Kerala acts on Karnataka’s complaint, cracks whip on Bio-medical Waste Rules violation

Facing wrath over dumping of hazardous biomedical waste in parts of Karnataka a few days ago, neighbouring Kerala has finally cracked a whip on those violating Bio-medical Waste Rules.

Admitting that lack of facilities on its soil could be forcing the waste-collecting agents to dump Kerala’s medical waste in neighbouring states, Kerala State Pollution Control Board member secretary Sreekala S told DH that efforts are on to nab the culprits who were responsible for the Nanjangud incident.

Exerting pressure on Kerala government, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board had written a detailed letter along with the lab reports and FIR demanding action against the culprits. Commenting on the correspondence, Sreekala said, “We are already conducting a probe to trace the source of the medical waste that was recently dumped in parts of Karnataka.

The present facilities in Kerala are inadequate to treat the biomedical waste and municipal waste generated within Kerala. Hence, instances such as dumping of waste from Kerala in other states are being reported.”

READ: Kerala chokes Karnataka with toxic waste

Over 9,650 healthcare institutions across Kerala generate a whopping 20,000 tonnes of biomedical waste every year.

However, the biomedical treatment facilities in the state can handle a maximum of 14,500 tonnes annually. Similarly, the state generates about 3.7 million tonnes of municipal solid waste every year, of which 45% is treated scientifically through source-level treatment.

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These facts and figures available from agencies like the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, Suchitwa Mission under the Kerala Local Self Government and Indian Medical Association (IMA) indicate why a major chunk of waste generated in Kerala is being disposed of unscientifically in parts of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Karnataka has more reasons to worry as North Kerala districts like Malappuram and Kozhikode have over 2,700 hospitals and private clinics, and around six tonnes of biomedical waste is generated from these two districts alone per day, according to the Kerala State Pollution Control Board.

Treatment facilities

Only 20 major healthcare establishments in Kerala have captive biomedical treatment and disposal facility. The remaining institutions, including government hospitals, depend on the single biomedical treatment facility called the Indian Medical Association Goes Eco-friendly (IMAGE) in Palakkad district. The plant was set up in 2003 by IMA.

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Even as the handling capacity of the plant is 37 tonnes per day, about 50 tonnes of biomedical waste from various parts of Kerala reaches the plant every day, leading to a backlog. “The unit is running 24X7 to meet the requirement,” said P A Sunil, IMAGE manager-administration.

While the Kerala government is planning to set up a biomedical facility at available spaces in government medical colleges, the IMA plans to set up one more biomedical treatment facility at Brahmapuram in Kochi.

However, local protests have stalled the coming up of waste-treatment plants. Locals are aggrieved over the environmental hazards caused by unscientific treatment.

A garbage treatment plant operated for many years at Vilappilsala on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram, and handled the garbage of Thiruvananthapuram city. But its people forced the government to stop the plant’s functioning through a mass protest in 2012.

Various reasons led to the protest: pollution of the water bodies, stink in the locality owing to unscientific transportation of garbage, and a social stigma that affected the land value and cast a shadow over the marriage prospects for youths in the locality.

Eventually, the National Green Tribunal ordered the closure of the plant.

Kerala’s plan to have waste-to-energy plants in all districts and at least one biomedical waste treatment plant is getting delayed due to local protests. After much dilly-dallying, work is on for setting up of waste-to-energy plants at Kochi and Kozhikode.

READ: Kerala acts on Karnataka’s complaint, cracks whip on Bio-medical Waste Rules violation

P A Sunil added that over the last many years, IMA has been pressing for land in order to set up biomedical facilities. If the proposed plant at Brahmapuram in Kochi becomes a reality, it will exclusively process the biomedical waste generated by healthcare institutions in south and central Kerala, while the existing one will be used to treat biomedical waste of north Kerala.

Source-level treatment

On a positive note, efforts for source-level treatment, mainly of domestic waste, is gaining momentum in the state with the launch of ‘freedom from waste’ campaign in 2017.

A senior official of the Suchitwa Mission, Kerala’s total sanitation programme, said that the programme was aiming at achieving 75% treatment at source in the next two to three years.