India’s new Solid Waste Management rules demand strict segregation, yet the Central Pollution Control Board has reclassified highly polluting waste-to-energy incinerators into a lenient “blue category.”
Despite CPCB’s own data showing a maximum Pollution Index score of 100/100 and widespread non-compliance, WTE plants are being exempted from rigorous scrutiny, clearances and public hearings, raising serious environmental and public health concerns.
With the Solid Waste Management rules (SWM rules) 2026, India has entered a new phase of waste regulation. It mandates four way segregation of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) which implies that the MSW has to be source segregated into wet waste (Organic kitchen scraps), dry waste (items like plastics, paper, glass, metal etc), sanitary waste (diapers and sanitary napkins etc) and special care waste that includes (batteries, light bulbs) etc. But at precisely this moment, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has given waste to energy (WTE) incineration a regulatory advantage by classifying it under the newly created “blue category.” The “blue” tag means that WTE incinerators need not go through a rigorous scrutiny by the pollution control board which keeps a check on the pollution by them.
However, CPCB’s own data proves that waste incineration is the highest polluting industry with a Pollution Index of 100 out of 100, the maximum pollution score possible under the CPCB’s framework.
WTE incinerators are touted to be the “silver bullet” for India’s waste crises even as evidence has been put up by the CPCB that none of the existing 21 WTEs in India are compliant to the Solid Waste Management rules. And there are plans to build about 200 more WTEs across India in the next five years.
A new report by the Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA), using the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) methodology and officially documented data, found that the four Delhi WTE incineration plants at Okhla, Ghazipur, Narela-Bawana and Tehkhand had a Pollution Index score of 100/100. What is more alarming is the finding that these plants are in open violation of the criteria for the “Blue” category, as they generate hazardous waste.
The CPCB introduced Blue as a separate category for “Essential Environmental Services” (EES) dealing with pollution arising from domestic/household activities. CPCB’s stated rationale was that services such as MSW management and sewage treatment are essential to control, abate and mitigate pollution generated from domestic and industrial activities. Categorisation of WTE incinerators as “blue” industries increases their consent to operate, a license from the pollution control board to operate the industry up to seven years without renewing the license in-between, and also states that the revised classification can be used for consent management, inspection and environmental surveillance, siting, and calculation of environmental compensation. Furthermore, the CPCB has also proposed that these industries may be exempted from any prior environmental clearance. environmental impact assessment and public hearing.
The Pollution Index (PI) is a standardised numerical score developed by the CPCB in 2016 to quantify the pollution potential of any industrial sector. The CPCB assigns a fixed score to an entire industrial category based on its typical pollution potential. Consequently, this score serves as a “regulatory blueprint” that dictates the baseline rules for every unit in that sector, regardless of whether a particular facility is newer or cleaner than its peers. It is the measure on a scale of 0 to 100 that integrates three distinct forms of environmental impact: pollution of water bodies (through effluent discharge), pollution of the air (through emissions), and generation of hazardous solid waste. For instance, the 5-year-old investigative report by the New York Times in 2024 found that WTE incinerator ash from the Okhla WTE plant was dumped illegally in landfills and contained hazardous levels of toxic substances around homes, playgrounds and schools.
A higher PI score signifies a greater degree of pollution load associated with that industrial sector. The CPCB classifies industries into Red (PI ≥ 80), Orange (55 ≤ PI < 80), Green (25 ≤ PI < 55), and White (PI < 25) categories based on their Pollution Index score. But the CPCB carved out a new “Blue Category” of industries to facilitate the setting up of the most polluting WTE incinerators which were earlier classified as Red.
The PI is calculated using three types of pollution associated with an industrial activity: water pollution (PIW), air pollution (PIA), and hazardous-waste pollution (PIH). Each component is scored on a scale of 0-100, and the overall PI is calculated from these three scores.
For WTE incinerators, CFA examined how the CPCB’s scoring framework applies to the pollution generated during the incineration process. The water pollution score (PIW) is 95, compared with the 45 assigned by CPCB. The score is based on three groups of water pollutants. The assessment considers indicators such as BOD and COD, which reflect the organic pollution load in wastewater; toxic substances such as chromium and copper; and the volume of industrial effluent generated. In the CFA calculation, these categories together reach a score of 95.
The hazardous-waste score (PIH) is also 95, compared with 60 in CPCB’s assessment. This part of the calculation captures the solid waste left after incineration, particularly the bottom ash and the fly ash. The scoring gives a high value to the generation of large quantities of hazardous waste and to the characteristics of the ash remaining after treatment. In the CFA assessment, these factors result in a score of 95.
In simple terms, the CFA analysis finds that the WTE plants score very highly not only for air pollution, but also for the polluted wastewater and hazardous ash produced by the incineration process. This is significant because these two forms of pollution receive substantially lower scores in CPCB’s assessment: 45 for water and 60 for hazardous waste, despite the documented pollution associated with WTE operations. CPCB’s own material acknowledges that WTE plants generate leachate, ash-quenching wastewater and other process effluents, while its monitoring reports document hazardous substances in ash.
The directions issued by the CPCB say that “The Essential Environmental Services (EES) which do not generate Hazardous Waste and which otherwise have large littering potential can be categorised as Blue Category Projects.” However, CFA’s new report has found WTEs to generate thousands of tons of hazardous waste per annum. Hence, WTEs cannot be classified as “blue category” industries. The four plants in Delhi process approximately 7,250 tonnes per day (TPD) of mixed waste, providing a rigorous dataset for this assessment. Documented violations include toxic air emissions, hazardous solid waste and water contaminants. Furthermore, they generate hundreds of tons of hazardous ash every single day according to the CPCB reports.
The CPCB originally measured industries on a 4-tier Pollution Index (Red, Orange, Green and White), placing WTE incinerators in the “Red” category due to their high pollution load and the first “Draft Report on Classification of Sectors into Red, Orange, Green, and White Categories” did not have the blue classification. The draft report received 161 representations of which 76 per cent came from industry and only 1 per cent came from civil society organisations and none from impacted communities. After industry dominated consultation, the Blue category was introduced rather surreptitiously via an addendum and the window period for giving comments was only 30 days. Only nine comments were received during the given window and the comments/representations have also not been made public.
The “Blue” classification of WTE plants is not merely a technical error but a fundamental policy failure that prioritises administrative convenience over human life. If the PI were applied faithfully using the CPCB’s documented evidence, WTE incineration consistently returns a PI score of 100/100—a finding that should be the non-negotiable starting point for regulation of these industries. By “bluewashing” these facilities, the state effectively sanctions the most “toxic industry" to continue its operation by dismantling existing environmental and health safeguards. This regulatory shift also carries a staggering human cost for the marginalised communities living in the shadows of these chimneys. Beyond the immediate health crisis of respiratory diseases and cancers linked to dioxins and heavy metals, there is a profound economic burden: families are pushed deeper into poverty by mounting medical bills and the loss of productivity.
Surbhi Shukla is the author of the report, “100/100 POLLUTION SCORE: 100/100 POLLUTION SCORE: WHY WASTE-TO-ENERGY INCINERATION PLANTS DON’T BELONG IN THE “BLUE” CATEGORY”
Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran is a senior researcher with the Centre for Financial Accountability and works on the post consumption impacts of plastics with a focus on Waste to Energy incineration.
Views expressed are the authors’ own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth