Pollutants emitted from Mumbai’s bakeries equivalent to smoking 5 billion cigarettes annually, says report

The report titled ‘Envisioning a Sustainable Bakery Industry for Mumbai’ highlighted the environmental impact caused by carbon intensive fuels like wood and scrap wood which generates PM 2.5 — one of the major contributors to air pollution in Mumbai.

At present, there are a total 628 registered bakeries in Mumbai, out of which BEAG carried out physical surveys and inspections in 216 bakeries.

The survey report states that out of the 216 bakeries that were surveyed, 47 per cent or 100 bakeries predominantly use wood as source of fuels, followed by 28 per cent bakeries that run on electricity and 20 per cent bakeries that use both electricity and Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) for fuel consumption.

Dr Tuhin Banerji, project head for the survey and former senior scientist at CSIR NEERI, said that out of the 100 bakeries that use wood as the source of fuel only 72 maintains an inventory of fuel consumption.

“Our findings show that the average consumption by wood is around 130 kg per day, which leads to emission of at least 80,381 kg of PM 2.5 annually from these 72 bakeries. The remaining 28 bakeries that run on wood don’t keep an inventory of fuel consumption therefore their emission levels couldn’t be calculated,” Banerji told The Indian Express Wednesday.

“80,000 KG of PM 2.5 accounts for smoking five billion cigarettes in a lifetime. An average human being doesn’t even consume these many cigarettes in a lifetime,” he said.

The BEAG report also pointed out that between 2017 and 2023 the island city has recorded an increase in the number of new bakeries.

“At present, bakeries contribute to 2.6 per cent of the city’s total air pollution level. The numbers appear to be much lower if compared with vehicular emission and construction works. However, one needs to note that these bakeries are located in densely populated areas and have a much more direct effect on the human lives and vulnerable groups staying in those areas,” said Hema Ramani, campaigns director at BEAG.

As a remedial measure to curb the air pollution levels, BEAG proposed conversion of the wood-operated bakeries into electric or PNG facilities.

“Most of the bakery owners hesitate using LPG cylinders since there is a lack of space to accommodate the cylinders. Since these facilities are located in slum areas the administration often finds it difficult to lay pipelines for supplying PNG. Therefore, positive stakeholder engagement and incentives need to be implemented to transition the bakeries into cleaner fuels,” Ramani said.