2 crore to restore the environment.

Failure to clear legacy waste: NGT directs encashment of Rs 2 cr bank guarantee by PMC

Read more

A gap analysis study conducted by the International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS) indicates several states in the country are at increased risk of Covid-19 infections due to non-compliance to biomedical waste management rules.

Poor biomedical waste disposal puts Maharashtra at greater risk of Covid: Study

Read more

RECYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

Recycling & Environment

12

Climate Change

New Delhi: India will demand equitable distribution of carbon space along with fresh finance in the upcoming Glasgow COP26 Summit, said environment minister Prakash Javadekar at the Economic Times Energy Leadership Summit 2021 on Friday.

He said that climate change was a result of 200 years of unbridled carbon emissions from industrialised countries and has not happened overnight.

Read more

We will demand equal distribution of carbon space, fresh finance at G l a s g o w C O P 2 6 : Javadekar

He said that climate change was a result of 200 years of unbridled carbon emissions from industrialised countries and has not happened overnight.

Climate scientists are increasingly concerned that global heating will trigger tipping points in Earth’s natural systems, which will lead to widespread and possibly irrevocable disaster, unless action is taken urgently.

IPCC steps up warning on climate tipping points in leaked draft report

Read more

The Cornwall G7 summit sought to re-establish a common purpose among the richest democracies of the world. It also continued with the recent tradition among the rich to seek more than their “fair” share from the large developing countries. Climate change was a clear case in point.

What the G7 message on net-zero emissions means for India

Read more

RECYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

Recycling & Environment

13

International

Voters reject three environmental billsOn 13 June 2021 Swiss voters decided on three environmental bills concerning CO2, clean drinking water and healthy food, and artificial pesticides.

The revised CO2 Act would have allowed Switzerland to build on and reinforce its current climate policy in order to limit the global temperature increase, which requires a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

To comply with Switzerland's commitments under the Paris Agreement, the revised CO2 Act provided that at least 75% of the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions must be achieved through domestic measures. Read more

International Recycling Week: Don’t break a virtuous circle

In an era when reducing carbon emissions is a planetwide priority, neither shipping lines nor politicians should be in a hurry to interrupt the long-standing global supply chain of recovered fiber. That was the message from former Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) President Ranjit Baxi, speaking at the online International Recycling Week event on June 21.

Baxi, managing director of London-based International Recycling Ltd., said Europe generates from 4 to 7 million tons of surplus recovered fiber annually “for which we need a home.” Traditionally two things have made that a practical and profitable endeavor: affordable sea freight rates from Europe to Asia, and regulations that support the free flow of baled scrap paper from one nation to another. (The same circumstances apply to North America’s surplus scrap paper.)

Read more

RECYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

Recycling & Environment

14

InternationalA climate change sceptic will be Australia's new deputy prime minister after a leadership revolt in the coalition government's minor party, making it harder for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to achieve a commitment of zero net emissions by 2050.

Australia's reliance on coal-fired power makes it one of the world's largest carbon emitters per capita, but its conservative government has steadfastly backed the country's fossil fuel industries, arguing tougher action on emissions would cost jobs.

Australia's new deputy PM casts shadow over 2050 n e t z e r o e m i s s i o n s ambitionAustralia's reliance on coal-fired power makes it one of the world's largest carbon emitters per capita, but its conservative government has steadfastly backed the country's fossil fuel industries, arguing tougher action on emissions would cost jobs.

Read more

Berlin, The German government has adopted an emergency climate protection program worth eight billion euros ($9.6 billion) to help the country achieve its new climate targets, Minister of Finance Olaf Scholz said in a statement.

Germany adopts $9.6billion climate protection program

Read more

Cryptomining is big business in China, accounting for more than half of global bitcoin production. But the State Council, China's cabinet, last month vowed to clamp down on bitcoin mining and trading as part of a series of measures to control financial risks.

China's cryptocurrency-mining crackdown spreads to Sichuan

Read more

RECYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

Recycling & Environment

15

Forest/Wildlife

Why Salim Ali’s ‘The Book of Indian Birds’ is Indian birdwatchers’ favourite guide

It is a small book, my copy of Salim Ali’s The Book of Indian Birds — a hardcover version, bound in green, a mere 187 pages. I have the 1979 edition. The cover is long gone, leaving behind a few tatters of the original, but I am hard put to think of a book I have treasured and used as much. The book and an old pair of Bushnell binoculars acquired some 20 years ago are a part of my essential travelling kit, as essential as a toothbrush and comb.

How green are India’s agri-exports?Agri-exports touched $41.8 billion in FY 2020-21, registering a growth of 18 per cent over the previous year. This has brought some cheer within government circles and helped improve domestic farm prices somewhat.

Read more

Mamata Banerjee's mangrove project does not enthuse eco-watchers

Read more

RECYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

Recycling & Environment

Read more

AD

VER

TIS

EMEN

T

AD

VER

TIS

EMEN

T

Credits

airqualitynews.com

abc.net.au

aninews.in

bhaskar.com

business-standard.com

businesstoday.in

deccanchronicle.com

economictimes.indiatimes.com

forbes.com

financialexpress.com

hindustantimes.com

indianexpress.com

indiatoday.in

theguardian.com

thehindu.com

thelogicalindian.com

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

tribune.com

mongabay.com

newindianexpress.com

packagingeurope.com

packagingsouthasia.com

resource.co

recycling-magazine.com

waste-management-world.com

zeenews.india.com

Nile limited

Rubamin Pvt ltd.

Pashupati Group

Media Advertisement

RECYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

Office: 3rd Floor, Plot No. 39, Jawahar Dhatu Bhawan,Tughlakabad Institutional Area,Near Batra Hospital, New Delhi-110062.

Email : reiarecycle@gmail.comWebsite: www.reiaindia.orgPh: 011- 21820042 (O)

Disclaimer : The news excerpts given in this e-newsletter are not created by the Association (REAI). It is a compilation of news from various sources and electronic links have been provided to the respective sources. Also we are providing the credit to the news source on the credits page. The views expressed in this newsletter are not the views of the association.

For contribution to the Newsletter, membership details and advertisement. Please contact Rajni- 9599263135 Reshu- 98734 87630 Email Id - reiarecycle@gmail.com

or visit our website www.reiaindia.org

For old news, Please click on the below linkhttp://reiaindia.org/NEWS.html