Sludge Watch ==> India- Coca Cola continues sludge and water pollution abuses

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Some university and college campuses have kicked Coke off the campus in 
solidarity with the victims of Coca Cola pollution abuses in India.

Good idea

..................................................................
http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0604-01.htm

JUNE 4, 2007


CONTACT: India Resource Center
Baliram, Coca-Cola Bhagao,Amit Srivastava,

India Resource Center +91 98103 46161 (India) +1 415 336 7584

(US) E: info at IndiaResource.org



Coca-Cola Continues Environmental Abuses in India

NEW DELHI, INDIA - JUNE 4 - In a shocking finding, another Coca-Cola 
bottling plant in India has been found to be operating in complete violation 
of environmental laws and regulations in India.


A fact-finding team led by the India Resource Center to a Coca-Cola bottling 
plant in Sinhachawar in the state of Uttar Pradesh issued a report today 
detailing the violations.

Specifically, the team found that:

**The plant is indiscriminately dumping its sludge, considered to be 
industrial hazardous waste, across the plant premises, in complete violation 
of the laws regarding handling and disposal of industrial hazardous waste in 
India.

**The Effluent Treatment Plant was non-operational, and the bottling plant 
was discharging its wastewater into surrounding agricultural fields and a 
canal that feeds into the river Ganges.

**The plant did not disclose the amount of hazardous waste being used and 
generated, as required by the Supreme Court of India for all industrial 
units in India that deal with hazardous waste.

The full report with images can be found at 
http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2007/cokebaliafact.html , in 
Hindi at 
http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2007/baliahindireport.pdf

Such careless disposal of the sludge and the wastewater results in the 
pollution of the agricultural lands, local water supplies as well as the 
food chain. At stake are the very lives and livelihoods of thousands of 
people who live around the bottling plant premises, who are primarily 
farmers.

The findings are particularly disturbing because the Coca-Cola company has 
had ample time to align its operations in India with environmental rules and 
regulations, and it has been rapped for similar wrongdoings before.

In 2003, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India assessed the 
sludge at eight Coca-Cola bottling plants, and found them all to contain 
excessive levels of lead, cadmium or chromium. As a result, the CPCB ordered 
the Coca-Cola company in India to treat its waste as industrial hazardous 
waste, and deal with it accordingly.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) also tested the sludge around the 
Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada in Kerala in 2003, and found it to be 
toxic. The Coca-Cola company was distributing the toxic sludge to farmers as 
‘fertilizer’, and was ordered by government authorities to stop the practice 
after the toxicity of the sludge was confirmed. The BBC report found that 
the toxins from the sludge had polluted the groundwater.

The bottling plant in Sinhachawar is a Coca-Cola franchisee owned unit 
operated by the Brindavan Bottlers Limited, which is owned by India’s 
largest bottler of Coca-Cola, the Ladhani Group of Companies.

“Our lives have been made much more difficult after the Coca-Cola bottling 
plant began its operations here,” said Mr. Baliram of the locally based 
Coca-Cola Bhagao, Krishi Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (Get Rid of Coke, Save 
Farming Struggle Committee). “We are demanding that the Coca-Cola plant be 
shut down immediately and be investigated for any wrongdoing.”

The fact finding team, which included twenty residents from the village of 
Sinhachawar, also heard complaints of illegal land acquisition by the 
bottling plant as well as the drying up of water wells and hand water pumps 
since the bottling plant began operations.

“The Coca-Cola company is announcing to the world that it is an 
environmentally responsible company, and it has partnered with UN agencies 
and NGO’s to paint a pretty green picture of itself. But all that is 
corporate social responsibility gone wrong because the reality on the ground 
is different. It is littered with toxic waste and a complete disregard and 
destruction of the way of life as many people in rural India know it,” said 
Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center.

“Coca-Cola’s track record in India is indicative of an arrogant company that 
operates with impunity,” said Srivastava.

The Coca-Cola company’s operations in India have been challenged by various 
communities across India who are experiencing severe water shortages as well 
as polluted water and land as a result of the company’s practices. The 
Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada, one of the company’s largest in 
India, has been shut down since March 2004.

The local campaigns to challenge Coca-Cola in India have found tremendous 
support internationally, and particularly among college and university 
students in the US, UK and Canada. Just last week, the prestigious Smith 
College in the US announced that it will no longer do business with the 
Coca-Cola company because of concerns in India, ending a five decade 
relationship with the Coca-Cola company. Over twenty colleges and 
universities have taken similar actions.

The Central Pollution Control Board has been asked to investigate the 
pollution at the Sinhachawar bottling plant immediately, and other agencies 
dealing with water and land have also been asked to intervene in the matter 
of the offending Coca-Cola bottling plant in Sinhachawar.

The fact finding team has recommended that the Coca-Cola bottling plant in 
Sinhachawar be shut down immediately to prevent any further damage to the 
community and the environment.

For more information, visit www.IndiaResource.org