Abundance of problems related to the medical waste dumped in open

Issues arising Due to Medical Waste Dumped in Open

Highlights

• Garbage heaps a huge problem for India.
• No proper waste management technique used.
• High risk during COVID-19 due to biomedical wastes.
• A case study on Delhi's biowaste management system.

Increasing Garbage Heaps in India

Huge garbage heaps are not a new thing for India. With the rise in population, India has seen a tremendous rise in the amount of garbage generated by the people. Urban India is producing tons of waste each day. Urban India has already become the 3^rd largest waste producer. It is expected that by the year 2050 this tally will increase to 436 million tons. The main issue with the garbage production in India is that we still have not been able to decide a way by which waste could be managed properly. By using technology and science. This has led to the huge increase in garbage landfills particularly in metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata. In a report, it was mentioned that 94% of the total waste collected is dumped on land and only 5% is composted. This leads to the creation of huge mountainous heaps of garbage which finally becomes the reason for plenty of health-related issues arising in that particular area along with the generation of so many harmful gases like methane gas that further leads to the production of the foul smell that can be much more dangerous for human health.

Bio-waste and COVID Pandemic

The above-mentioned points are made to make everyone come closer to reality to absorb the seriousness of this issue. The world is facing the pandemic, this has already been extremely harsh to each and every human so being responsible citizens what should be our responsibility towards our country and fellow humans that by doing small things like at least we can adopt all those habits that could help in controlling COVID-19. There can be many ways by which this could be achieved and one such important step could be proper biowaste management. Despite taking extreme care of such an important thing, it is heard in the news that bio wears that are being used nowadays as protection stuff is thrown in garbage dump without following any recommended guidelines. Isn’t it dangerous? It is found out that all the used masks, face shields, and many other dangerous biomedical wastes are thrown into garbage dumps. That gets mixed up with the general municipal solid waste from the neighboring colonies leading to the situation of high risk, especially for the poor rag pickers. Due to this irresponsible behavior of the general citizens like us, this virus could infect many people that could even result in the community transmission phase in India and we just can’t imagine the situation that could arise during the community transmission phase in India.

Medical Wastes in Open Dumped Garbage

According to the recent report, a person named Ranjeet Kumar who is a rag picker has complained about the presence of a huge amount of biowastes such as used gloves, masks, etc., with the household garbage since eight days now. He said that the biomedical wastes were packed in cardboard boxes that are dumped near municipal waste at Dhalao near Nangoli Railway station, New Delhi. When the locals were asked upon the matter they said that biomedical waste is dumped by the quarantine facility centers and hospital workers at late night. It was found that the dumping was of huge scale determining the fact of the garbage being dumped by some hospitals and quarantine centers as only such places could generate such a huge amount of garbage on regular basis. This case story can perfectly counter the situation of management on grass root level in India as hospitals are risking people’s lives that are ought to be the lifesavers. It is not that the government has not issued the strict guidelines mandatory for all such places including hospitals, quarantine centers, research institutes to follow with regards to the dumping of biowastes. Government of India in March has released guidelines in which it is written that such places specifically need to follow certain more steps along with the already available guidelines issued regarding the biomedical waste management in India like double layered bags should be used to collect the waste for ensuring no leakage. Another one is to use a separate bin in which only COVID-19 related waste should be collected and many more such guidelines were issued but it could not change a lot like the previously mentioned case study has actually happened in July that is about 4 months after the release of the government guidelines.

What we can do?

Such things should start affecting us now this is an alarming situation now. Now we need to take care of such things as it is the matter of our lives and many other Indians' lives. Govt. also needs to be much strict with finding the waste management related issues solution and strict actions should be taken against everybody whoever or whichever organization would try to break law by throwing wastes without following proper guidelines and at last being responsible citizens.

WE SHOULD WAKE UP NOW, AS IT IS NOW OR NEVER.

References:

1. https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/truckloads-of-troble-bio-med-waste-in-open-raises-infection-risk/77009930
2. https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/waste-management-india-drowning-garbage-2147
3. https://scroll.in/article/958711/indian-households-ineffective-waste-management-is-putting-sanitation-workers-at-risk-of-covid-19
4. https://qz.com/india/1824884/india-frames-rules-for-disposing-coronavirus-waste-from-hospitals