Bhopal 1984, toxic waste disposal

In the aftermath of the 1984 disaster in Bhopal, the capital of India in the state of Madhya Pradesh, which resulted in the loss of more than 5,000 lives and impacted over half a million individuals, authorities initiated a waste disposal programme. On 3 December 1984, a leak of methyl isocyanate gas from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal caused a disaster that significantly contaminated groundwater with carcinogenic chemicals at levels 50 times higher than safety standards, causing severe fetal malformations. Forty years later, an Indian court ordered the removal of waste from the disaster site. The 337 tonnes of waste were transported in 12 specially designed and hermetically sealed containers for ‘scientific disposal’ and transferred to Pithampur under strict safety measures. The waste is scheduled for incineration within nine months in a designated disposal facility. Local activists have raised environmental concerns about the potential contamination of groundwater from waste incineration, emphasising the responsibility of companies behind the disaster to remediate contaminated sites.