Blue Category Of Industries

Recently, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has carved a new category of industries called the ‘blue category’ industries based on the Essential Environmental Services (EES) for managing the pollution due to anthropogenic activities.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has included the highly polluting ‘waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration’ as a part of its revised scheme in ‘blue category’ industries.
Until recently, the waste-to-energy incineration industries were classified by the CPCB as a ‘red category’.

What are Essential Environmental Services?

Essential Environmental Services: It may be defined as those facilities which are essential to control, abate and mitigate pollution generated from Domestic and Industrial activities

About Revised “Classification of Sectors into Red, Orange, Green, White and Blue Categories” Report 2025

Incentive: The EES sector or the “Blue Category sector” will get an additional 2 years validity for consent to operate (as per Pollution Index) as an incentive for the essential services.
Principle: The Revised categorisation is based on “precautionary principle” or potential of industries to pollute the environment.
Category Sector Index: The category of the sector is decided based on the following ranges of Pollution Index,
- Red: Pollution Index score more than 80
- Orange: Pollution Index score between 55 and 80
- Green: Pollution Index score between 25 and 55
- White: These are practically non polluting Industries with a score less than 25.
Industries Included: The category includes a total of 9 industries,
- Compressed Biogas Plants: CBG plants based on feedstock like municipal solid waste, agro-residue, energy crops/grass/weeds, etc
  - CBG plants based on industrial or process waste will continue to be in the red category.
- Others: Composting, biogas, material recovery facilities, Waste to Energy Plants and sewage treatment plants.

About Categorisation of Industrial Sectors 2025

Origin: The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 2016 has developed a scoring methodology based on the Pollution Index (PI) to harmonize the criteria for categorizing industries.
- The Pollution Index (PI) was determined by evaluating water pollution, air pollution, and hazardous waste generation
Objective: The categorisation of Industries has been introduced for facilitating decisions related to the location of the industries, formulation of norms for inspection and surveillance, pollution caused and health impacts.
Methodology:
- Water Pollutant Score (PIW): Assesses the water pollution potential considering the oxygen demand of wastewater, other pollutants in the wastewater and quantity of wastewater generated.
- Air Pollutant Score (PIA): Evaluates the potential air pollution due to process emissions (point source), work zone emissions (fugitive and odour) and type & quantity of fuel used.
- Waste Pollutant Score (PIH): Considering the type and quantity of waste (which are hazardous/toxic/infectious/bulk in nature) generated.

Waste- to-Energy (WTE) Incineration Plants

Waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration plants are facilities that convert municipal solid waste (MSW) into energy by burning it.
- The heat generated in the process is used to produce steam, ultimately powering a turbine to generate electricity.
Pollution Potential:
- Highly Polluted: The WTE plants discharges harmful flue gas such as SOx, NOx, HCL, PM, Dioxins and Furans, water effluent with toxic pollutants and hazardous bottom/fly ash that needs to be disposed of in a secured scientific landfill.
- Pollution Index Score: The waste-to-energy incineration industries were classified by the CPCB as a ‘red category’ before being upgraded to blue category. It is considered a highly polluting industry with a PI of 97.6.
- Dirty Electricity: The WTE plants produce electricity that is dirtier than coal, as they emit more CO2 per unit of electricity.
- Carcinogenic: A CPCB inspection on the three WTE plants in Delhi has revealed that the plants released a cocktail of carcinogens over and above the set standards.
  - Delhi’s WTE plants: It burnt 7,35,840 tons of plastic or 2000 tons of plastic every day in FY 2022-2023 directly translating into high chloride content in Delhi’s air.

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