NEWS

Burning of municipal solid waste in the vicinity of the iconic Taj Mahal is significantly contributing to the discolouring of the world heritage monument, an Indo-American research team has found. The research compared the impact of dung cake burning versus the burning of municipal solid waste (MSW) on browning of Taj Mahal and on the health of people living nearby. Using new field methods, researchers, including Ajay Nagpure from the University of Minnesota and Raj Lal of Georgia Institute of Technology in the U.S., provide scientific evidence that the burning of MSW in the vicinity of the monument could be contributing harmful levels of airborne particulate matter (PM). The scientists found that open MSW burning leads to about 150 milligramme per square metre (mg m-2) per year of PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) being deposited on the surface of the Taj Mahal compared to about 12 mg m-2 per year from dung cake burning.

Read More at : http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/burning-of-municipal-waste-discolouring-taj-mahal/article9227052.ece