Explained | Why do so many waste-to-energy plants fail? Premium

Anything short of the unwavering support of a municipality, its residents, and the State, and a waste-to-energy plant will become infeasible.

The Kerala government recently announced the State’s first waste-to-energy project in Kozhikode. The planned facility is expected to be built in two years and generate about 6 MW of power.

There are around 100 waste-to-energy projects around the country but only a handful of them are operational, thanks to various production and operation challenges.

Waste-processing infrastructure is a good way to deal with the mountains of waste that Indian cities produce – but to succeed, such projects need the unwavering support of the municipality, its residents, and the State.

Waste-to-energy projects use non-recyclable dry waste to generate electricity. The process increases the State’s power generation capacity and eases the solid waste management (SWM) burden.

Generally, solid waste in India is 55-60% biodegradable organic waste, which can be converted into organic compost or biogas; 25-30% non-biodegradable dry waste; and around 15% silt, stones, and drain waste.

Of the non-biodegradable dry waste, only 2-3% – including hard plastics, metals, and e-waste – is recyclable. The remainder consists of low-grade plastic, rags, and cloth that can’t be recycled. This fraction of the non-recyclable dry waste is the most challenging portion of the present SWM system; the presence of these materials also reduces the efficiency of recycling other dry and wet waste.

Waste-to-energy plants use this portion to generate power. The waste is combusted to generate heat, which is converted into electricity.