As environmental consciousness at all levels of society increases, pollution caused by the brick industry is under the scrutiny of environmentalists and the government. The Government has taken action by issuing notifications for siting criteria of kilns, banning polluting moving chimney BTKs, emissions standards for FCKs and VSBKs, banning top soil use, promoting utilisation of industrial wastes, etc. Currently all brick production technologies falls under the “red category” of the State Pollution Control Board. It is mandatory to get Pollution No-Objection-Certificate (NOC) and renew after every one year.

However, extremely weak regulatory enforcements by State authorities mean rules are being flouted in many places. Although stronger enforcement is required, there is a need for acceptance and voluntary adoption of new regulations amongst relevant stakeholders. Through continuous dialogue and stakeholder consultations; consensus needs to be build up to frame a National Brick Sector Policy. There is a need to steer and influence the same by engaging all stakeholders in formulating guidelines and timeframes for implementation of regulation

FCK in operation

Flyash bricks

Stacking bricks with coal

One effective means to incentivise the adoption of environmentally friendly brick-making technologies is the establishment of a preferential compliance regime that reduce the burden on owners and operators of such technologies.

This can be achieved by:

•   Waiver for Pollution NOC for eco friendly technologies especially those which do not cause emissions (flyash,
    CEB, etc.) and relax the renewable time period from 1 year to 5 year.

•   Preferential siting criteria or relaxation of siting criteria for eco friendly technologies

•   Including eco bricks in green building rating criteria and awarding incentives to consumers on using them

•   Influencing procurement guidelines to promote sale of Ecobricks over conventional energy and resource intensive bricks.