People gather in Pune’s Bibvewadi area to collect the 5 kg rice per person that fair price shops have started distributing from Sunday for free, as a relief measure amid Covid-19 lockdown. (Express Photo: Pavan Khengre)
THE Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has urged the Principal Secretary, Urban Development Department, to ask divisional commissioners, district collectors and local self bodies to strictly implement guidelines for collection, transportation and disposal of suspected COVID-19 waste and solid waste from quarantined homes and containment areas.
In its directive, the MPCB said, “Under the Biomedical Waste Management Rules 2016 and amendments thereof, the biomedical waste generated from the hospitals shall be collected and disposed in accordance with the procedure specified, within 48 hours…”
In the letter issued to the State Principal Secretary, MPCB said it has issued the guidelines under Biomedical Waste Management Rules 2016, as amended, CPCB Guidelines for handling biomedical waste generated during the treatment of COVID-19, MPCB Guidelines for Management of BMW Contaminated /Suspected to Contaminated with COVID-19, and on the basis of advisory from Joint Secretary and Mission Director, Swacch Bharat Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
“Subsequently, an advisory was issued by the Mission Director, SBM, Govt of India for safe disposal of waste from quarantined households. However, it was felt necessary to issue a simplified guideline for management of municipal solid waste and biomedical waste from quarantined households and containment areas in line with CPCB and MPCB guidelines.
Therefore, guidelines prepared by MPCB may be communicated to all urban local bodies…for safe management of municipal solid waste and biomedical waste from the home quarantined/containment areas and ensure safety of public…and personnel involved in management of waste…” said E Ravendiran, IAS, MPCB, Mumbai.
The MPCB said it has authorised 30 common biomedical waste treatment facilities (BMW CTFs) to serve all healthcare establishments/hospitals operating in the state. “They are collecting the biomedical waste from hospitals on a daily basis. These dedicated vehicles are marked ‘bio-hazard’… ”
Former Maval MP Gajanan Babar said, “I procured the copy from MPCB and have given it to the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, Pune Municipal Corporation and the district collectors, expecting them to implement the guidelines with immediate effect.”
Yellow bags for bio-hazard waste, black ones for regular municipal waste
The guidelines state, “The face masks, hand gloves and other protective equipment used by citizens, health workers, laboratory personnel dealing with/from the quarantined households shall be collected separately in yellow plastic bags with bio-hazard symbol and marked as ‘COVID-19 Waste’.
The ‘yellow’ bags, the MPCB said, will be handed over to the BioMedical Waste Common Treatment Facility (CTF) operator after spraying disinfectant at the point of generation. The ‘yellow’ bag waste will then be collected and transported by the CTF operator through dedicated vehicle for treatment at CTF.
“The officer in-charge of urban local body and CTF shall maintain the records of handing over of such ‘yellow’ bag waste and the CTF operator shall share the disposal records on daily basis to MPCB web portal,” the guidelines stated.
The other municipal waste generated from quarantined homes/area will be collected in ‘black’ bags after on-site disinfection, the MPCB said.
“The on-site disinfected ‘black’ bag waste shall be collected and transported through small closed vehicles to the designated municipal solid waste landfill site. The vehicles after unloading shall be sanitised thoroughly after every use…At the landfill site, such waste will be sprayed with Sodium Hypochlorite/other approved surface cleaner and shall be buried deep in a trench of 2m x 1m x 1m (L x B x D) and be covered with the same excavated material.”
The MPCB said the personnel handling ‘yellow’ and ‘black’ bags shall be provided with personal protective equipment and sufficient disinfectant at both the point of generation and disposal.