Sweet dreams are made of hospital waste

A team from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) was in for a shock today on an inspection of dumps in Ludhiana — bio-medical was...

A team from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) was in for a shock today on an inspection of dumps in Ludhiana — bio-medical waste mainly cotton was being segregated and recycled for mattresses.

Cotton waste from hospitals, dumped at the city’s solid waste disposal plant, was being sifted, dried in the open there and sent to pack mattresses and quilts. This, in spite of the city having a separate waste treatment plant.

Member secretary of Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) Malwinder Singh, who was accompanying the CPCB Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) team, said the city’s municipal corporation was ‘‘playing with people’s lives’’.

Story continues below this ad

He said when the team visited the dump, ‘‘We found heaps of cotton being filled into bags. This is against norms specified by the government for disposal of bio-medical waste.’’

CPCB’s N.K. Verma and incharge of an Indo-German bilateral project on pollution control Peter Hansheel told The Indian Express that the civic body was ‘‘blatantly violating’’ norms on disposal of solid waste.

Singh said: ‘‘We sent enough notices to them to abide by the Disposal of Solid Waste Act 2000, but our notices have not had any effect. Finally, we decided to make the CPCB team visit the sites themselves. Now, strict action needs to be taken against the Corporation for violating the norms for waste disposal.’’

Besides cotton, other bio-medical waste including bandages, disposal syringes, gloves and intravenous fluid bottles were also strewn all around.

Story continues below this ad

When this correspondent visited the area, ragpickers were seen segregating the cotton and bandages, and stacking syringes, bottles and other things separately.

Singh said the civic body had informed the Board that it was not dumping fresh garbage at the site, but residents from surrounding areas and the ragpickers said municipal vans ‘‘come daily to throw garbage here. Other vans throw hospital waste’’.

Dr Livtar Singh Chawla, patron of Indian Medical Association, said: ‘‘It is surprising to know they are throwing bio-medical waste in the open. In fact, cotton and bandages must be treated separately from needles, syringes etc. “Our country suffers from deadly diseases like HIV, Hepatitis B and C virus and many other infections which can be transmitted if the person segregating such garbage is careless while handling the needles or bandages of an affected patient.’’