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A RECENT move by the Maurya Sheraton,a five-star hotel in New Delhi (the onlyhotel in the Asia-Pacific region to beawarded the prestigious diploma ofexcellence at the 1993 PollutionSolutions Environmental Awards), tofurther boost its 'green image' al butblew up on its face.
The hotel had purchased a pyrolatorfor reducing its organic wastes into ashmanure; the device was to be inaugurated on June 6 (World EnvironmentDay). The model, jp 50/1, was developedby the Kerala-based Jaison Pyrolators,and is reported to have cost the hotel Rs7 to 8 lakhs. Requiring 22 Kw of energyto heat organic waste at 600-700'c intoash manure, it had received approvalfrom the Kerala State Pollution ControlBoard in 1992.
Sustained efforts by Shristi, a non-governmental organisation involved inmunicipal waste technology, convincedthe hotel that installing a pyrolator wasnot a good idea. Stated Ravi Agarwal,one of the members of Shristi, "They[Maurya] can go ahead and install apyrolator if they like. After all it is theirmoney and it is their hotel. My onlyobjection is that they should not do itunder an 'environmentally friendly'heading because that wouldn't be accurate."
Maurya finally decided to stop theinstallation of the pyrolator after ameeting with the Central PollutionControl Board (CPCB) on June 10.According to CPCB's D K Biswas, theboard advised Maurya against installation of the pyrolator because it was concerned that the low temperatures of thepyrolator would not sufficiently disposeoff the waste and instead release dangerous dioxins into the air.
Interestingly, a press release issuedby Maurya, extolling the benefits of thepyrolator, did not specify whether purelyorganic wastes would be used. Alsodespite its green image, the hotel did notexamine locally available indigenoustechnology, which is much more cost-effective, energy producing, and anenvironment-friendly way of usingorganic waste as a resource.
Krishna Mohan, micro-biologist atthe Tata Energy Research Institute,Delhi, stated that installing a bio-digestor at a place like Maurya, wouldcost just over Rs 1 lakh. "We haveinstalled one such bio-digestor,at theNirula Hotel in Noida over a year ago."Dipak Nirula, director of the hotel,remarked, "Methane (with which wateris heated for the boiler), sludge (forcompost) and water, is generated fromthe bio-digestor."
Whether scuttling the pyrolator wasa face-saving act or not, the incidentbrings to the fore an obsession at tackling Waste as an end-of-the-pipe problem, and a stubborn refusal on the partof the government and industry to tryand address the problem at the source.What the government needs to informpeople, is whether these short-term solutions are the answers to their ecologicalproblems. And more importantly, whyare-we producing technologies that havebeen rejected across the globe?