Bio-waste handling outside cities to be mechanised

The West Bengal state government would like non-government organisations and welfare societies to operate autoclaves set up by the government for disposing off bio-wastes in smaller town and semi-urban areas in the state, according to the principal secretary of the health and family welfare department of the state, Asim Barman.

Delegates at a workshop on solid waste management organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI), the Indo-British Scholars Association and Concern for Calcutta, were told the state government would install the autoclave and related equipment in smaller towns and semi-rural areas but NGOs and welfare associations would have to run them as partners of the government.

Besides creating a new market for autoclaves, connected equipment and waste-related services, the proposal would lead to safe disposal of hazardous solid waste, currently being dumped in open spaces and water bodies.

The partners would also have to collect wastes from government and private hospitals. The quantum of waste generated from state hospitals in smaller towns and semi-urban areas would be limited.

To justify the investment in autoclaves, the partner organisations would be encouraged to collect bio-medical wastes from private clinics and nursing homes at a charge.

Barman said from April 1, state hospitals would mandatorily segregate bio-medical wastes into three categories "" infectious, anatomical wastes and other wastes.

A bio-waste processing and recycling unit set up by a private investor would be collecting materials from hospitals. The state government owned hospitals were the largest polluters in terms of bio-medical waste generation.

Khokan Mukherjee, speaking on behalf of Concern for Calcutta, said the country had witnessed a significant increase in municipal solid waste (MSW) in the last few years. The per capita MSW per day ranged from 100 grams in small towns to 500g in large urban concentrations.

The average volume of per capita waste generation per day was 468 grams. The amount of waste generated per capita was estimated to increase rapidly.