Yearender 2020: COVID-19 Pandemic Threw Up Yet Another Problem To Deal With – Bio-medical Waste

Lack Of Awareness Among Citizens

Swati Sambyal, a Delhi-based waste management expert said, 'Awareness on effective waste management at the household level is extremely poor, people have been giving a lot of their mixed household waste in the designated yellow bag meant for COVID-19 waste.' Ms Sambyal called for effective awareness at ward/zone level highlighting the importance of third bin meant for domestic hazardous waste.

Bio-medical Waste Generation By Households

Ms Sambyal asserted that apart from hospitals and clinics, households' bio-medical waste management is the need of the hour and appropriate systems need to be created to support this with at least a two to three year action plan.

Lack Of Implementation Of Appropriate Strategies

Sourabh Manuja, Fellow, Centre for Waste Management, Environment & Waste Management Division at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) suggested effective implementation of strategies. He said, 'Cities lack implementation of appropriate strategies to collect and manage hazardous waste; stringent monitoring, review and verifications are required. Cities need appropriate training and capacity building along with infrastructure to manage bio-medical waste they generate, including domestic hazardous waste.'

Bio-medical Waste Management Infrastructure Capacities

Need For Stringent Implementation Of Policies