HAZARDOUS WASTES: INDUSTRIAL CONCENTRATION AND POLLUTION INTENSITY IN ANDHRA PRADESH Dr. Prabha Panth, ABSTRACT Disposal of hazardous wastes emitting from industries is causing severe environmental pollution across the world. In this paper, we examine the profile of hazardous wastes generation in Andhra Pradesh, India, in terms of total generation of hazardous wastes, the number of hazardous wastes generating industrial units, composition of hazardous wastes, and pollution intensity of such wastes. We also estimate the Pollution Concentration Intensity, to ascertain the districts in which there is high concentration of polluting industries, and the District Pollution Intensity, and Vulnerability Index, to depict the pollution exposure rate of population of different districts of Andhra Pradesh. Our findings show that the maximum Pollution Concentration Index is for Vishakhapatnam district, followed by Srikakulam. Shares of Recycled and Disposable wastes are similarly highest in Vishakhapatnam district, followed by Ranga Reddy district. When estimating the Vulnerability Index, we find that Hyderabad district, which has the highest population density in Andhra Pradesh, was the most vulnerable to pollution from hazardous wastes, while Nizamabad district was the least vulnerable. Finally, we look at economic and ecologically efficient ways of disposal of hazardous wastes, which will earn both profits for the generating industries, and reduce environmental pollution. INTRODUCTION: Industrial Hazardous Waste is defined by the Ministry of Environment and Forest as a su sta e, e ludi g domestic and radioactive waste, which because of its quantity and/or corrosive, reactive, ignitable, toxic and infectious characteristics causes significant hazards to human health or environment when improperly treated, stored, transported and disposed off [MOEF rules 1989]. Industrial Hazardous Waste (HW) is generated by 18 categories of industries such as petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, paint and dyes, petroleum, fertiliser, asbestos, caustic soda, inorganic chemicals, general engineering, etc. These wastes are harmful in nature as they have high concentration of toxic elements which contaminate surface and ground water, posing major ecological and health risks. Their treatment and disposal also pose environmental and health hazards; therefore, HW has to be handled and disposed off with proper care. With industrial development, the quantum of HW also increases, creating problems of safe disposal. Further, when similar types of industries converge to reap economies of agglomeration, it leads to further increase in the local concentration of HW pollution. OBJECTIVES OF THE PAPER: The main objective of this paper is to identify locations where there is concentration of HW generating industries in different regions and districts of Andhra Pradesh (AP), and the need to ensure that further burden of pollution is not imposed therein, by not allowing the establishment of more polluting factories in such regions. We analyse the concentration of HW producing industries through the Pollution Concentration Index to depict the conglomeration of hazardous waste generating industries in different districts of AP. We also estimate Pollution Intensity, and Population Intensity to identify those districts in AP that are most vulnerable to HW pollution. METHODOLOGY Secondary data on the number of HW generating industrial units, and HW generated is taken from the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board website (www.appcb.ap.nic.in) from Dec 2011 – Jan 2012, given for the year 2010. Data on population density is taken from www.apponline.com, the official AP government portal, in April 2012. Discussions on HW disposal were held with the staff of the official TSDF of AP. We use ratios, percentages and graphical methods to estimate the above parameters in our study. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Survey of literature showed that no studies have been conducted so far regarding industrial HW generation, distribution, and concentration in Andhra Pradesh. In this article, we aim to fill this gap. Earlier studies have enquired into either the technical aspects of HW generation, or on their legal aspects in India. A CPCB sponsored National Inventory of HW in India (2009) gives a detailed account of amount of HW generated, the number of HW industrial units in different states of India, and the HW generation, composition, and distribution within the country. An Indo-Japan project (2010) discusses the amount of HW produced in Gujarat, and suggests technical methods and funding for recycling, reuse, and reduction. The negative impacts of HW pollution have been described in a paper by TERI (2005) in general, as well as for specific areas of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. It specifies remedial measures to be implemented for HW disposal. Dua, A (2011), analyses the legal aspects of HW regulation in India, growth of HW generation, and offers suggestions to improve effective regulation. Ashok Pappu et.al (undated) examine potential recycling techniques of HW in India. INDUSTRIAL HW REGULATIONS IN INDIA: Since money costs of disposal and pollution impacts, are external costs, industries tend to ignore them, and throw their wastes away indiscriminately. Therefore, it is up to the government to ensure that HW is disposed of properly, without causing any environmental damage. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) has passed a number of regulations giving guidelines for the safe disposal of HW. In 1989, the MOEF passed the Hazardous Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, which was later amended in the years 2000 and 2003. In 2008 the Hazardous Wastes 2 (Management, Handling and Trans-Boundary Movement) Rules was notified, for effective HW management. The stakeholders of hazardous waste disposal include: 1. Central Government: MOEF passes the Environmental Rules, and frames the regulations. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) classifies hazardous wastes and proposes standards regarding treatment and disposal. 2. State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB): create inventories of the composition of hazardous wastes generated by industrial units in their states, and provide licenses for handling, and recycling waste materials. They have to identify disposal sites and plan facilities, called TSDF (transport, storage, and disposal facilities), for proper and environmentally safe means of treatment and disposal of HW. 3. HW producing industries: The Hazardous Wastes Rules of 2008 of MOEF stipulates that all HW produ i g i dustries are respo si le for the safe a d e iro e tall sou d ha dli g of their o ge erated HW . As per the Rules, all industries generating, treating, reprocessing, and disposing of HW, have to register with their SPCBs and with the available TSDFs. They also have to provide all information about the amount of HW generated, and disposal methods. The industries should first consider reusing, reprocessing, or recycling their HW. The remaining wastes that cannot be recycled should be disposed off in PCB authorised disposal facilities. The generator of HW should get permission from the SPCB for handling hazardous waste before starting operation. A letter of authorisation is given to such industries, to enable them to start/continue production. [MOEF HW Rules, 2008] 4. The Facility or Occupier: The responsibility of treating and disposing of hazardous waste lies with the occupier of the facility (TSDF) handling HW. There are numerous directions given to the occupier regarding how it should be transported, stored, incinerated and disposed off [MOEF HW Rules, 2008]. TSDFs should also inform the PCB annually about the amount, composition and manner of treatment of HW. HW GENERATED IN INDIA: A 2009 inventory undertaken by the CPCB showed that there were 36,165 hazardous waste generating industries in India, generating 6,232,507 MT of HW per annum. Of these, Recyclable HW comprised nearly 50%, followed by Disposable1 HW 43.78%, and Incinerable wastes 6.67 % [CPCB, National inventory of HW: 2009]. In 2009, Gujarat had the largest share (28.76%) of HW generated in India, followed by Maharashtra (25.16%), while AP was the third largest generator of HW in India (8.93%). From the information given by CPCB (Feb 2010), there were currently only 27 TSDFs in 12 states of India, while 35 notified sites and 64 identified sites were at various stages of development [CPCB website]. The annual capacities of the TSDFs range from 10,000 to 1.2 lakhs T/annum, with an operating life span of 15-30 years. This is adequate for just around 1/6th of the HW generated in India and totally inadequate to handle all the wastes. Also, most disposal facilities seem to be undertaking only 1 Wastes that can be dumped in landfills 3 landfill and incineration of HW, but not recycling. In some cases, TSDF operators have not installed hazardous waste incinerators, as the quantity of incinerable hazardous waste generation is not adequate to be economical, or else the quality is not uniform. HAZARDOUS WASTE GENERATION IN AP: Data from APPCB website showed that the total number of HW generating industrial units in AP was 3,222 in 2010, as compared to 1,739 in 2008, i.e. an average annual increase of about 43% over these two years. The share of HW generating industrial units in total industries in AP, which was around 48% in 2008, had increased to 71% in 2010. These include only the large and medium scale industries, as the small-scale i dustries i e tories ha e ot ee take . Thus, the actual number of HW generating units and wastes may be much larger. These 3,222 industrial units generated a total of 1,089,962 MT of hazardous wastes (HW) in 2010, a growth of 48% pa over 2008 [APPCB website]. The growth of Hazardous Wastes generated was thus about 5% greater than the growth of its generating industrial units in these two years. The HW generated in AP during 2010 consisted of 58% recyclable, 38% disposable (landfill), and 4% incinerable wastes [APPCB website]. Although recyclable is the largest portion, both the TSDFs in AP do not recycle HW, but dispose them off in landfills. This is both an uneconomical and environmentally unsafe way of treating recyclable wastes. REGIONAL HW GENERATION IN AP: AP consists of three regions: Telengana, Andhra and Rayalaseema, divided into five industrial zones. These are Hyderabad, Ramchandrapuram, Kurnool, Vijayawada, and Visakhapatnam Zones, covering the 23 districts of Andhra Pradesh. The first two zones cover 10 districts of Telengana; the last two covers 9 districts of Andhra region, while Kurnool covers 4 districts of Rayalaseema. 1. Telengana Region comprising of Hyderabad and Ramchandrapuram industrial zones, had the highest share of HW generating factories (57%), but contributed only 41% of HW generated in the state. 2. Andhra Region consisting of Vishakhapatnam and Vijayawada industrial zones, with 36% of HW generating industrial factories, generated 54% of the “tate s HW. 3. Rayalaseema (Kurnool zone) had a very small share of both HW generating units and wastes. • HW generation in the Five Industrial Zones of AP: APPCB data sources showed that while the maximum share of HW generating industrial units or factories was in the Hyderabad Zone (36.6%), followed by Vishakhapatnam Zone (21%), the latter had the maximum share of HW generated (54%). This could be due to the opening of the Pharma City near Vizag, and the relocation of chemical and pharmaceuticals to the coastal city [Figure 1]. The other four zones had proportio all lo er ge eratio to i dustrial u its ratio. 4 Figure 1. Share of HW generated and HW generating units in Five Industrial Zones of AP Share HW generated Share HW units • [Source: APPCB website, Dec 2011] District wide HW generation: We now look into the distribution of factories and amount of HW generated in the 23 districts of AP. We find that 69% of HW generating factories was concentrated in just 6 districts of the state in 2010. 85% of HW generated was from just 5 districts (Table 1). This shows that the amount of HW generated is highly concentrated in a few districts. Ranga Reddy district with the highest share of HW generating units of about 22% contributed just 16% of HW. Vishakhapatnam district however, with just 6.42% of HW generating units had a massive share of total HW generated (41%), other districts had even lower shares of generation and HW producing units (Figure 2). This shows that at the district level also, the share of HW generated does not match the share of HW generating factories. 5 Looking at the figure 2 above, we observe that the ranking of districts according to the amount of HW generated does not match their ranking in terms of number of HW factories. In other words, districts with a small share of total hazardous industrial units could have a higher share in total HW generated, showing greater concentration of pollution. The pollution concentration within a district thus depends on not only its share of total waste generated, but also on the number of industrial units generating these wastes. As can be seen from the above table, Vishakhapatnam with a smaller share of industrial units than Ranga Reddy had the maximum share of HW generated. This indicates that pollution intensity is not just the conglomeration of a large number of polluting units, but depends on the amount of HW generated per factory. So merely looking at the number of HW units in a district does not depict its Pollution Concentration. We now estimate the Pollution Concentration Index or PCI [Panth P.2004, Panth P. and R.A. Shastri 2011], to identify districts with the highest concentration of HW pollution. POLLUTION-CONCENTRATION INDEX (PCI): As discussed above, while certain zones have high share of HW generating units, their share of HW generated may be low, and vice versa. Hence it is necessary to take note of both these factors in the estimation of the Pollution Concentration Index. This index measures the share of a district in HW generation to its share of HW units. PCI= Share of total HW generated in a district Share of total HW industrial units in the district Thus, if a district has a 20% share in HW generated, but only 5% of the HW industrial units then its PCI= 20/5 = 4. This denotes that this district s ge eratio of HW is 4 6 times higher than its share of HW industrial units in AP. As a thumb rule, we may posit that there is high pollution concentration if PCI>1, Using this index, some surprising results emerge in terms of the pollution intensity of various districts in AP. PCI of different districts are shown in Table 1. Three districts have high HW Pollution Concentration, shown by their PCI> 1. These include Vishakhapatnam with a PCI of 6.3 (denoting a 6 times higher share in total HW, to its share of HW industrial units), followed by Srikakulam ranking second, with PCI = 5, and Nalgonda (PCI= 1.58). Six districts have PCI > 0.5, while the others have much lower PCI, Nizamabad having the least value. Table 1: Pollution Concentration Index of Districts of Andhra Pradesh (2010) Rank Districts 1 Visakhapatnam PCI 6.315 2 Srikakulam 5.043 3 Nalgonda 1.581 4 Kurnool 0.993 5 Adilabad 0.882 6 Warangal 0.822 7 Medak 0.786 8 Ranga Reddy 0.750 9 Mahaboobnagar 0.603 10 Chittoor 0.414 11 Prakasam 0.357 12 East Godavari 0.355 Estimated from above data. Rank 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Districts West Godavari Krishna Vizianagaram Guntur Khammam Anantapur Hyderabad Kadapa Nellore Karimnagar Nizamabad PCI 0.327 0.233 0.191 0.134 0.133 0.109 0.062 0.052 0.033 0.026 0.006 Thus, although there is massive HW generated in AP, it is not uniformly distributed, with some districts having high concentration of pollution generation. Knowledge of HW concentration in various districts would help in policy decisions regarding future location of HW generating industries in AP. For, even though there may be economies of scale in terms of concentration of similar industries in an area, there will also be negative externalities due to the high concentration of HW, as for instance in Vishakhapatnam, Srikakulam, and Nalgonda districts. HW COMPOSITION IN DISTRICTS OF AP: To dispose of HW, it is necessary to know its physical characteristics. HW consists of Recyclable, Landfill (Disposable), and Incinerable wastes. Recycling of HW seems to have great potential, as the wastes can be reused for further production2 [Ashok Pappu et.al. not dated]. Land filling of wastes raises the danger of toxic chemicals leaching into ground water and soil. Similarly, incineration burns wastes creating air pollution. 2 However, it is not known if the end result will be more hazardous types of wastes, or whether they would be converted into less harmful compounds. 7 SHARES OF HW COMPOSITION IN AP: Data taken from APPCB website shows that recyclable HW forms the major share of total HW (58%) in AP, followed by disposable (38%) and finally incinerable wastes (4%). The following table gives the type and shares of different types of HW over the five industrial zones in AP, 2010. Table 2 - Industrial Zones share of different types of HW Shares in total HW types Share disposable Share recyclable Share incinerable Hyderabad Zone 20.8% 22.2% 7.4% Ramchandrapuram Zone 22.5% 16.0% 49.1% Kurnool Zone 3.7% 2.3% 0.3% Vijayawada Zone 2.9% 1.7% 8.4% Vishakhapatnam Zone 50.2% 57.8% 34.9% Total 100% 100% 100% Source: APPCB website Dec 2011. Bold letters show maximum shares Vishakhapatnam had the highest share of both Disposable (50%) and Recyclable wastes (58%), followed by Ramchandrapuram and Hyderabad. While Ramchandrapuram had the highest share of Incinerable wastes 49%, Vishakhapatnam stood second at 35%, with Kurnool the least. • Share of different types of HW within Industrial Zones: We now look at the share of different types of HW within each Zone. The data is shown row-wise. At the distri t le el, 6 % of Vishakhapat a s as recyclable, followed by Hyderabad with 61%. I ase of disposa le aste, Kur ool s HW as 51% disposa le, follo ed Vija a ada ith 46%. Kur ool s had 4% i i era le HW, the highest in all the regions. Table 3 - Zone-wise Shares of different types of HW 2010 Industrial Zone Share disposable Share recyclable Share incinerable Total Hyderabad Zone 37.6% 61.0% 1.4% 100% Ramchandrapuram Zone 43.4% 46.8% 9.8% 100% Kurnool Zone 50.8% 48.7% 0.5% 100% Vijayawada Zone 46.2% 40.0% 13.8% 100% Vishakhapatnam Zone 35.5% 62.0% 2.5% 100% Total AP 38.2% 57.9% 3.9% 100% Source: APPCB website, Dec 2011 • Composition of HW – district level: The composition of HW at district levels also differs. For instance, from Table 5, it can be seen that while Visakhapatnam had the largest amount of Disposable and Recyclable wastes, Medak had the most Incinerable waste. Five districts had no incinerable wastes, while Nizamabad has zero Disposable wastes. 8 Table 4: Composition of HW – district levels AP No of Disposable units HW District Visakhapatnam 207 172,849.62 Ranga Reddy 697 78,651.10 Medak 475 51,660.64 Srikakulam 60 11,438.65 Nalgonda 151 35,905.89 Mahaboobnagar 171 5,040.92 East Godavari 217 17,982.24 Kurnool 44 6,658.23 Warangal 53 1,865.30 West Godavari 122 3,962.17 Krishna 163 4,589.14 Chittoor 90 7,777.69 Adilabad 29 5,800.00 Prakasam 46 4,794.00 Vizianagaram 70 1,862.50 Guntur 92 1,339.84 Anantapur 58 629.00 Khammam 43 1.10 Karimnagar 193 21.27 Nellore 142 1,301.56 Hyderabad 64 511.34 Kadapa 23 105.00 Nizamabad 12 0 TOTAL: 3,222 414,747 Source: APPCB website, Dec 2011 Recyclable Incinerable HW HW TOTAL HW 257,042.08 11,022.62 440,914.31 95,305.94 2,431.11 176,388.14 60,118.89 14,169.36 125,948.89 88,150.94 2,458.65 102,048.24 37,757.65 6,840.12 80,503.66 29,038.15 720.09 34,799.16 7,662.46 354.99 25,999.69 8,074.76 0 14,732.99 12,823.98 1.80 14,691.08 9,471.31 15.41 13,448.89 5,570.33 2,653.10 12,812.57 4,791.60 1.20 12,570.49 2,829.00 0 8,629.00 15.51 725.98 5,535.49 1,556.19 1,084.73 4,503.42 2,643.02 170.00 4,152.86 1,366.00 134.00 2,129.00 1,930.04 0 1,931.14 1,648.30 1.88 1,671.45 232.70 39.90 1,574.16 816.11 1.35 1,328.79 296.57 0 401.57 25.80 0 25.80 629,167 42,826 1,086,740 EXPOSURE RATE TO POLLUTION: The HW Regulations of 2008 specify that all HW generating industries should register with TSDF, as well as send their wastes to them for disposal. AP was the first state in India to set up a TSDF. Now it has two such sites owned and operated by RAMKY Enterprises – M/s. Hyderabad Waste Management Project (HWMP) at Dundigal in Ranga Reddy District, and M/s Coastal Waste Management Project (CWMP) near Visakhapatnam. From information given by RAMKY only 2800 (88%) of the 3300 HW generating units in AP had registered with them in 2010-11, and of these only 600 units (19%) were compliant using their services regularly. This raises serious doubts regarding the fate of the rest of the HW generated by the non-compliant factories in the state; for, HW being dumped indiscriminately increases risk to human health and environment, making the surrounding environment and population vulnerable to HW pollution. We now estimate the vulnerability of various districts to HW exposure. This is the product of regional pollution intensity and regional population intensity. [P. Panth 9 and R.A. Shastri, Feb 2011] 1. REGIONAL POLLUTION INTENSITY: It measures the pollution intensity per thousand sq. km. This measure stems from the idea that the spread of HW per region/district decides the ability of the regio /distri t to ear or e dure pollutio . The larger the area, the greater is the volume of air/water/land over which pollutants can be dispersed. An area of one thousand square kilometres will have half the ability to carry pollutants than an area of two thousand square kilometres. Regional Pollution intensity = HW generated in a region or district Area of the region or district This shows the area over which HW can be disposed off in each district of AP. Results are given below in Table 5. 2. VULNERABILITY INDEX: Between two regions with the same pollution intensity per sq. km., the one with a larger population density will be more vulnerable to the effects of pollution. We call this the E posure ‘ate to Pollutio or the Vul era ilit I de that assesses the vulnerability of a district s population to industrial pollution. District wise population density is estimated from the 2010 provisional figures of Census 2011, and results are shown in Table 5. Vulnerability Index = (Regional Pollution intensity/ sq km) × Regional population density 1. District Pollution intensity: In Table 5, Column 2 is estimated by dividing HW of each district by its area. This gives the amount of HW disposed of by industrial units in a square Km in their respective districts. The larger the area, the more dispersed the pollution. The lowest pollution density is in Nizamabad, and the highest is Visakhapatnam, followed by Ranga Reddy, Srikakulam and Medak. Hyderabad stood 6th in pollution intensity in terms of area3. 2. Population density: Column 2 shows that population density or population per sq km is highest for Hyderabad district. This is almost 4 times more than the next populated district of Ranga Reddy. The other districts have much lower population densities. 3. Vulnerability Index or Population Exposure Levels: is given in the third column, i.e. district level pollution into the number of persons per sq km, in Metric tonnes. The higher the population density, the more the number of persons who are exposed to pollution and greater is their vulnerability to HW pollution. Hence, we can also call this the Vulnerability Index. From table 5 it can be seen that the largest number of vulnerable population is in Hyderabad district. Due to its high population density, it has the highest population exposure levels. It is followed by Visakhapatnam, Ranga Reddy, Srikakulam, and Medak. 3 However these are only average levels; it is possible that there will be higher concentration of pollution in a few areas within a district, where toxic wastes are dumped. 10 Table 5 - The Vulnerability Index Districts Regional Population Vulnerability Relative Pollution density Index exposure* intensity (persons/ sq (MT/person/ sq (MT/sq km) km) km) 1 2 3 4=2×3 5 Nizamabad 0.003 296 0.95 1 Kadapa 0.03 171 4.45 5 Khammam 0.12 163 19.62 21 Ananthapur 0.11 193 21.50 23 Nellore 0.12 206 24.75 26 Karimnagar 0.14 299 42.30 44 Prakasham 0.31 176 55.27 58 Adilabad 0.54 156 83.66 88 Guntur 0.36 395 144.04 151 Kurnool 0.83 202 168.41 177 Chittor 0.83 249 206.12 216 Vizianagaram 0.69 347 240.75 252 Warangal 1.14 254 289.01 303 Mahaboobnagar 1.89 194 366.61 384 Krishna 1.47 485 714.68 749 W.Godavari 1.75 496 865.74 908 E.Godavari 2.41 456 1,098.13 1,151 Nalgonda 5.67 230 1,306.15 1,369 Medak 12.98 279 3,622.62 3,798 Sirkakulam 17.59 440 7,746.99 8,121 Rangareddy 23.52 500 11,750.42 12,318 Visakhapatnam 39.37 346 13,630.64 14,289 Hyderabad 6.64 19239 1,27,823.10 1,33,997 Source: Pollution data from APPCB website Dec 2011, Area and Population from www.aponline.com, April 2012 * Taking Nizamabad as the norm, the relative vulnerability positions of other districts are estimated. 4. Relative Exposure Positions: Taking Nizamabad with the lowest Population Exposure levels as the norm, we estimate the relative levels by which other districts exceed the norm. The relative positions of the various districts are shown in Column 4, showing the enormous gap between Nizamabad (1) and Hyderabad4 (134,000) exposure levels! It also shows that the population of Hyderabad is 134 thousand times more vulnerable than Nizamabad to industrial pollution. Hyderabad is followed by Visakhapatnam, Ranga Reddy, “rikakula a d Medak. Other distri ts le els of ul era ilit are also shown. HW DISPOSAL IN ANDHRA PRADESH: Our analysis shows that due to the high rate of non-compliance (81%), the 4 This is the maximum level of exposure; the actual depends on how many industrial units are compliant. 11 environment and population of AP are at great risk from HW pollution. This is more in certain districts than in others. Therefore, it is necessary to chalk out different methods to reduce, reuse, and recycle HW. • Profits from Recycling: The present method of dumping recyclable wastes into landfills is not optimum economically or ecologically. Data shows that more than half the HW in AP can be recycled, which will considerable reduce vulnerability of the environment and population. Since recyclable wastes form the bulk of HW generated in AP, dumping them in landfills means loss of a huge amount of physical resources that could have been used for further production. The costs to industries of disposing of their recyclable wastes can be reduced if industrial units undertook to recycle and reuse them. This will not only save them the costs of disposal, but also generate income through recycling. The opportunity cost of Recyclable HW presently disposed in landfills is: Profits from recycling = Re e ue ear ed fro re li g − osts of re of disposal costs li g + sa i gs Similarly, if the TSDF takes up the task of recycling HW, it can earn huge profits, and perhaps reduce its disposal charges to the member factories. Thus, districts like Vishakhapatnam which has nearly 62% recyclable wastes can significantly reduce their HW burden through recycling. It has been shown in many studies that recycling generates enough revenue to cover the initial costs of plant and material required for recycling [TERI, 2005]. A study by Panth, P [2008] showed that the rate of payback of recycling wastes from waste streams ranged from 6 months to 5 years. • Profits from Incinerable Wastes: Similarly, incinerable wastes can be used to generate power, and the ash used in various industries. Both these methods turn HW into economic resources, and not pollutants. Incineration merely burns up high calorific wastes which produces energy. Incineration converts the solid wastes to air pollution and ash. Some very toxic gases may be released in the process, and the problem of disposing off the ash also arises. The CPCB is encouraging co-processing of incinerable wastes, i.e. as raw material and as a source of energy to replace fossil fuels in energy intensive industries such as cement, lime, steel, glass, and power generation. In the case of cement kilns the high temperatures ensure complete destruction of harmful pollutants. Further, metal and non-metallic wastes are captured in the clinker substances of cement and rendered harmless. A number of successful projects have been undertaken wherein incinerable wastes have been used to generate energy for cement plants; these should be extended to all Incinerable HW in the country. [CPCB Feb.2010] SUMMARY: AP generated the third largest amount of Hazardous Wastes in India in 2010. While the number of HW producing factories is highest in Telengana, the amount of HW generated is highest in Andhra region. 12 Data showed that there is no match between number of HW generating units and total HW generated in different districts of AP. Thus Visakhapatnam district with a smaller share in HW generating units, had the highest share in amount of HW generated, while Ranga Reddy had the largest number of HW generating factories, but only 2/3 of HW generated compared to Vishakhapatnam. Since HW generated per district does not follow the same ranking as the HW units, an index showing the relative concentration of pollution in each district – called the Pollution Concentration Index (PCI), was estimated. To estimate the Pollution Concentration Index (PCI), the share of a district in total HW production is divided by its share in total HW units. If PCI is greater than unity, it shows a high level of concentration of polluting units in that area. Again Visakhapatnam emerged first with the highest PCI, with its rate of HW generation more than 6 times its share in HW producing units, followed by Srikakulam and Nalgonda districts. The PCI shows that future location of polluting industries should not be permitted in these districts, as it will lead to more environmental problems. Similarly location of these industries in highly vulnerable areas such as Hyderabad should be avoided in future, to reduce the risk factor of pollution to the local population and environment. Although APPCB conducts regular inspections, and imposes penalties, obviously this is not enough to deter the non-compliant industries. Data from TSDF showed just 19% compliance of HW units in AP, which means that the other 81% industrial units are indiscriminately dumping their wastes. The larger the area of a district, the more dispersed will be the HW currently being dumped. This is the basis for calculating the Pollution Intensity Index. But the larger the population density, the greater will be the vulnerability of the population to HW pollution. The Vulnerability Index estimated for all 23 districts shows that Hyderabad district, with the highest population density is the most vulnerable to HW pollution. HW consists of recyclable, disposable and incinerable wastes. Recyclable wastes form the major share of HW generated in AP. There is great potential to recycle HW, and to generate energy through incineration. However, in AP neither of these methods is being used to reduce HW pollution, and to earn profits from wastes, showing economic and ecological inefficiency by both the industries and TSDF. The problem of HW disposal and treatment needs to be better organised in AP, with stricter regulations, inspections, and penalties imposed on non-compliant industries. Recycling of HW has to be taken up on a large scale, so that nearly 50% of the HW in AP can be recycled – reducing pollution and generating profits. Incineration of wastes for power generation should also be taken up, to reduce pollution. REFERENCES: Ashokan Pappu et.al. u dated : “olid astes ge eratio i I dia a d their re li g pote tial i uildi g aterials , www.dspace.library. iitb.ac.in/jspui /bitstream/ 10054/1649/1/5691.pdf. Accessed Jan.2012 CPCB [2008]: Report on Incinerable Hazardous Wastes by the Operators of Common Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities and Captive HW incinerators, November www.cpcb.nic.in accessed, Feb 2012 13 CPCB: [2009] Report on National Inventory of Hazardous Wastes Generating Industries & Hazardous Waste Management in India, CPCB website, accessed Jan 2012. CPCB [2010]: Guideli es o Co‐processi g i Ce e t/Power/Steel I dustry, February www.cpcb.nic.in Dua, Aanchal [2011]: The role of environmental regulatory agencies in the management of hazardous industries in India , Chicago-Kent Journal of Environmental and Energy Law, pp 86 - 102 MOEF [2008]: The Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and Trans-boundary Movement) Rules, The Gazette of India: Extraordinary, Notification, Sept Panth, Prabha [2008]: The Economic Significance of Wastewater Management, a case study of Bollaram Industrial Estate: Hyderabad. UGC Major Research Project Report, unpublished, Osmania University, Hyderabad Panth, Prabha and Rahul A. Shastri [Feb. 2011] ‘egio al Patter s i the Distri utio of Polluti g U its The Indian Economy Review, Delhi, pp 152-164 TERI, Tata Energy Research Institute [2005]: Hazardous waste management in India, Tech Monitor, Jan-Feb, pp 22-27 14