Shimla: To strengthen the regulation of Waste Management for Biomedical waste and e-waste the State Pollution Control Board will soon come out with an online application ‘Waste MIS’.
“The online web/mobile application ‘Waste MIS’ being developed by the Department of IT, will have an online manifest system to check the pilferage of waste and ensure its scientific disposal through the authorized vendors,” said State Pollution Control Board, Chairman KK Pant.
He said that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India had framed new regulations during 2016 for management of Biomedical Waste with an objective to improve the collection, segregation, processing, treatment and disposal of waste in an environmentally sound manner thereby reducing the biomedical waste generation and its impact on health and environment.
He said that new regulation has brought all the Allopathic, Ayurvedic, Veterinary Institutions, Pathological Laboratories, Blood Banks etc. under its ambit.
Under these new Rules, about 8990 Health Care Institutions are being regulated by the State Board and approximately 3.5 MT per day of Biomedical Waste is being generated by these institutions which is being disposed through the Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facilities (CBWTFs) established at Solan, Kangra and Una and captive disposal facilities at institutions level, he added.
“Covid-19 pandemic situation has also posed a serious challenge for handling and disposal of Covid-19 biomedical waste in the state as well. To ensure safe disposal of biomedical waste including Covid-19 waste, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has brought out dedicated guidelines for handling, treatment and disposal of waste generated during treatment, diagnostics and quarantine of Covid-19 patients,” he said.
He said that generation and disposal status of Covid-19 waste is being reported on national tracking portal on daily basis by the State Board and since April 2020 approximately 538 MT of Covid-19 wastes have been disposed off through CBWTFs and captive facilities in the state.
The state has witnessed maximum generation of Covid-19 waste 105 MT during the month of May 2021. At present nearly 4.74 MT of bio-medical waste is being generated per day and the three CBWTFs have incineration capacity of 6.4 MT per day indicating availability of adequate infrastructure for treatment and disposal of biomedical waste including Covid-19 waste in the state.
Theme for World Environment Day 2021 is ‘Ecosystem Restoration’, he said, appealing the people to take pledge to work hard for conservation of ecosystems and the recovery of those that have been destroyed or degraded.
