Central Pollution Control Board tracking COVID-19 waste disposal daily through app

NEW DELHI: With the disposal of COVID-19 waste posing a big health and environment risk, especially in the wake of reports of improper disposal, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has moved in to regulate it by starting daily online tracking of the waste generated and disposed of by coronavirus testing laboratories, waste generators and disposal facilities.

The national pollution watchdog recently launched COVID-19 Biomedical Waste Tracking App to regulate the corona waste. All testing laboratories, waste generators and disposal facilities have to upload real-time data related to COVID waste.  

“It is a software application for tracking of generation, collection and disposal of Covid-19 biomedical waste, generated at various healthcare facilities/hospitals, quarantine centres, isolation wards, testing labs, sample collection centers and urban local bodies involved in performing the duties of waste collection from home quarantine centers/homecare units. This application will enable information exchange between various stakeholders involved,” said the CPCB.

According to the CPCB guidelines on COVID waste management, all hospitals, quarantine centres, isolation wards, isolation homes and testing labs have to report the waste while the Common Biomedical Waste Treatment & Disposal Facilities have to dispose of the garbage.

The board said all the waste generator entities are required to register through the app.

The platform will provide real time data of each unit involved in COVID-19 waste submission through the app.

This section is divided into different parts based on their role,  for instance, ‘Generator Page’ to visualise the real-time data of generators.