About 5.5 tonne of mercury waste from Hindustan Lever Ltd's thermometer manufacturing facility at Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu, closed two years ago following allegations of hazardous malpractices, is now being cleared and shipped to an American firm for recovery of the chemical.
The clearing operation, started on March 24 as per the order and guidelines of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board's Hazardous Waste Management Committee, was expected to take three weeks, an HLL spokesman said on Monday.
The waste would be shipped to Bethlehem Apparatus, US for the recovery of the mercury content, he said.
He said further remedial measures at the factory premises, which was closed in August 2001 in the wake of a protest movement by a host of environmental organisations, including Greenpeace, would be taken up subsequently to ensure that the entire area was cleared of hazardous mercury content in any form.
Meanwhile Greenpeace, which is demanding urgent remdial measures at the factory premises, said they would be sending a team of 'people with experience' in the safe handling of hazardous materials to observe the clearing process and report on whether international standards of containment were being observed.
