India’s Bio-Waste Rulebook: Who’s Responsible and What’s at Stake

The moment biomedical waste leaves the source, it must be traceable, accountable, and safely handled.

In last week’s article, we examined the core responsibilities of the Occupier under the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016, ranging from safe storage and segregation to training and reporting. This week, we continue with further critical obligations, including labelling, timely coordination with waste operators, and internal monitoring systems. We also introduce the Operator's role—the entity responsible for managing common treatment and disposal facilities. Together, the Occupier and Operator form the backbone of safe biomedical waste management in India. Let’s take a closer look at how their duties complement each other in protecting public health and the environment.

We begin with additional key responsibilities of the Occupier, continuing from last week’s discussion, before outlining the critical duties of the Operator—the authorised entity managing treatment and disposal.

9. The Occupier must ensure that all colour-coded bags specifically provided for the collection and storage of only biomedical waste are properly labelled with barcodes. If any such bag is misused by hospital workers knowingly or unknowingly, with the help of a barcode, it can be tracked. This clause in the Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016, applies to all hospitals with a capacity of more than 30 beds.

10. The segregated waste, and more specifically the human or animal anatomical and pathological waste, must be picked up by the operator of a common facility for treatment and disposal within a maximum period of 48 hours from the source of generation. If not, the occupier must inform the prescribed authority immediately.

11. The occupier must establish a system to review and monitor biomedical waste management activities. This may be done through an existing committee or by forming a new one. The committee must meet at least once every six months, and the minutes of these meetings must be submitted along with the annual report. In healthcare establishments with fewer than thirty beds, a qualified person should be designated to oversee these activities and submit the annual report accordingly.

(b) Operator: An operator is an authorised person, a company, or an organisation that runs a common biomedical waste treatment and disposal facility. This is the place where the segregated waste from the designated hospitals is collected and brought here for further treatment and disposal.

Duties of the operator can be summarised as follows:

1. Must take all necessary steps to ensure that the biomedical waste collected from the occupier is transported, handled, stored, treated, and disposed of without any adverse effect on human health and the environment, as per the rules and guidelines issued by the Central Government or the Central Pollution Control Board from time to time.

2. Ensure the timely collection of biomedical waste from the occupier as prescribed under these rules. The rules specify that the human and animal anatomical and pathological waste must be collected within 48 hours from the sources of generation. Plastic, metal sharps, and glass waste can be collected once or twice a week in consultation with the Occupier.

3. Must inform the prescribed authority immediately regarding the occupiers who are not handing over the segregated biomedical waste as per these rules.

4. Must provide training to all workers handling biomedical waste at the time of induction and at least once every year. They must also assist the occupier in training staff at the source of waste generation.

5. Conduct medical examinations for all workers handling biomedical waste at induction and at least once a year. Immunise them against diseases such as hepatitis B and tetanus, and maintain proper records.

We’ll continue exploring the remaining responsibilities of the Operator in the next article. Till then, have a good weekend!

(The author is an environmentalist.)