Chennai: Waste from Covid homes dumped in open, set ablaze

CHENNAI: Corporation workers are not following due process when disposing waste from houses of those who are Covid-positive. While the waste is collected in the mandated yellow bag, the final disposal should be done by burning the bags in a deep pit or sending them to an incinerator. TOI found that this process was not followed in Maduravoyal.
On Saturday morning, a photographer with TOI spotted a civic body worker in full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) collecting waste from houses under quarantine and then dumping them at a burial ground on Mettukuppam Main Road, where the yellow bags were set on fire.
According to guidelines issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the yellow bags containing waste from houses under quarantine should either be sent to the Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facility (CBWTF) or burned after placing them in deep pits.
A corporation official said the civic body has imparted training and given clear instructions to workers on how to collect waste from houses under quarantine and maintained that the Maduravoyal case is an isolated incident.
“We have provided the workers with full PPEs. They know the risk associated with it (the task) and have been doing a relentless job. In Maduravoyal region, the waste is mostly taken to a facility in Porur. Due to increased workload recently, the worker may have done so. We will inquire,” said a corporation official.
The corporation said it has requested residents under home quarantine to disinfect and hand over used masks, gloves and other waste to sanitary workers in yellow bags, provided by the corporation, on a daily basis. The used masks, gloves and other waste should be disinfected with ordinary bleach solution (5%) or sodium hypochlorite solution (1%) and kept in yellow bags exclusively in a closed bin.
“While houses under quarantine follow this procedure, in several households not under quarantine, used masks and gloves are mixed with general waste, posing a risk to our workers handling the waste,” said an official.