HAZARDOUS AND BIOMEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT

Transcription

1 CHAPTER V HAZARDOUS AND BIOMEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT Civilization began & developed along riverbanks. Humans lived in harmony with the nature and everything was manageable at those days. Development of industries led to a drastic change in everything. By the end of the Nineteenth century, the industrial revolution observed the rising world of consumers. Development of population packets began in and around the industrial areas. This rapid growth of industries generated huge amounts of hazardous waste that was difficult to manage. The hazardous industrial waste requires treatment before disposal as it contains toxic materials, which can degrade the environment and affect the health of humans and animals. Hazardous Waste Management became a major problem in India due to the harsh impact on the environment from the haphazard disposal of hazardous wastes. The undesirable impacts of these wastes and the vital potential threats posed to the life and its supporting factors are gradually being recognized (CPCB, 2003). The industrial wastes are considered as hazardous waste as it contains toxic materials and needs special treatment before disposing them. The obsolete electronic products (ewaste) are the waste materials which requires special care while disposal. Contents of e-wastes are considered very detrimental to man and the environment. 5.1 INDUSTRIAL WASTE The industries in the Local Planning Area of Mysore City from the past decade began growing rapidly. The increase in the number of industries had several positive impacts on the development of the society but the problems from the volume of hazardous waste it generates were not anticipated. Management of hazardous waste generated by the industries within the country and the import of waste from the other countries for the purpose of recycling requires scientific methods of treatment and disposal. In India, very few hazardous waste landfill sites, which are secured, are available for the disposal in environmental friendly manner. Illegal disposal of these wastes by any industry will lead to severe environmental hazard. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has notified the Hazardous Wastes (Management & Page 119

2 Handling) Rules, 1989 that was amended in the years 2000 and 2003 for the purpose of appropriate management of hazardous wastes throughout the country. This rule lists few hazardous waste categories that are banned for importing from other countries. Assessment of industrial solid waste management problem greatly varies depending on the nature of the industry, their location and mode of disposal of waste. Further, for arriving at an appropriate solution for better management of industrial solid waste, assessment of nature of waste generated is also essential. Industries are required to collect and dispose of their waste at specific disposal sites and such collection, treatment and disposal is required to be monitored by the concerned State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) Hazardous wastes, based on the physical as well as the chemical characteristics, can be categorized into recyclable waste, incinerable waste and landfill disposable waste. The hazardous waste is recyclable if recovery of resources through reprocessing is possible. It is incinerable when incineration of the waste is possible for destruction and for energy recovery. It is a landfill waste when the recovery of resource or energy is not possible, but appropriate for the disposal in landfill with or without its treatment (CPCB, 2003). Reliable data on quantity of various categories of hazardous wastes generated is not available yet. The processes of inventorisation of hazardous wastes generating industries and quantification of hazardous wastes in India are in progress. In many cases, it is difficult to procure reliable data on quantification of hazardous wastes and the SPCBs have to rely on the figures produced by the industries, which may not have adopted scientific methods for quantification of different categories of hazardous wastes. The Local Planning area of Mysore City has several industrial areas and estates which includes several large scale and small scale industries. The Industrial area within the city limits are the Bannimantap and Vidyaranyapuram Industrial area. Industrial estate surrounding the city limits exists at five places namely Hebbal, Belavadi, Hootgalli, Belagola and Metagally. As per the directions of the Central Pollution Control Board, every industries are responsible to process the waste generated within their units. Hence, there is an absence of common waste treatment facility for processing the industrial solid waste in the study area. Most of industrial waste generated by the industries are a source of raw materials for other industries and hence they are sold to required industries. Page 120

3 5.2 ELECTRONIC WASTE Many municipalities are facing problems with huge amounts of E-waste because rapid changes in computer technology attract the people to throw the gadgets of old technology. Obsolete computers, colour cathode ray tubes (CRTs) and other electronic appliances form the electronic waste or e-waste. Hazardous substances like lead, chromium and mercury are present in these e-waste. An average of four pounds of lead is found in a CRT monitor. The municipal solid waste will be contaminated by the presence of high level Hg in e-waste. Flame-retardants containing bromines are used in plastic materials of various electronic appliances. Toxics abundant in E-waste are released into the environment through leachates in landfill sites or through incinerator ash. Toxic air pollutants are also released into the environment through incinerators. Therefore, management of E-waste has become a priority in many countries. Over the years, people s reliance on the electronic commodities grew larger for domestic as well as for office use and simultaneously resulted in the generation of e-waste everywhere. E-waste is among the fastest growing stream of waste. As per the United States Environmental Protection Agency, e-waste on an average constitute one percent of MSW stream (EPA, 2001). As far as India is concerned, the import, illegal disposal and the incomplete databases of hazardous waste are the major issues. The unpredictable expansion of IT industries within the LPA of Mysore City has unavoidably triggered a remarkable boost in the number of users of electronic goods. This has led the population to become extremely tech-savvy and brand cognisant in gadgets. The new trends and improvements in the technology in electronic goods such as television sets, refrigerators, washing machines and mobile phones have forced the older versions to be discarded at a far higher rate than earlier. To avoid the environmental pollution and to retrieve the valuable resources from the e-waste, recycling is a better option. It helps in the reduction of energy usage for the production of new goods. Even though the capability of the formal sector in handling e-waste of large quantites is available, the input is only around 10 percentage of the e-waste produced within the study area. As per the authorized recycling centre for e-waste in the LPA of Page 121

4 Mysore City, around 90 percentage of consumers including domestic and commercial depend on the unauthorized recyclers, who do not have the expertise and equipments to manage the e-waste in a proper scientific manner. There are several firms within Mysore, where workers are employed in a unprotected condition, who burn these wastes in open leading to the emission of toxic gases such as lead and mercury into the air. Extraction of precious metals like gold from the e-waste by theses unauthorised recyclers is carried out using strong acids. Materials that cannot retrieve any resources are disposed haphazardly in the drains or garbage which will ultimately lead to the pollution of groundwater and poses a severe health hazard. The rules specified became applicable from May 1, 2012 to all those who are involved in the e-waste management including the producer, collection centre, recycler, dismantler and users, concerned with the production, processing and trade of electronic and electrical goods. Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 imposes penalty and punishment for nonconformity with the prescribed rules under Section 15. Central Pollution Control Board has authorized Ameena Enterprises of Hebbal Industrial Area in the collection and processing of E-waste in Mysore. The scenario of e-waste management in Mysore is critical, as majority of the e-waste generated within the city is auctioned to unauthorized e-waste recyclers. Due to this scenario, quantification of e-waste becomes difficult for the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. The unauthorized recyclers do not follow the directions issued by the CPCB for the safe disposal of e-waste which leads to the environmental impact. The authorized recyclers follow the standards aiming at environmental safety. The Ameena Enterprises who are the authorized e-waste recyclers in Mysore collects the materials and segregates them into several categories. The circuit boards and the hazardous materials like the powders from the obsolete cartridges of printers are safely segregated and are transported to E-Parisaraa Pvt. Ltd, an authorized electronic waste recycler in Bengaluru engaged in managing and recycling as well as reusing the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) in an eco friendly way. They create an opportunity for the transfer of e-waste into socially and industrially useful materials using easy, cheaper and eco-friendly technologies. The segregated plastic materials are recycled at unit near Bannimantap in Mysore and are sold to manufacturers of plastic products. Page 122

5 5.3 BIOMEDICAL WASTE Infectious waste or the biomedical wastes are those waste that is generated in the process of diagnosis and treatment of human beings or animals and in research activities. About 75% to 90% of these wastes are non-risk and only 10-25% of them are regarded as hazardous. Hospital waste till recently was not managed but simply disposed off which would mix up with municipal waste and cause environment hazards. These rules are applicable to the Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Veterinary Institutions, Pathological Laboratories and Clinics, Blood Banks, etc. generating biomedical wastes. The Municipal body of the area cannot pick up and transport untreated bio-medical wastes generated in the hospital and nursing homes. Although there is no standard and uniformly accepted definition of hospital waste, it is generally recognized as biomedical waste generated in diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings, in research pertaining there to or in the manufacture or examination of biological. Further categorization of biomedical waste has been done under eight different heads in the Biomedical Draft Waste Rules, The mode of disposal specified is dependent on the type of waste, and various methods of disposal are used such as incineration, microwaving, autoclaving, disinfecting and deep burial. This, therefore, make biomedical waste treatment different from other types of waste pollution, as each establishment requires different expertise and resources to handle the waste generated. The Biomedical Waste Management Rules were notified in 1998 in India. Bio-medical waste as per the Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998 is any waste which is generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or animals or in research activities pertaining thereto or in the production or testing of biological. Hospital Waste Management must be a integral part of hospital hygiene and maintenance. The management of hospital waste involves a wide range of engineering functions like the collection of waste, transportation to the facility, treatment and disposal of waste. Poor management of Bio-Medical waste will lead to environmental pollution, nasty odour, increase of vectors such as worms, insects, and rodents. It can cause the spread of diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and hepatitis due to the injuries from Page 123

6 syringes and sharps tainted with human blood. Several transmissible diseases that spread through blood, water, and body fluids are essential to be prevented. The Bio-Medical Waste spread within the hospital premises would invite flies, rodents and insects that would become responsible for the transmission of diseases such as plague. The risk is higher for the rag pickers who sort out the waste to get tetanus and HIV infections. Improper sterilization of disposable syringes, sharps, glass bottles while recycling will transmit viral diseases like Hepatitis and HIV. Management of Bio-medical waste in safe and environment friendly manner is the primary responsibility of the administrators of the health care units CATEGORIES OF BIO-MEDICAL WASTE As per the Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998, the bio-medical wastes were categorized into ten categories. The amendment in 2011 reduced the categories into eight as shown in Table 5.1. Table 5.1: Categories of Biomedical waste Cat. No. Category Types of Waste Category 1 Human Anatomical Waste Human Tissues, Organs, Body parts Category 2 Animal Waste Category 3 Category 4 Category 5 Category 6 Category 7 Category 8 Microbiology and Biotechnology Waste sharps Discarded Medicines Soiled wastes Solid Waste Chemical waste Animal tissues, organs, body parts, bleeding parts, fluids. Laboratory cultures, specimens, vaccines, culture, dishes and devices used for transfer of culture. Needles, Syringes, Scalpels, Blades, Glasses etc. This will include both used and unused sharps. Cytotoxic drugs. Items contaminated with blood and body fluids including dressings, cotton, lines beddings and soiled plasters. Generated from disposable items other than sharps like catheters, intravenous sets. Chemical used in production, chemicals used as disinfection, as insecticides. Source: Central Pollution Control Board The bio-medical wastes are to be carefully handled and disposed in the colorcoded containers maintained by each health care unit. The color-coding for the segregation of all categories of waste at source is shown in Table 5.2. Page 124

7 Table 5.2: Color Coding for the containers of Bio-medical Waste Color coding Type of container Waste category Yellow Red Plastic bin with Biohazard logo. Yellow plastic non chlorinated liner Plastic bin with biohazard logo and red liner non chlorinated liner Anatomic waste, Animal wastes, Soiled wastes, Discarded medicines Microbiology, Sharps, Solid wastes, (contaminated plastic) Blue Plastic bin with blue plastic liner Chemical waste Black Municipal wastes Source: Central Pollution Control Board BIOMEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT IN LPA OF MYSORE CITY: Shree Consultants Pvt. Ltd. is authorized to function the Common Bio-medical Waste Treatment Facility (CBWTF) at Mysore. This plant facilitates the collection, transportation, treatment and disposal of bio-medical waste from all the Health Care facilities within the city since the year The civic authority has made it compulsory for all the health care units to tie up with M/s. Shree Consultants for the management of Bio-medical waste. Their treatment and disposal facility is situated in Varuna Hobli on T.Narasipur road near the city. Each health care unit are given four colour-coded containers for the waste to be segregated at source and for the safe transportation. As the categories of bio-medical waste has been amended in Bio Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998 and the categories have been reduced to eight, the staffs handling these waste are found confused. The City Corporation handles the black colour container carrying the municipal waste and the Shree consultants transport the other three coloured containers. The process of incineration, autoclaving and shredding are carried out for different categories of bio-medical waste at the CBWTF. Bio-medical waste has to be collected and transported in such a way that avoids the possible impact to the health of living beings and the environment. The collection and transportation of segregated bio-medical waste are the two stages when it is highly exposed to the humans and animals. Hence, it must be ensured that the bio-medical waste collected from the health care units should reach the CBWTF Page 125

8 without spillage and illegal access by the public. As per the rules governing the Biomedical waste management, an authorized person from the operator of CBWTF, should always escort the vehicle for supervising the collection and transportation of bio-medical waste Collection of bio-medical waste As per the provisions of the Biomedical Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 1998, it is the responsibility of the generator of bio-medical waste to provide segregated waste to the CBWTF operator. The guidelines issued by the Central Pollution Control Board, 2014 states that the CBWTF operator should not collect the non-segregated waste and the matter must be reported once in a quarter to the prescribed authority. The health care units must have a temporary storage space. The colour-coded bags of waste from the health care units must be collected in the same colour-coded containers with cover. It must be ensured that the every collected bag are labeled according to Schedule III and IV of Bio-medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules for facilitating the tracking of health care units that do not segregate it as per the prescribed rules. The colour-coded containers have to be sturdy enough to survive any likely damage that can occur while the collection, transportation or unloading of these containers. Sharps are collected in puncture resistant containers. The containers used by the CBWTF as shown in Plate 5.1 are designed in such a way that they cannot be reuse once disposed in it. These containers will force the needles to be trapped inside and can only be emptied after reaching the CBWTF. Plate 5.1: Containers used for collecting sharps provided by CBWTF, Mysore Page 126

9 Transportation of Bio-medical Waste to CBWTF The guidelines issued by the CPCB (2014) states that the CBWTF operator should not use subletted vehicles or contract vehicles. The operator of the CBWTF must own every vehicle and they should be registered with the concerned SPCB for the collection of bio-medical waste from the health care units. The bio-medical waste collected in coloured containers shall be transported to the CBWTF in a fully covered vehicle. The CBWTF at Mysore has nine vehicles for the transportation of Bio-medical waste from all the Health care units to the plant in Varuna with separate cabins for different categories of Bio-medical waste. Plate 5.2 shows the different types of carrier vehicles used at the CBWTF with separate cabins provided to these vehicles for carrying different colour coded bags of waste without getting mixed with other categories. The collect the Bio-medical waste from all the health care units that have tied-up with them throughout Mysore in two different shifts at morning and evening. Every vehicle is given special care in maintenance, as it should not have damages or leakages. Vehicles are washed thouroughly at a regular interval as prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board. Plate 5.2: Different types of vehicles used for the transportation of Bio-medical waste Page 127

10 5.3.3 TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL OF BIO-MEDICAL WASTE The Bio-medical waste collected from various health care units are brought to the CBWTF at Varuna and are kept at the separate colour coded areas in the temperory storage area or Godown as shown in the Plate 5.3. As and when the treatment process for the previous batch completes, the new batch would be taken from the godowns. In the CBWTF at Mysore, there are two chambers, one with a temperature of about 850 degree Celsius and other with 1050 degree Celsius. The disposed bio-medical waste is put inside these chambers and is disposed scientifically. Every stage of incineration is monitored and controlled. The heat, dust and suspended particles produced during the incineration process are also controlled, in the heat exchanger, dust collector and scrubbers. The smoke coming out during the incineration process it is let out into the atmosphere using 30 meters chimney as shown in Plate 5.4. There is also a hole at eight meters height through which only permissible level of smoke is let out. Even the water used during the incineration process is treated at the Affluent Treatment Plant and under-goes various stages of process before it is reused for the incineration process. The contaminated water passes through sedimentation tank before the scrubber uses it. Incineration ash, treated waste sharps, plastic waste, glass waste and sludge from effluent treatment plant are generally generated from the CBWTF from the treatment systems such as incineration, autoclaving/microwaving, effluent treatment plant respectively. Even though the ash produced during incineration is low, it is also stored at PVC layered concrete pit. The ash stored will be sent for land fill. With respect to the other wastes, such as the syringes and plastic waste, they undergo a different kind of process, where they are sent to separate chambers in which the boilers produce heat. They are heated with a temperature about 110 degree Celsius and with 15 pounds per square inch pressure for an hour which makes them disinfectant. This is later cut into pieces and given to companies which manufacture shoes and chapples. Utmost care is taken to see that the plastic materials do not reach hospitals or hotels. Page 128

11 Plate 5.3: Separate storage areas for the different categories of waste at godown Plate 5.4: The 30 meters high chimney above the CBWTF plant at Mysore Page 129

12 INCINERATION Incineration is a controlled combustion process where waste is completely oxidized and harmful microorganisms present in it are destroyed/denatured under high temperature. Health care facilities from Mysore Taluk contributed to 1,96, kgs of incinerable waste (Cat-1, 3 and 6) in the year K.R.Hospital with 1050 beds generated the largest quantity of incinerable waste among all the health care units within the LPA of Mysore City in the year '0"E 76 40'0"E 12 24'0"N INCINERABLE BIO-MEDICAL WASTE FROM HOSPITAL LOCAL PLANNING AREA OF MYSORE CITY '0"N 12 16'0"N 12 20'0"N 12 20'0"N 12 24'0"N 12 12'0"N Kilometers LEGEND Incinerable Waste in Kgs LPA Boundary Roads 12 12'0"N 76 36'0"E 76 40'0"E Map 5.1: Incinerable Waste generated by the hospitals in LPA of Mysore City Page 130

13 Table 5.3: Largest generators of Incinerable waste in the year 2013 Name of the Hospital No. of beds Quantity of Waste K.R. Hospital JSS hospital Columbia Asia Hospital Jayadeva Institute of Cardio Vascular Science and Research Apollo B.G.S. Hospital Source: Shree Consultants, 2014 INCINERABLE WASTE GENERATED PER BED K.R. Hospital JSS hospital Columbia Asia Hospital Jayadeva Inst. of CVSR Apollo B.G.S. Hospital Fig.5.1: Density of incinerable waste per bed of the five largest generators Table 5.3 shows the list of five largest generators of incinerable waste in Mysore. K.R. Hospital, J.S.S Hospital, Columbia Asia Hospital, Jayadeva Institute of Cardio Vascular Science and Research and Apollo B.G.S hospital are the five largest generators of incinerable waste in the year 2013, whereas, the Columbia Asia Hospital generates the largest incinerable waste per bed and J.S.S. Hospital generates the least incinerable waste per bed among them. Density of incinerable waste per bed of the five largest generators are shown in Fig The CBWTF in Mysore uses LPG gas cylinders as shown in Plate 5.5 to help the incineration unit (Plate 5.6) to reach the desired temperature. A compressor for Pneumatic System for the automatic cut-off of burners (Plate 5.7) and the scrubber unit (Plate 5.8) are also used in the incineration process. Page 131

14 Plate 5.5: The LPG cylinders used for incineration unit at the CBWTF, Mysore Plate 5.6: The incineration unit at the CBWTF, Mysore Page 132

15 Plate 5.7: Compressor for Pneumatic System for the automatic cut-off of burners Plate 5.8: The Scrubber unit used at the CBWTF, Mysore Page 133

16 AUTOCLAVING AND SHREDDING: Autoclaving is a low-heat thermal process where steam is brought into direct contact with waste in a controlled manner and for sufficient duration to disinfect the wastes. Shredding is a process by which waste are de-shaped or cut into smaller pieces to make the wastes unrecognizable '0"E 76 40'0"E 12 24'0"N AUTOCLAVABLE BIO-MEDICAL WASTE FROM HOSPITAL LOCAL PLANNING AREA OF MYSORE CITY '0"N 12 16'0"N 12 20'0"N 12 20'0"N 12 24'0"N LEGEND Autoclavable Waste in Kgs '0"N Kilometers LPA Boundary Roads 12 12'0"N 76 36'0"E 76 40'0"E Map 5.2: Autoclavable waste generated by hospitals in LPA of Mysore Page 134

17 Among all the health care units, the five largest generators of these wastes in the year 2013 are listed in table 5.4. Table 5.4: Largest generators of autoclavable and shreddable waste in 2013 Name of the Hospital No. of beds Quantity of Waste Columbia Asia Hospital Apollo B.G.S. Hospital Vikram Jeshta CSI Holdsworth Memorial Hospital Narayana Hrudayalaya Surgical Hospital Pvt Ltd Source: Shree Consultants, 2014 Autoclavable and Shreddable waste per bed Columbia Asia Hospital Apollo B.G.S. Hospital Vikram Jeshta CSIHMH Narayana HS Hospital Fig. 5.2: Density of autoclavable waste per bed of the five largest generators Shredding helps in the prevention of reuse of bio-medical waste and acts as identifier that the wastes have been disinfected and are safe to dispose off. Health Care Facilities in Mysore Taluk generated 1,34, kgs of autoclavable and shreddeble waste (Category 4 and 7) in the year In the Local Planning Area of Mysore City, Columbia Asia Hospital having 100 beds has generated the largest quantity of autoclavable and shreddable waste (10,402 kgs.) in the year Density of autoclavable waste per bed of the five largest generators are shown in Fig After the process of incineration or autoclaving and shredding, these are disposed in the landfill sites and the plastics are sold to the recyclers permitted by the Pollution Control Board. The autoclaving and shredding unit at the CBWTF plant is shown in Plate 5.9 and Plate Page 135

18 Plate 5.9: Autoclave unit Plate 5.10: Shredder Page 136

19 5.3.4 ILLEGAL DISPOSAL As per the directions of Mysore City Corporation, it is mandatory for all the health care units including the hospitals, clinics, labs and such units to tie up with the Shree Consultants Pvt. Ltd. who runs the CBWTF for disposing their bio-medical waste. Despite of such directions, few health care units have not tied up and dispose these waste in an unscientific manner on some vacant land away from the city. Such disposal poses heavy risk for the people and animals residing in that locality. Plate 5.11: Discarded medicines disposed in the outskirts of Hebbal Industrial area The bio-medical waste were found disposed illegally in the outskirts of the city and in the Municipal Solid Waste landfill site. Discarded medicines including the Physician s Sample were found near the Hebbal Industrial Area at the outskirts of the city as Shown in Plate Illegal disposal of Bio-medical waste without the treatment may lead to the health related issues for both the humans as well as animals. However, the Biomedical waste from the Health Care Units tied-up with the CBWTF within the study area is properly managed. Traces of illegal dumping within the study area were found rarely only in the MSW landfill site from those HCU which do not take the service of CBWTF. Page 137