LET’S HANDLE THE VACCINE WASTE

NEW DELHI: 300 million individuals will be vaccinated in the coming months in India. That is also the number of syringes that we might have to contend with. Can we afford to allow a second plastic Tsunami?

Already, estimates are the pandemic may have resulted in a monthly global waste of 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves. These are part of the ecosystem, even if they are first upcycled. Let’s prevent that polluting pathway for our syringes. The plastic is of the highest quality and the metal needle recyclable. While recycling is increasingly understood as a temporary way to handle plastics since you can’t recycle a material endlessly, it is better than dumping or burning it, or letting it be reused in smaller towns or injuring waste handlers. Syringe management is not new to the Health Ministry, which has enormous experience in vaccinations. This is the time to encash that experience, in India and outside. We shared the vaccine with several countries, from Brazil to Saudi Arabia. Why not also share expertise bio-medical waste knowledge? Plastics end up in our bodies via our food. One estimate suggests people consume the equivalent of a credit card worth of plastic every week. The metal is easy to recycle and in the long term, prevents fresh mining. Recycling materials, while imperfect, is part of the Green Recovery which India must follow. Doing this will only boost India’s superhuman vaccination drive.