Pithampur, March 5 : The second trial incineration of Union Carbide's hazardous waste at the Pithampur industrial site in Madhya Pradesh will start on Wednesday.

The first round of incineration, which started on March 3, lasted about 75 hours and during this time, 135 kg of waste was dumped in the plant's incinerator every hour.

After the completion of the process, the incinerator was left to cool. The cooling process takes approximately 18-20 hours, according to the official statement.

As the second round of incineration was delayed due to cooling time, around 180 kg of waste will be dumped in the incinerator every hour.

There are around 337 tonnes of waste from the defunct Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, which was transported to the disposal plant run by a private company in Pithampur, about 250 km from the state capital, on January 2.

The incineration process is being carried out in the presence of a team of senior officials from the National Pollution Control Board (NPCB), Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and state administration.

According to the State Pollution Control Board, the first round of waste disposal saw the removal of particulate matter.

Emissions of particulate matter (PM), sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride and total organic carbon were found to be within standard limits.

The board stated that scientific evidence shows that the effect of Sevin and naphthal chemicals in this waste has now become almost negligible.

The state government has earlier stated that the waste from the Union Carbide factory includes soil from the premises of the closed unit, reactor residues, Sevin (pesticide) residues, naphthal residues and semi-processed residues.

Union Carbide's waste was transported to the Pithampur industrial site following the direction of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The disposal of toxic waste is supposed to be completed by March 27.

Highly toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal during the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984.

At least 5,479 people were killed and thousands were crippled. It is considered one of the world's biggest industrial disasters.

/IANS