KOLKATA: The state pollution control board has accidentally stumbled upon a huge racket in illegal trade of deadly bio-medical waste along the city’s eastern fringes. Shocked at the sheer scale of its operations, the environment watchdog has lodged an FIR and launched a thorough probe that has led to even more damning revelations.
A PCB team returning from an inspection at the Bantala leather complex on July 19 chanced upon colour-coded polythene bags containing bio-medical waste in Chowbagha along Basanti Road. Nearly 300 bags, bearing the logo of SembRamky, the only authorised bio-medical waste handling firm in the state, had been dumped on a plot of land.
On preliminary enquiry, the PCB team learned that teenagers are employed to scour the deadly waste to recover used syringes, that are then re-sold. “The plot where the bags were dumped had been rented by one Basudev Bhowmick residing in a government housing estate in Picnic Garden. After cross-examining him, we learned that bio-medical waste meant for the common treatment facility at Howrah was being diverted to this place for illegal sorting and retrieving plastic items like syringes for recycling. Bhowmick sells it to a Chowbhaga resident named Paritosh at `40 per kg. The latter then sells it to other traders,” said Biswajit Mukherjee, environment department and PCB chief law officer.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/PCB-unearths-medical-waste-racket/articleshow/6493803.cms
Although the report tells us that “syringes are recovered, then re-sold”, the harsh reality is that their value as scrap plastic is nowhere near as high as it is for syringes that are rinsed in water, and probably not very clean water, then repackaged in previously discarded wrappers for re-use. The public health implications are frighteningly severe. The transmission of bloodborne virus infection is an obvious risk, as is the possibility of pyrogenic infection, but the underlying issue is one of poverty.
Read more: PCB unearths medical waste racket – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/PCB-unearths-medical-waste-racket/articleshow/6493803.cms#ixzz12WQ05ZIV