BIOMEDICAL WASTE (BMW)
Biomedical waste is any waste that is generated during the diagnosis,treatment or immunization of human being or animals or in research activities pertaining thereto or in the production or testing of biologicals. It includes human and animal anatomical wastes as well as treatment apparatus,waste like needles,syringes and other materials used in healthcare facilities.
Sources of Biomedical waste –
- Health Care Facilities (HCFs),
- Research Institutes,
- Blood banks,
- mortuaries,
- bio tech institutes,
- industrial production units,
- butcheries etc.
Quantity of Waste Produced in India : According to ASSOCHAM, India in 2018 generated 550 TPD of BMW which is expected to increase to 775.5 TPD by 2022. Presently, only around 447 TPD is treated.
To grapple this increasing stream of bio medical waste, as of Feb 2019,there are 200 Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facilities (CBWTFs) in India. This is definitely inadequate for health facilities in 750 districts of the country.
Problems that can be created by Bio-Medical Waste :
- Environmental Pollution – all air, water and soil.
- Unpleasant smell
- Transmission of diseases
- Injuries due to sharp edges of the waste\
- Disposables and drugs being repacked and sold by unscrupulous elements.
HOW COVID-19 IS ADDING TO BIOMEDICAL WASTE PROBLEMS
Improper disposal of COVID-19 litter such as surgical masks, face shields, gloves, shoe covers and PPEs.
Steps taken to deal with BMW Waste from COVID-19 : CPCB,at the very beginning, had classified these as hazardous biomedical waste.
In may 2020, CPCB also launched a mobile application, COVID-19 Biomedical Waste Management (BWM) App for treatment facilities and waste generators to update their output. In March 2020 itself, CPCB released its guidelines on COVID-19 biomedical waste handling which spells out the waste management system that needs to be instituted for hospital isolation wards.
Later these guidelines also covered waste disposal from quarantine centres, safety of waste handlers and sanitary workers and segregation of general and biomedical waste in quarantined households.
BIOMEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT RULES, 2016 (NEW RULES RELEASED IN MARCH 2016 AND AMENDED IN 2018 AND 2019)
Released by MoEF&CC. The rules are applicable for wastes from vaccination camps, blood donation camps, surgical camps or other healthcare activity.
Main Provisions:
- Pretreatment of laboratory waste, microbiological waste, blood samples and blood bags through disinfection or sterilisation on site should be carried out as prescribed by WHO or NACO (National Aids Control Organization)
- Waste classification in four categories instead of 10 to improve the segregation of waste sources
- The BMW has to be collected by the health care facilities in coloured bags – yellow, red, blue/white and black according to the category of biomedical waste.
Red Bin : Plastic waste such as syringes, bottles etc.
Yellow Bin : Infectious Bandages, Cotton Placenta, etc.
Blue Bin : Glass bottles, Discarded Medicines etc.
Black Bin : Needles without syringes, metal articles etc.
They can store it upto 48 hours after which this has to be treated at either in-situ or a worker from Common Biomedical Waste treatment facility (CBMWF) come to collect it. The CBMWF then treats the waste according to the colour of the bag. Different colours call for different treatment – incineration, deep burial, autoclaving, shredding, chemical treatment,disposal in a landfill etc
Phased discontinuation of chlorinated plastic bags, gloves and blood bags within two years. Bar-code system to classify disposal of bags of containers having BMW. It can be used to track and identify bags better.
More Stringent standards have been prescribed for incinerators to reduce the pollution to the environment. States to provide land for setting up common biomedical waste treatment and disposal facilities.
2018 Amendment to the rules provided for:
- Extension of dates to phase out chlorinated bags to March 27,2019
- Establishing of barcode system by both generators and operators by March 27,2019
- Institute GPS in vehicles of CBMWTF.
CATEGORIZATION OF INDUSTRIES INTO RED, GREEN, ORANGE AND WHITE CATEGORY :
MoEF&CC in consultation with CPCB and SPCB has reclassified the industries into “Red”, “Orange”, “Green” and “White” category as part of policies and objectives of government to promote ‘Ease of Doing Responsible Business’.
The Pollution Index of any industrial sector is a number between 0 to 100 and the increasing value of PI indicates increasing pollution..
- PI (60 and above) : Red.
- PI (41-59) : Orange.
- PI (21-40) : Green.
- PI(0-20 : White category.
Project of white Category will not require environmental clearance under EPA, 1986 or Air (Prevention and control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1947
Eg. White Category: Air cooler/conditioners, Bicycle/Baby carriage, biofertilizer, cotton and woollen hosiery, diesel pump repair, fly ash bricks, solar module, solar/wind or hydel power generation, surgical and medical products.
Eg. Red Category: Storage of hazardous chemicals,automobile manufacturing,hazardous waste cycle,lubricating oil, grease, sugar, pharmaceuticals, etc.