Not only are the spent solvent industries in Hyderabad being brought to book by the AP Pollution Control Board, but a message is also being driven home that spent solvents are to be treated as a “hazardous waste” and not a by-product.
Industries will be asked to treat, dispose off or recycle the spent solvents under the hazardous waste (mana-gement and handling) rules. The APPCB had earlier constituted a special task force to keep a vigil on more than 30 spent solvent recovery or reprocessing industries in Hyderabad. The APPCB has taken note of the improper disposal of sludge or residue left after the distillation of these spent solvents. “Spent solvents are being generated by several industries, including pharma, pesticides, paints, chemicals, etc. These are further distilled or processed, leaving enormous amounts of hazardous waste, which needs to be incinerated at high temperatures,” said an official.
Officials say both the industries that generate spent solvents and those that deal with their reprocessing will have to record, handle, transport, manage and dispose off spent solvents through the same procedure as that of “hazardous wastes”. While show-cause notices for closure have been slapped against distillation industries in the past for not following the norms, sources say that some of the units are even functioning without APPCB’s consent with respect to dealing with hazardous wastes.
“Now the onus of disposing off hazardous waste in a proper manner by equipped agencies is on the generator of the waste, and the transportation, treatment, storage and disposal should follow the norms for hazardous wastes,” said an official, adding that the spent solvents were being used for adulterating fuels.