Mumbai runs out of space to store COVID waste

With a 104 percent increase in Covid-19 and associated biomedical waste generated in Mumbai over the past three months, the city’s waste incineration unit has run out of storage space at their one-acre plant in Deonar.

Private waste operator SMS Envoclean Pvt Ltd, appointed by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to deal with the city’s entire Covid-19 waste, said plastic waste comprising syringes, saline bottles, masks, gloves, discarded medicines, equipment, empty ampules etc., weighing 2,000 kilograms, was piling up daily at the plant.

“With hardly any recycling units functioning and less number of vehicles with us, we have completely run out of space to store any additional quantity,” Amit Nilawar, director, SMS Envoclean, informed The Hindustan Times. The BMC is in the process of providing additional land to build a storage shed for the waste.

Picture Credit: Vegpuff, Bombay Municipal Corporation, CC BY-SA 2.0