UPSC Environment Ecology Agriculture Notes

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#Environment ■ What is SWM cess and why is it levied on waste generators? ✅The Bengaluru Urban Body has proposed a Solid Waste Management (SWM) Cess of ₹100 per month for each household. ✅It is important to understand the rationale behind SWM cess, its intended use, and the broader context of solid waste management challenges faced by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in India. ● Key highlights: ✅Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) levy user fees or SWM cess as per the provisions of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. ✅ULBs are now considering revising these rates and imposing higher charges on bulk waste generators to meet a portion of the costs incurred in providing SWM services. ● What are the costs? ✅ULBs typically deploy about 80% of their manpower and up to 50% of their annual budgets to provide SWM services to city residents. ✅Bangalore generates about 5,000 tonnes of solid waste per day. ✅Managing this volume of waste requires around 5,000 door-to-door waste collection vehicles, 600 compactors, and about 20,000 Sanitation Workers ✅SWM services comprise four components: collection, transportation, processing and disposal. ✅Collection and transportation are resource and labor-intensive and come up to 85-90% of the SWM budget, whereas only about 10-15% is spent on processing and disposal of waste. ● What are the challenges? ✅Solid waste generated in Indian cities consists of about 55-60% wet biodegradable material and 40-45% non-biodegradable material. ✅Although 55% of the wet waste can be converted into organic compost or biogas, the yield is as low as 10-12%, making both composting and biogas generation from solid waste financially unviable. ✅Apart from financial challenges, ULBs face other challenges associated with SWM services, such as extra work of clearing drains, preventing open littering, seasonal changes in waste generation, and sweeping operations. ✅Disposal of non-compostable and non-recyclable dry waste, such as single-use plastic, textile waste and inert materials, is expensive since the material needs to be shipped to cement factories or waste-to-energy projects located about 400-500 km from cities. ● What is the solution? ✅Although collection and transportation of waste generate no revenue, several strategies can reduce overall expenditure on SWM and lower user charges. ✅These are segregation of waste at source, ✅reducing single-use plastic, decentralised composting initiatives, ✅Information, Education and Awareness (IEC) to prevent open littering, and ✅asking bulk waste generators to process their own waste. ✅A balanced approach, combining marginal user charges with efficient operations, could help make our cities cleaner. SOURCE - THE HINDU

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#Environment ■ How dangerous is methanol poisoning? ✅At least 38 people had died after consuming spurious liquor in the Kallakurichi district of Tamil Nadu while as many as 82 others were receiving treatment in hospitals. ● Alcohol in liquor: ✅In the beverages consumed for recreational purposes, the alcohol in question is almost always ethanol. ✅In this context, ethanol is technically a psychoactive drug that, in low doses, reduces the level of neurotransmission in the body, leading to its typical intoxicating effects. ✅Contrary to popular belief, the World Health Organisation has found “no level of [its] consumption is safe for our health”. ✅Long-term use leads to dependence, heightens the risk of some cancers and heart disease, and may eventually cause death. ✅Ethanol (C2H5OH) is one carbon atom bonded to three hydrogen atoms and one more carbon atom; the second carbon atom is also bonded to two hydrogen atoms and the hydroxyl group, also known as the ion OH. ✅Inside the body, ethanol is metabolised in the liver and the stomach by alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) enzymes to acetaldehyde. ✅Then, acetaldehyde is transformed into acetate by aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) enzymes. ✅The adverse effects of alcohol consumption, from the hangover to a cancer, are due to acetaldehyde. ● Spurious liquor: ✅Spurious liquor is characterised by the liquid mixture containing methanol as well. ✅In many older cases, spurious liquor has typically been a homemade liquor to which methanol was added to strengthen the intoxicating effects ✅The Food Safety and Standards (Alcoholic Beverages) Regulations 2018 stipulate the maximum permissible quantity of methanol in different liquors. ● Methanol: ✅The methanol molecule (CH3OH) consists of one carbon atom bonded with three hydrogen atoms and one hydroxyl group. ✅Schedule I of the Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989 includes methanol. ✅The Indian Standard IS 517 applies to how the quality of methanol is to be ascertained and, together with the Tamil Nadu Denatured Spirit, Methyl Alcohol, and Varnish (French Polish) Rules 1959, what signage methanol packaging should carry. ✅The most common way to produce methanol is to combine carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the presence of copper and zinc oxides as catalysts at 50-100 atm of pressure and 250° C. ✅In the pre-industrial era, going back to ancient Egypt, people made methanol (together with several other byproducts) by heating wood to a very high temperature. ✅Methanol has several industrial applications, including as a precursor to acetic acid, formaldehyde, and aromatic hydrocarbons. It is also used as a solvent and as antifreeze. ✅In Tamil Nadu, the manufacture, trade, storage, and sale of methanol requires licences under the 1959 Rules. ● How does spurious liquor kill: ✅Once ingested, ADH enzymes metabolise methanol in the liver to form formaldehyde (H-CHO). ✅Then ALDH enzymes convert formaldehyde to formic acid (HCOOH). ✅The accumulation of formic acid over time leads to a condition called metabolic acidosis, which can lead to acidaemia: when the blood’s pH drops below its normal value of 7.35, becoming increasingly acidic. ✅The ‘metabolic’ in ‘metabolic acidosis’ means the concentration of the bicarbonate ion is dropping, leading to the acid gaining the upper hand. ✅Formic acid also interferes with an enzyme called cytochrome oxidase, disrupting cells’ ability to use oxygen and leading to the build-up of lactic acid and contributing to acidosis. ● Treatment for methanol-poisoning: ✅Once methanol is ingested, the body takes some time to completely eliminate it. ✅There are two immediate ways to treat methanol poisoning. One is to administer pharmaceutical-grade ethanol. ✅The other option is to administer an antidote called fomepizole, which has a similar mechanism: it slows the action of the ADH enzymes, causing the body to produce formaldehyde at a rate the body can quickly excrete, preventing the deadlier effects from kicking in. ● Prelims takeaway: ✅Methanol SOURCE - THE HINDU

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