Abstract:
Rice processing industry generates solid waste, waste water, fugitive dust and boiler emissions.
Particulate matter and NOx are the main air pollutants generated from rice mills which impact on
surrounding communities in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka. Emission of CO2 from
boilers contributes to global warming. Present study attempts to evaluate cost to surrounding
communities due to local air pollutants and aims to estimate global damage cost due to CO2
emissions. Three large scale (with production capacity of 100-175 Mt/d), 2 medium scale and 5
small scale rice mills were selected from North Central Province. Replacement cost approach
and preventative expenditure approach was adopted to estimate community nuisances and 418
households were selected from each distance zone (250, 500, 750 and 1,000 m) away from the
selected mills. Information on additional cleaning activities carried out by the households and the
expenditure on preventive strategies against air pollutants were collected from the households
using a structured questionnaire. The global damage cost was estimated using benefit transfer
approach and using the data on CO2 emissions from each mill. Results revealed that that houses
need cleaning additionally two days per week due to milling dust. The total cost of preventative
and replacement expenditure for 990 affected households around the 10 mills is LKR 20.6
million. If the mills are operating 20 days per month, 25,216 Mt are released into the atmosphere
annually and the global damage cost is LKR 35 million. The study emphasizes the need to
provide incentives for pollution control of rice processing industry.
