The State Level Monitoring Committee appointed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Kochi Corporation to earmark three acres of dry land at Brahmapuram to set up a Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facility.
In its directive issued to the civic body, the committee said that land has to earmarked by the Kochi Corporation for the biomedical waste plant.
“Three acres of dry land which is clear as per revenue records with road access be identified by the engineering wing of the Corporation and its map shall be forwarded to the Secretary, Kochi Corporation, without delay and the same shall be placed before the council by the Secretary as a direction of the State Level Monitoring Committee,” it said.
The directive to set up a biomedical waste treatment facility at Brahmapuram came based on the inference that the State’s lone facility at Manthuruthy, near Malampuzha in Palakkad, was operating at its maximum capacity. Experts had suggested setting up similar centres in other parts of the State to tackle the increasing amount of biomedical waste.
The committee had also taken note of a report submitted by the State Pollution Control Board after inspecting the Indian Medical Association Goes Eco-Friendly (IMAGE) facility in Palakkad. The Chairman of the board informed that body parts have to be collected in yellow bags for incineration. Recyclables like plastic need to be collected in red bags for autoclaving.
“After autoclaving, there is manual segregation of waste in red bags. Entry of blood containing parts in red bags happen quite often if the segregation of biomedical waste is not proper and thus there is chance of biohazards.
The board recommended that this process can be made automatic,” it said.
As per Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, any waste, which is generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunisation of human beings or animals or in research activities pertaining thereto or in the production of testing of biological and including categories mentioned in schedule 1 of the Rule, is a biomedical waste.
