In April 2025, New Delhi (Delhi)-based Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has introduced new category of industries called ‘Blue category’ industries based on the Essential Environmental Services (EES) for managing the pollution caused by the anthropogenic (human-induced) activities.
- Previously, the Waste-to-Energy (WTE) incineration industries which use the process of burning unsegregated Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) produces dirty electricity were classified as a ‘Red Category’ industry by CPCB.
Key Features:
i.The Blue category industry will get an additional two years validity for Consent to Operate (CTO) i.e. consent to pollute by CPCB, as per the Pollution Index (PI).
ii.As per CPCB, the new classification is based on ‘precautionary principle’ which means the potential of industries to pollute the environment.
- Also, industries that produce minimum hazardous waste will be classified under the ‘blue industry’ category.
iii.The new blue category will include industries like: composting, Compressed Biogas (CBG) plants, Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) and Material Recovery Facilities (MRF).
- It includes WTE plants in this category despite high PI (97.6) due to the services it provides.
About Color-based Categorisation of Industries:
i.In 2016, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) introduced the color-based categorization of industries.
- This methodology helps in taking related to the location of the industries, formulation of rules/regulations for inspection and surveillance, pollution caused and health impacts.
ii.PI is used to harmonize the criteria for categorizing industries. It is a function of the emissions (air pollutants), effluents (water pollutants), hazardous wastes generated and consumption of resources.
iii.The PI score is a number between ‘0’ and ‘100’. As per revised methodology, industrial sectors have been categorised into 4 main colours category based on the range of PI score: Red (PI ≥ 80), Orange (55≤PI< 80), Green (25≤PI<55) and white (PI<25).
iv.CPCB has classified a total of 419 industrial sectors and sub-sectors based on the revised methodology, under:
- Red category (125), Orange (137), Green category (94), white category (54) and blue category (9).
About Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB):
It is a statutory body, constituted under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 in September 1974. However, its powers and functions are entrusted under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1986
Chairman- Amandeep Garg
Headquarters- New Delhi, Delhi
