Plasticdweep: 4,000 tonnes of non-biodegradable waste pile up in Lakshadweep

Time of India

5 hours ago

Kochi: Black noxious clouds stood as a stark contrast to the azure blue sky on the outskirts of northern Minicoy island, suffocating residents staying even 200 metres away early this month.
They realised something had gone terribly wrong to their pristine island.
In their backyard, close to the beach, lies an ugly smouldering secret that threatens to destroy not only the clear blue waters and coral reefs, but the rich marine life, in turn impacting their own livelihood in the coming years.
Piles of non-degradable waste have been lying there for years and its aftermath was a massive outbreak of fire, similar to the one that occurred in Brahmapuram dumping yard in Kochi a couple of years ago.
The black smoke emitted for almost a week, polluting the atmosphere, and its watery effluents leaching the coral reefs, accelerating the bleaching process like never before. This waste pile-up, spread over 1,500 square metres in Minicoy has all kinds of non-degradable material: Plastic bags, e-waste, refrigerators, beds and old fishing nets.
Minicoy forms the second largest island in Lakshadweep archipelago which has 36 pristine islands situated in the Arabian Sea, off the southwestern coast of India.
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Undo
Shockingly, this waste pile is not limited to Minicoy alone and is spread across other islands, destroying lagoons and water bodies.
The department of forest and environment in Lakshadweep data reveal that around 4,000 tonnes of dry waste remain piled up on various islands, which need to be transported to the mainland by barge or Manchu after segregation.
This massive ecological disaster is unveiling at a time when the Union govt has been endorsing Lakshadweep as an alternative to the island nation Maldives on the global beach tourism circuit.
"The recent fire occurred due to human intervention and was perhaps done as an easy method to get rid of waste which has led to serious ecological consequences," says Minicoy resident and environmental activist Fathima Querashia.
Residents point out dry waste reaching the lagoons along with seawater in the high tide is threatening the existence of sea cucumber and other marine organisms in the lagoons.
"The water has gone turbid," says a resident from Kiltan island.
To add to the problem, a large quantity of dry waste, including fans and electronic items, washes ashore every now and then along with currents, other than the waste generated by the residents.
"The waste, including fishing nets, gets stuck onto the coral reefs and kills them.
Dry waste is posing a big issue as there is no collection of it in our area. They are merely dumping it on the coast," he says.
Residents point out that the haphazard way in which waste is being disposed here reveals how the govt wants to open the island for tourism purposes without coming up with a sustainable tourism model that will conserve the fragile coastline.
"A classic instance is the construction of seawall around the island. Instead of the wall, they could have raised mangroves to protect the soil and thereby reduce soil erosion," a resident pointed out requesting anonymity for fear of backlash from the Lakshadweep administration.
The locals and the administration were at loggerheads in 2021 and 2024 over the latter's unilateral decision to implement tourism plans and associated construction activities on the fragile islands, which face the wrath of climate change and burgeoning tourism activities.
Unlike other states, there is no local body system in Lakshadweep now. Executive officers appointed by the administration currently head each panchayat and oversee waste management.
Until 2021, the forest and environment department was handling it through local bodies and transporting the segregated waste to the mainland, either to Kochi or Kozhikode by vessels, but non-segregated waste remained there.
"Earlier, we used to place plastic waste items in a sack outside our house, and the workers of the panchayat used to collect it regularly.
If we place the same now, it will remain there for days. Sometimes we have to take it to the yard and dump it there. I am worried about how I will dispose of an unused freezer in my house now. Since it is a heavy electrical appliance, it will be difficult to carry it to the yard. A large quantity of inorganic waste is washed ashore on our beach when there are strong waves.
Tonnes of waste wash ashore every year," observes an elderly fisherman from Minicoy Island.
He asks how it is possible that in the monsoon season, non-degradable waste piled up in the open catches fire.
Leachate from the waste pile also seeps into the ground, polluting the organisms there.
"During the monsoon, a large quantity of waste from the dump site was in the sea," says Fathima, calling for urgent measures to prevent the leachate from reaching the ground and lagoons.
As the National Green Tribunal (NGT) is monitoring waste management in the Union Territory, the administration is going to call for a request for proposal (RFP), which will provide a solution for segregation and transportation of waste and the cost involved.
The existing measures are limited to human-habited islands, and there has been no measure to collect the non-degradable waste washing ashore the 26 uninhabited islands.
"Once the rain stops, we will call for an RFP to remove the dry waste on the islands. Transporting waste to the mainland is an expensive affair as many ship operators do not want to transport it in their vessels. Even if someone agrees to it, they charge excess fare.
So we are looking to identify agencies who can hire a chartered vessel for the purpose through the RFP. Since the islands are highly eco-fragile, we cannot treat the waste here," says an official with the Lakshadweep administration.
The waterscape of every island here is unique. The western side of the islands are protected by lagoons, whereas the eastern side is open to the sea. The eastern side witnesses strong currents and that is where the waste is getting washed ashore during high tide.
"On the western shore, the waste entering the lagoons is collected by divers regularly. But the cleaning exercise in lagoons is a highly laborious and cost-intensive exercise. We clean major lagoons on the islands with the support of divers. The problem is that we have only four to five months to segregate and transport waste by ship to the mainland. The UT gets rain in the rest of the months, making transportation of waste an almost impossible task.
Still, we are trying our best to transport the waste to the mainland using govt barges, which are used for the transportation of various supplies to the UT from the mainland," said an official with the Lakshadweep administration.
Marine litter galore
A recent study conducted by the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) proves that marine litter threatens the UT's coastal and coral ecosystems.
The study, conducted across 28 beaches and three lagoon reef stations on Kavaratti island, documented a staggering 32,710 litter items, categorised into 11 types, with an average density of 0.82 ± 0.80 items per sqm.
Plastic waste emerged as the most dominant category, accounting for 63.7% of the total litter.
Public littering was identified as the primary source, contributing to 43% of the pollution. It also showed that marine litter causes severe stress on the coral reefs; 59.37% of these affected colonies showed signs of disease and tissue loss, while 14.86% exhibited partial bleaching or paling.
Experts say that the administration should employ technology-driven measures to remove the non-degradable waste regularly reaching the beaches and lagoons from the sea, instead of mere awareness creation programmes.
"Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification is often getting violated there now for construction expansion for various projects of the Union govt in Lakshadweep. Islands have very delicate ecosystems. In order to protect the islands, the administration has to suitably enact the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 and the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974 and strengthen the CRZ norms and environment monitoring committees, which are currently on paper, to address pollution issues.
Plastic enters the food chain through fish. Instead of merely conducting awareness programmes, the administration should employ AI-backed technology-driven systems, including trash booms, for regular harvesting of non-degradable waste that reaches the shore. It is high time strong measures were taken to protect the islands," says S Bijoy Nandan, dean of the School of Marine Sciences in Cusat.