Bioremediation
Biomedical and radioactive waste
Put hospital waste in the right bin.
Biomedical waste arises from the diagnosis, treatment or immunisation of humans or animals, from research, from making biological products, and from health camps. In India, the Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016 sort it into four colour-coded categories:
| Colour | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Yellow | Anatomical waste (body parts), soiled dressings, expired medicines, chemical waste, contaminated bedding, laboratory waste |
| Red | Contaminated plastics: IV tubes, catheters, syringes (without needles), gloves |
| White | Sharps: needles, blades, scalpels |
| Blue | Glass, and metallic body implants |
Waste must be segregated at the point where it is generated, by trained staff, using the right bins, sharp boxes and instruction posters.
The WHO groups microbes into risk groups, by the risk to the individual and to the community:
- Group 1: low individual risk, low community risk.
- Group 2: moderate individual risk, low community risk.
- Group 3: high individual risk, low community risk (not spread from person to person).
- Group 4: high individual and community risk: readily transmitted, and usually with no treatment.
The WHO also suggests containers: yellow for infectious, sharp and pathological waste; brown for chemicals; a lead box for radioactive waste; black for general waste.
Radioactive waste needs special care. In Mayapuri, Delhi, in 2010, a cobalt-60 gamma radiation unit was sold as scrap and cut open; several people were hospitalised and one died. In India, the authority is the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), under the Atomic Energy (Safe Disposal of Radioactive Wastes) Rules, 1987.
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