To improve surveillance and guarantee adherence to environmental regulations, the Central Pollution Control Board has instructed all state pollution control boards and committees to install Online Continuous Emission and Effluent Monitoring Systems (OCEMS) at waste-to-energy facilities and sanitary landfill locations.

It stated that to detect pollutants such particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride, and carbon monoxide in real time, OCEMS must be installed and run in all current and planned municipal solid waste incineration-based waste-to-energy plants.

In a similar scenario, all landfills and waste-to-energy facilities must have OCEMS for treated leachate, monitoring variables like pH, total suspended particles, chemical and biochemical oxygen demand, ammoniacal nitrogen, and fluoride.

To deter unlawful dumping and increase transparency, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has also mandated that sanitary landfill sites have surveillance cameras installed inside active working areas and at access and departure points.

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According to the order, within three months after the directive, all monitoring systems must be connected to the servers of the relevant state boards and the CPCB.

According to the CPCB, landfills and waste-to-energy facilities are major sources of air pollutants and leachate that, if not controlled according to regulations, can have detrimental effects on the environment.

Waste-to-energy facilities also produce a significant amount of fly ash and bottom ash, which must be treated under certain guidelines.

According to the board, stringent oversight is required since a number of issues pertaining to solid waste disposal and waste-to-energy plants are being considered by the Supreme Court, high courts, and the National Green Tribunal.

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"Considering the growing need for remote and continuous environmental surveillance, it is necessary to bring waste-to-energy plants and sanitary landfill sites under online continuous monitoring regimes," CPCB chairman Vir Vikram Yadav said in the order.

The instructions have been acknowledged, and within 30 days, the state pollution control boards and committees are expected to provide compliance reports on the installation and connectivity of monitoring systems.