Upload Covid waste disposal data on app, says top court

NEW DELHI: Municipal corporations and state pollution boards have been mandated to upload data pertaining to collection and disposal of Covid-19 biomedical waste from residences and quarantine centres on an app created by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The move comes after a direction by the Supreme Court last week, based on a slew of recommendations by the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) that flagged the need for tracking and monitoring the biomedical waste as most of it went untreated after getting mixed with general waste.

The EPCA, which assists Supreme Court on air pollution and environment issues, pointed out in its July 27 report that the CPCB has developed an App called ‘COVID19BWM’ on which tracking of such waste from the point of collection to its treatment is possible, provided all state municipalities and state pollution boards feed the information.

A bench of justices Arun Mishra, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari said, “All municipal corporations and state pollution control boards are directed to use the COVID19BWM App. This is made mandatory...CPCB to track all the biomedical waste and ensure that it is being sent for treatment.”

The court also directed the Centre and CPCB to work out a barcode system or portal to track biomedical waste. The court has sought a compliance report on its directions by August 7.