Union Carbide waste: Final disposal trial ends

“The third trial began on March 10 at 7.41 am with a blank run of the incinerator and waste feeding began at 7.41 pm at a rate of 270 kg/hour. This continued till March 12, 8.43 am. Residual waste will be disposed of after the results of the trials, as per the order of the Honourable High Court,” an MPPCB release said.

Samples of dioxins and furans, toxic chemicals emitted during incineration from all three trials are yet to be analyzed, MPPCB said.

In the first trial, the waste fed was at a rate of 135 kg/hour and the second trial saw a feed rate of 180 kg/hour. The trial incineration phases were carried out complying with a February 18 order of the Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

On December 3, the court had directed the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department to clean up Union Carbide factory site and take all remedial steps for removal and safe disposal of the waste from the area concerned.

As the waste was transported to the Pithampur facility, the local citizens protested against the plans to incinerate, citing it posed an environmental hazard.

In its February 18 order, the MP High Court noted that 11 representatives of people requested the Dhar collector to conduct trial runs of 10 metric tonnes after sharing results of the same with the public.