Finally, Kochi Corp announces Rs 12/kg plan to dispose medical waste

Kochi: The Kochi Corporation is finally ready with a plan to dispose of biomedical waste which has been a headache to both the administration and the residents ever since the Brahmapuram fire incident disrupted the waste management system of the urban local body.

The plan is to continue with the system in which residents can hand over the waste, including used diapers and sanitary napkins, to a private company which in turn will take it to the biomedical waste management facility run by the Kerala Enviro Infrastructure Ltd (KEIL) at Ambalamedu.

However, the corporation has cut down the fee collected from the people to Rs 12 per kg from an exorbitant Rs 54 including GST.

“There have been complaints that the local body was charging exorbitant fees from people for collecting biomedical waste. Families which have bedridden patients have been struggling to find the money to dispose of medical waste. It is against this backdrop the Corporation has decided to introduce a new scheme. This is the first time a Corporation has taken such a stance in the state,” Mayor M Anilkumar said.

The mayor will flag off the project on the premise of the Corporation’s main office at 11 am on Tuesday.

The mayor said the fee of Rs 12 per kg is meant for taking sanitary biomedical wastes in separate kits to KIEL’s processing facility. The expense for processing the waste, including GST, will be borne by the Corporation. Medical strips and other medical wastes can also be handed over to the private agency.

The waste will be collected from each division of the corporation as per a schedule. People can make use of the facility by registering on the AAKRI app, run by AM Mercantiles, which is into scrap recycling, or by calling the toll-free number 1800 890 5089.

Onmanorama had recently reported that the Corporation was planning to revise the collection fee to Rs 12 per kg following intense pressure from the public and the Congress-led opposition.

Biomedical waste was also being collected along with plastic waste earlier and dumped at the Corporation-run municipal solid waste management facility at Brahmapuram.

However, this was stopped after a massive fire engulfed the legacy waste at the yard in March, exposing the long-pending defects of the system. The Corporation stopped taking plastic waste to Brahmapuram after the fire incident.

The schedule for collecting biomedical waste (day/divisions):

Monday: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28

Tuesday: 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64

Wednesday: 31, 32, 33, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74

Thursday: 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41

Friday: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 29, 30, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49

Saturday & Sunday: Camps and drives