The Hindu 30.07.2013
Unauthorised waste recycling units sealed
Coimbatore Corporation on Monday sealed seven units in
Vellalore that dealt with glass and plastic medical waste. The seven
were unauthorised.
According to A. Amalraj, Assistant
Commissioner in-charge, South Zone, the civic body on July 10 served
notices on the owners these units asking them to shutdown their
operations within 24 hours.
The civic body acted against the owners on July 29 after they failed to comply with the order.
He
said that Engineer in-charge of South Zone P. Ganeshwaran and himself
sealed the units that functioned from makeshift structures near the
southern side of the Vellalore dump yard.
The units
segregated wastes that could be reused to send them to recycling units
and dumped in the open the wastes that could not be used again.
Complaints
Mr.
Amalraj said that the Corporation action followed repeated complaints
from Vellalore residents who said that they often found medical waste
dumped in the open.
Even as the Coimbatore
Corporation acted against the units, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control
Board engaged the owners of the units by calling for a meeting. District
Environment Engineer, Coimbatore South, K. Ravichandran, said that the
board officials explained to the owners the rules to drive home the
point that what they did with the wastes was illegal.
The
board officials told the owners that they could procure such wastes
after it has been autoclaved by units authorised to handle medical
wastes.
Their buying wastes directly from hospitals
was against rules and that they should give up such practises. Mr.
Ravichandran said that a few owners were curious to know how they could
go about conducting their business in authorised fashion so as to escape
legal action.