KOCHI: The Covid-19 pandemic has created a paradigm shift in every sector- from the way we venture out in public to education and our careers. Primarily, it has prompted a transformation in global healthcare and the handling of biomedical waste. The latter, which hasn’t been in the public eye as much as it needs to, has silently and steadily increased enormously ever since March. As per the data available with IMAGE (Indian Medical Association Goes Eco-friendly), the Covid biomedical waste in Palakkad waste treatment plant has increased from a mere 698 kg on March 19 to 4,715kg on May 31. In total, the state has produced 14,8,707kg of Covid-19 waste from 82 centres.
While Malappuram has seen the highest quantity of Covid-19 waste generated at 22,055kg, Thiruvananthapuram has collected 19,241 kg and Ernakulam 18,945kg. Though Ernakulam has around 10 Covid care centres, it generated only 359kg of Covid-19 waste on May 31. It was 753kg on May 30. Expectedly, the quantity of Covid-19 waste has exponentially risen from May 16.
While the spike in cases from people returning from other countries and states can be attributed to the growing Covid-19 biomedical waste, it majorly depends on the number of persons still under treatment as people have different rates of recoveries.
Dr Sharfudheen K P, secretary, IMAGE - CBWTF (Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facility), said Covid-19 waste and biomedical waste are two different entities. “Covid waste purely depends on the waste generated during the treatment of a person positively diagnosed for the coronavirus. The rest, even those produced by people in the quarantine centres, do not categorise as Covid waste. This includes masks and gloves,” he said.
Another factor for the increase in Covid waste is because one coronavirus positive patient generates about 10kg-14kg of waste. “Biomedical waste for a normal patient is about 250-500g per day. But for a Covid-19 patient, the waste includes not just of themselves but that of the doctors, nurses and the sanitary workers who attend to them,” Sharafudheen said Does that mean bio-medical waste from specialist clinics like dental hospitals and laboratories would be less? “Around 85 to 90 per cent of such places have already opened since May 20. Currently we receive a total of 38 to 40 tonnes of biomedical waste,” he said.
In April, the Central Pollution Control Board had released guidelines to treat Covid-19 waste efficiently and scientifically. “It has been revised a few times. Waste segregation at source has always been the success of handling biomedical waste -- the latter is segregated into four categories such as yellow, red, blue and white.
Albeit, when it comes to treating Covid-19 waste, instead of segregating the same into red and yellow, everything goes into yellow, which is incinerated. Red is usually for plastics and rubber which can later be recycled. Additionally, the people who handle Covid-19 waste were in PPE, and there are eight separate vehicles for Covid-19 waste in the state. The other 50 trucks are deployed for just regular biomedical waste,” he said. When asked if the Palakkad plant is equipped to deal with the rising quantity of Covid-19 waste in the days to come, Dr Sharafudheen added that IMAGE could handle upto 48 tonnes, even though currently it handles with 42 tonnes in 20 hours. IMAGE has also received land for setting up its second facility in Kochi.
BIO-WASTE GENERATION
While Malappuram has seen the highest quantity of Covid-19 waste generated at 22,055kg, Thiruvananthapuram has
collected 19,241kg and Ernakulam 18,945kg
Though Ernakulam has around 10 Covid care centres, it noted only 359kg of Covid-19 waste on May 31. It was 753kg on May 30.
Expectedly, the quantity of Covid-19 waste has exponentially risen from May 16 onward.
Ernakulam, with 10 Covid care centres, has generated 18,945kg of bio-waste