The importance of proper waste management during covid-19

by CorpSeed Pvt Ltd Environment | Compliance | Finance

Hazardous waste is that waste which has the potential to degrade public health and the environment as well. Hazardous waste possesses one or more of the following hazardous properties: Ignitability, Reactivity, toxicity, explosives, etc.

Covid-19 has brought a series of changes from the economic, health, and social point of view both in India and in the world. It has also raised questions such as what should be the management, treatment or disposal of solid waste while the pandemic lasts. How should the waste of elements of protection against covid-19, such as masks, gloves, hats, handkerchiefs and containers, among others, be managed that although before they were generated in normal activities in health care, now they are being generated in the framework of domestic, industrial, and commercial activities?

 The foregoing, taking into account that it is possible that this type of waste, regardless of whether or not it is contaminated with the virus, is mixed with ordinary solid waste, such as food or plastic waste. For this reason, discussions have recently focused on what should be its management, also facing the reopening of certain sectors of the the economy in India.

 The United Nations Environment Program of the United Nations-, has indicated that this type of waste should be treated as dangerous and has emphasized the importance of safe and effective handling of the same, to minimize the risks of new outbreaks, while it has suggested the adoption of measures such as correct separation, classification, packing, packing, transport, and treatment.

 Similarly, the World Health Organization has suggested as the most appropriate treatment and/or final disposal mechanism, incineration at temperatures above 56 ° C to eradicate the virus, a method that has been implemented by countries such as India, China, and others belonging to the Asian Union.

Read also: Why is correct industrial waste management important?

Now, in view of the situation in India, although it is true that there is extensive regulation on waste by type of waste (ordinary, special, dangerous, biological, or in health care, etc.), these provisions do not regulate the current situation that is occurring in the face of the mixture of waste, nor how its management or proper final disposal should be. Therefore, there is a gap as to whether they should be classified as ordinary and managed through the public utility company or whether they should be treated as dangerous.

 In this regard, it is important to specify that, in compliance with current legislation on biological, bio sanitary or health care waste, and in compliance with the precautionary principle, in those homes in which patients with covid-19 are already diagnosed, Given their infectious characteristics, their management must be special and they will be delivered to authorized managers for final disposal and not to the companies that provide public cleaning services.

 In this sense, and under Indian legislation, waste or residues that may have been in contact with covid-19 or waste in health care would be covered by the special waste regime contained in decrees 1076 of 2015 and 780 of 2016. These standards usually apply, as already mentioned, to waste generated in the framework of activities related to the health sector such as medical practice, blood banks, research with living organisms, laboratories, morgues and necropsies and veterinary, among other activities.

 Now, compared to other ordinary residues or wastes of virus protection elements, regarding which there is no certainty about their state of contamination, the appropriate thing would be a correct separation at the source to minimize the risks of contagion and spread of the virus and protect both the providers of the public cleaning service, as well as the general population.

 The ministries of Environment and Sustainable Development, of Health and of Housing and Social Protection recently issued a series of guidelines, recommending that from homes a correct separation of this type of elements be made through the use of a double black bag duly sealed for delivery to the provider of the public cleaning service, in order to differentiate them from the ordinary waste that is generated.

 In the case of companies and other industrial and commercial activities that are reactivated, it would be expected that, in addition to compliance with the protocols issued for each sector, all the mechanisms, measures, or practices that allow minimizing the risks of propagation of the viruses and contagion in their activities and against the environment and health in general.

 

To this end, it is recommended to adopt individual internal management manuals or protocols that include, in compliance with the environmental precautionary principle, the strictest measures for the proper management of this type of waste, treating them as hazardous waste as far as possible. In this way, specific measures could be implemented based on the regulations on hazardous waste or health care, such as classifying and separating this type of waste, adequate labeling and temporary storage on site, the delivery of safety sheets to authorized transporters. , contract the treatment and final disposal with a specially authorized manager, have contingency plans to attend to eventualities or accidents and carry out training for personnel, among others.

 

In order to avoid the spread of the virus, it is very important that both homes and industrial and commercial companies take into account the guidelines and directives issued by the National Government, within which the importance of correct Separation at the source between contaminated and/or potentially contaminated biological waste, from those ordinary usable waste, to prevent their mixing and, consequently, increasing the risk of contagion or infection of the environment and human health.

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Created on Dec 17th 2020 00:31. Viewed 541 times.

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