Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the amount of biomedical waste generated during treatment at hospitals has significantly increased this year. In the last three months, the biomedical waste has increased by 104 per cent which has led to a shortage of space for disposing of the same.
According to the official information, the stress of disposal on one-acre land reserved for bio-waste at Deonar landfill in Mumbai has increased. SMS Envoclean Private Limited, involved in the management and handling biomedical waste, is responsible for the disposable of bio-waste at Deonar landfill.
The company, appointed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to deal with the COVID-19 waste, has 60 vehicles to collect the biomedical waste from the hospitals. Also, the biomedical waste is transported in 35 BMC vehicles to the landfill.
The biomedical waste is collected from all the areas in Mumbai including COVID care centres. Now, the biomedical waste per day has gone up to 24,880 kg. In June, the biomedical waste generated for each was 12,000 kg.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board regulations, plastic waste from hospitals and other healthcare facilities has to be segregated in a red bag. Each bag is then disinfected and sent for disposal or processing. However, due to the huge increase in the amount of biomedical waste, the stress to dispose of them has increased and there’s a lack of space.
Hospital waste such as masks, gloves, medicine, syringes, urine bags and PPE kits used by medical personnel are collected in a yellow bag and marked with a danger sign. All toxic waste from COVID Care Centres and hospitals is taken to the Deonar landfill for disposal.
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