The Fizz And Hiss Of It

METALLIC GLINT: Sludge from the Coke plant in Plachimada

While all this is happening in Delhi, Coke's Plachimada plant in Kerala has been mired in controversy since its inception in 2000. There are three serious accusations levelled against the factory. One, that it's guzzling water and upsetting the delicate water table in the area. Two, suspected leaching into the soil of chemicals like chlorides has made the water undrinkable. And, the most damning charge, its waste products contain deadly heavy metal contaminants.

After the BBC's Face the Facts programme reported dangerously high levels of cadmium and lead in the sludge produced by the plant, the Kerala Pollution Control Board recently found 201.8 mg cadmium per kg of sludge, or over four times the safe level. This, incidentally, was being sold as fertiliser to local farmers at a ridiculous 75 paise per kg.

According to experts, the intake of these chemicals by humans through contaminated food can cause cancer, renal failure, hormonal and lung damage (cadmium), and miscarriage, deformed babies and mental attenuation (lead). If crops are grown on this potent mixture, the effects can be imagined. Worse, says Prof Xavier, of Jananeethi, a human rights NGO, "our tests showed low phosphorus and no nitrogen, which makes it useless as manure".

But Coca-Cola's rebuttals are full of contradictions. When asked about the toxicity in the slurry, Coke's director, corporate communications, Nantoo Banerjee, said: "As an f&b industry, there cannot be any heavy metal in the solid waste." Plant officials, however, said there will always be traces of heavy metal, albeit within permissible limits. Similarly, the company insists it's using the same sludge in its own gardens and that it's harmless, but is reluctant to allow any external agency to extract a sample for independent testing. Says Jananeethi's executive director George Pulikuthiyil: "We repeatedly asked for samples but they refused." When Outlook visited Manickkam Chettiar's house (a Coke contractor), it found sacks and piles of sludge, but Chettiar's wife Muthulakshmi said, "We have been asked to prevent anyone taking a sample."

The sludge story has broken even as Coke is battling the recent refusal by the local CPI(M)-led Perumatty panchayat to renew its licence. And the sludge results are going to be hard to dismiss. Greenpeace is already throwing the book at Coke, saying that under the Environment Protection Act, any company accused of dumping hazardous wastes can be ordered shut by the Pollution Control Board until inquiries are completed.

Ultimately, if water was purified, corporations were made more accountable and consumers' woes legally redressed, the noise would have been worth the while. But one can already see a deviation in course: a legal battle between the cola giants and CSE.