In a global pandemic under which the world is endeavoring to contain and
lead a path to normal life again, crooked waste management can be
categorized as an impediment in achieving this goal. A video conference
held on 13th May among Brijesh Bhatt (Narad Sanchar founder), Ashish
Jain (Founder of Indian Pollution Control Association), Pramod Jha (IANS),
and Sanjay Chaturvedi (Freelance), on waste management which was
organized by Narad Sanchar (a digital revolution for the exchange of
information related to public welfare and monitoring of news broadcast
by media) and Brijesh Bhatt who is founder of Narad Sanchar to bring in
light this issue. How is the government dealing with waste management
policies and why is segregated waste not being ferried to recycling
industries was conferred in the conference.
Ashish Jain
elucidated, what the 'New Normal' will be like and How is the waste
management sector being struck in this unprecedented situation. "Lots of
behavioral changes will be seen in the foreseen future, from normal
gatherings to celebrations. Generation of waste per capita has been
significantly reduced to 30-40% which can be assumed to be wicked for
our environmental health without any efforts", he said. On the contrary
he also highlighted solemn problems like labor shortage amid the fear of
getting infected from disposed waste and reverse migration. He also
spoke about proper disposal of infectious waste from homes such as used
masks and gloves and the government can play a pivotal role by
replicating the promotion of social distancing. "Laborers had stopped
working in this situation with fear of being dragged into the list of
infected persons and reverse migration. As in it's our responsibility to
properly sanitize waste before dumping it to the municipality, it will
virtually reduce the risk of spreading infection if masks are completely
sanitized before disposing", he said. As a consequence of lockdown
segregation of waste is not an option anymore to recycling waste
industries. Recycling waste sector revenue has retaliated to zero, in
the midst of nationwide lockdown and apprehensions being confronted as
waste disposal can lead to infectious rate to get higher if not disposed
properly. "Many recycling waste industries were not in function and
it's getting more difficult for industries to acquire segregated waste,
and major sectors like newspaper production are being severely affected.
Centralized AC mechanism also results in spread of virus so the
government must compensate in functioning of AC trains and buses
compartments and must follow ASHRAE guidelines", he said.
Sanjay
Chaturvedi was vocal about the relief package announced by Prime
Minister on 12th May, how much Finance ministry will allude to
respective sectors and how much migrant laborers will attribute will be
acknowledged in coming days. He also spoke about the infrastructure in
rural areas which still holds competence to feed labors, "With reverse
migration it can clearly be assumed that our rural areas are still
capable to sustain a living, as many laborers are ready to migrate to
their villages and this may result in shortfall of laborers in
metropolitan cities as a consequence", he said. He also said that body
governing waste management must advocate government in proper disposal
as no accurate policy exists for hazardous and e-waste.
Ashish
jain emphasized about Extended Producer Responsibility Rule 2016, and
established guidelines are mandatory to follow. "Bulk producers of
e-waste and hazardous waste must inform state government and CPCB of how
their waste is being generated and treated or else they would have to
sacrifice with their license, and voluntarily every waste generator must
audit their waste management", he said. Answering to
apprehensions that Laborers working in waste disposal management from
hospitals and quarantine centre face a very high risk of getting
infected and further leading to form a chain, Ashish Jain shed light on
that laborers are properly equipped with PPEs, protective eyewear and
separate vehicles are arranged for such wastes. "No recycling of such
waste is allowed under the guidelines and laborers working are
meticulously advised to follow guidelines and Bio Medical Approved
agencies are only eligible to treat this waste and make sure to not mix
with normal waste", he said. Apart from hospitals he put stress on
stickered homes that are under quarantine and municipality is observed
to arrange different arrangements for those, and bonafide waste
management apparatus must be accompanied with social distancing or else
there will be no benefit gained from such practices.
