The collection and disposal of waste from primary contacts in quarantine centres as well as secondary contacts who are isolating themselves at home is one of the key tasks that the civic body is focusing on. As of May 3, as many as 839 people are being quarantined in 15 different centres across the city.
Waste from quarantine facilities is deemed as biomedical waste. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) D. Randeep said that the civic body had tied up with four biomedical waste management agencies, which have been given the work order for one month. “Since all the four are authorised biomedical waste management agencies, as per Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) guidelines, the rates can be decided mutually by the urban local bodies (BBMP in this instance) and the agencies,” he said and added that the payment for each agency will be within ₹1 lakh.
According to data, around 155 kg of waste is collected from the 15 quarantine facilities every day. Most of the incineration facilities are on the city’s outskirts. Since the quarantine facilities were set up, a total of 1,409.95 kg of waste (as on May 3) had been incinerated, the data shows.
The Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016, state that waste should be put in yellow coloured, non-chlorinated plastic bags. Once collected, these bags and their contents must either be incinerated or buried deep in a pit at a common biomedical treatment facility.
Waste from households under home quarantine
Most of the 4,369 secondary contacts are following home quarantine protocol, but the waste generated from these households does not fall in the biomedical category. It is treated as any other sanitary waste.
Given the situation, the BBMP is not insisting on a strict implementation of the plastic ban, either in the quarantine facilities or by those under home quarantine. “We have requested those under home quarantine to keep wet waste separately. The rest of the waste is treated as sanitary waste,” said Mr. Randeep.