Despite appeal, medical waste not being segregated in Noida societies

Despite the Noida authority’s appeal last week to segregate medical waste from regular garbage, the process has proved itself difficult for the inhabitants of high-rises

Despite the Noida authority’s appeal last week to segregate medical waste from regular garbage, the process has proved itself difficult for the inhabitants of high-rises in the city.

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The notice issued by the authority had said that all medical waste has to be treated through a scientific process.

“Almost everyone is using masks and gloves, and according to government guidelines, medical waste has to be disposed of scientifically. So, it is a request to all residents to ensure that all such used products (gloves and masks) should be handed over to the door-to-door collection agency separately. The medical waste collected will be handed over to another agency for proper disposal,” the appeal from the authority said.

Office bearers of residential bodies believe that the segregation has to start at the individual house level.

“If each house hands it over separately, it becomes easier for segregation. Vendors can then separate it before handing it over to the authority. And that way it can be treated properly. However, this isn’t happening,” Rajiva Singh, president, Noida Federation of Apartment Owners’ Association, said.

Despite the appeal, residents are not separating medical waste.

“Most people are not segregating it at an individual house-level. It becomes difficult for staff to do it thoroughly afterwards which defeats the purpose. Despite handing over the segregation to the door-to-door collection agents, it is still not being implemented,” Amit Gupta, president, Prateek Wisteria, Sector 77, said.

The appeal has been circulated among residents in at least 70 societies in Noida. “We are urging people to do this and hope to see better results in the coming days. Even the maintenance staff and guards are being educated on this and we are pursuing this thoroughly in all societies now. The collection vendor was not doing it, which seems to be a communication gap on the authority’s end and let’s hope that the situation gets resolved soon,” Singh said.

The Uttar Pradesh government, like several other state governments, had mandated the use of masks in all public places last week, which implies that going forward there will be more generation of medical waste in the city.

“To avoid this whole situation we have been requesting our residents to use cloth masks, which can be washed and re-used. That way there will be less generation of waste. We even distributed 150 cotton masks to our society staff,” Gupta said.

The problem is more pronounced in high-rises as compared to individual houses.

“The segregation is taking place and apart from the earlier two categories of recyclable and non-recyclable waste, we now have a third category of medical waste, which is being segregated at the first level itself and is being collected separately,” KK Jain, secretary-general, Federation of Noida Residents Welfare Association, said.

Noida authority officials clarified that though it is not very extensive for now, segregation is taking place in some areas.

“All door-to-door collection agents have been given a third separate dustbin to collect medical waste, which is being treated separately. In the next few days, the efficiency of the process will improve further,” Vijay Rawal, project manager, health department, said.