Aafrin Kidwai 
Following an order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in September, 2019, a committee comprising the Central Pollution Control Board and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has submitted its report on Pune’s Baner waste processing facility.
About 15 residential apartments were found within 200-metre radius from the segregation and crushing facility, the MPCB report uploaded to the NGT site on October 19, 2020 states.
Though measures such as misting, fogging and treatment of vent from shed and the slurry storage tank were taken by the plant operator for odour control, joint inspection officials felt prevalence of odour in and around the plant premises, the report stated.
The MPCB had granted authorisation in December 2, 2015 to Noble Exchange Environment Solution to set up and operate crushing of food waste slurry at a 300 MTD facility in Baner under the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 for a 30-year period.
The MPCB also reports that the crushed organic waste slurry from the segregation and crushing facility at Baner was proposed to be transported to Noble Exchange Environment Solutions site at Ambi, taluka Maval, Pune, for bio-methanation of the slurry.
Picture Credit: Taz, GI Market food waste, CC BY 2.0
