You go to a pathologist to run some tests. Your blood is drawn out with a syringe, pressed down with a piece of cotton, and a tape is stuck on it. The needle, the syringe, and the cotton are biomedical waste and need special handling for its disposal.
In the second part of our series on solid waste management in Mumbai, we look at specialised waste—waste generated in restaurants, e-waste and biomedical waste.
Previously, in the first part we looked at how household waste is disposed and explored various agencies of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) that handle waste.
Waste from restaurants
Restaurants, by the very nature of their establishment generate a lot of organic waste. Abhay Shanbhag runs a restaurant in Colaba which sees 400 customers per day resulting in around 40 kg of organic food waste. They separate the dry waste and wet/organic waste. The latter is collected in huge wheelie bins and given to the BMC garbage van. The van has a hook to which the bin is hung and upturned.
He says “The BMC has a special garbage collection van for restaurants. It comes around 4:00 pm after the lunch rush is over. They make a second trip at night, around 1:00 am to collect the garbage generated after dinner. They use this organic waste from restaurants for composting.”
Abhay gives the recyclable waste such as bottles, containers, cartons to waste-pickers. He explains that they collect these things in huge sacks which makes it difficult for them to transport it via bus or even a taxi. The civic body has arranged a van for them to transport the recyclable waste to scrap dealers.
Abhay’s restaurant generates waste below 100 kg, thus is not counted as a bulk generator. According to the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, all hotels and restaurants are required to segregate waste at source and facilitate collection of said waste by handing over the dry waste to waste-pickers or recyclers.
The biodegradable waste is to be composted or treated with bio-methanation in the premises as far as possible and the residual waste given to the waste collection agency appointed by the Urban Local Body which in the case of Mumbai is the BMC.
It is worth noting that,according to the latest Environment Status Report (ESR) by the BMC, food waste comprises of more than 70% of the total waste each year. Mumbai generates about 6300+ metric tonnes of garbage every day.
Read more: What the rest of Mumbai can learn from Parel’s waste management model
Bio-medical waste
“Biomedical waste means any waste which is generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunisation of human beings or animals or research activities pertaining thereto or in the production of testing or biological or in health camps.” This definition has been provided by the Bio-medical Waste Management Rules, 2016.
It includes all the waste generated at a health care facility which can adversely impact the health of individuals or the environment such as things which have come in contact with the patients’ blood, secretions, infected parts, medical supplies, medicines, lab discharge, sharp medical equipment, glassware, plastics etc.
Dr Jui Mandke, a paediatric surgeon, explains that when she started a healthcare facility, she had to fill out a questionnaire provided by SMS Envoclean Pvt. Ltd, a company that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has tied up with for the disposal of biomedical waste.
The questionnaire asked for details such as the number of beds her facility has, what kind of procedures would be carried out there, what sort of waste would be generated, whether there would be a biomedical waste management plant at the facility and so on.
“Accordingly, they give you QR coded bags. One is yellow which is meant for liquid or blood, or blood stained things etc. There is a red bag. Things which are used for procedures like gloves or any gloves that you have used, or any pipes or tubes, oxygen masks, IV sets all these things are put in that,” she elaborates.
A doctor from a municipal hospital reiterates this saying that the same protocols are also followed in bigger civic hospitals. She explains that the plastic waste which goes into the red bags may also be contaminated with blood, other fluids or microbes. Hence, it is either autoclaved or microwaved before sending for recycling.
Needles, scalpels, blades and other sharp things are put into translucent, puncture-proof, tamper-proof, leak-proof containers. Broken and unbroken glass as well as metal implants are packed in blue tamper-proof, puncture-proof containers or cardboard boxes which are labelled in blue, and then get pre-treated before being sent for recycling.
While these protocols ensure the safety of anyone handling bio-medical waste, the people living in the vicinity of the bio-medical waste treatment plant say that their health and safety have been compromised by its presence. In 2022 the residents of Govandi had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) for its closure. In 2023, the High Court gave the order for it to be moved to Patalganga within 2 years.
Read more: Why are citizens opposing the city’s biomedical waste treatment plant?
Avinash Kaur who works as a programme manager for the Transforming M-Ward Project run by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) says, “There are no direct studies conducted right now which have been conducted in terms of the toxins from the bio-medical waste plant—if they are linked to people’s health. Usually, people have been complaining about respiratory diseases there. Our ward is highest in terms of TB cases. People in Sathe Nagar also complain about having skin rashes. They say that it is because of the waste incinerator.”
E-waste
According to the Guidelines on Implementation of E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016, producers of electrical and electronic goods are responsible for ensuring that e-waste reaches an authorised dismantle or recycler. This is known as the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Producers can implement EPR either by taking the e-waste back, setting up collection centres, or by channelising the e-waste to authorised dismantlers.
In order to implement this rule, brands selling electronic goods as well as devices such as smartphones, computers list on their website the procedure for returning e-waste to them. This information includes drop off locations, toll free numbers, or names of Producer Responsibility Organisations which refers to a professional organisation authorised by them to recycle e-waste in a responsible manner.
Read more: Pollution watchdog reviews implementation of e-waste rules
Other than this there are organisations which do organise e-waste collection drives and local scrap dealers or waste-pickers also accept e-waste. Ashwin Malwade of Ek Saath Foundation explains, “India has a huge unorganised management system. You give it to the scrap dealer. He removes all the valuable parts such as copper and aluminium.” It is then sent for recycling.
He also points out that segregation of waste does not happen at source, and people throw their e-waste into wet waste. So, e-waste recycling facilities find it difficult to handle it. When thrown in with organic waste into dumping grounds, the metals in these products like nickel, cadmium and lead leak into the environment. That is why e-waste must be segregated at source and channelised to the proper recycler.
In the next part of this series, we look at the recycling eco-system in Mumbai.
| Disposal of e-waste |
| What you should do: Look at the manual of the product to see the ‘end of life’ of the product’ Look up the website of the producer of the electrical or electronic goods for authorised recyclers or drop-off points Ensure that the battery is removed from the product Ensure that any glass surfaces are protected from breakage during transport |
| What you should not do: Do not try to dismantle the product on your own Do not throw your e-waste into your wet waste bin Do not throw your e-waste along with other municipal solid waste |
| List of e-waste facilities authorised by the MPCB is available here |