Kochi Corporation in Kerala faces huge biomedical waste backlog as incinerator capacity is reduced

Household collection of biomedical waste is slowly returning to normal within Kochi city limits after one of the two incinerators at Kerala Enviro Infrastructure Limited’s (KEIL) Joint Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facility (CBWTF) remained shut for 15 days last month, accumulating a backlog of around 60 tonnes for the Corporation.

Although the incinerator is back in operation, KEIL has reduced purchases from the Company from five tonnes to three tonnes per day as it prioritizes hospital waste. To further complicate matters, a problem occurred during trial run in one of the two incinerators commissioned by the Corporation at Brahmapuram, with a total capacity of three tonnes per day.

“The company operating the incinerators is working to restore the unit as soon as possible. They have also expressed interest in the direct collection of biomedical waste; the company will consider this after convening a special council to cancel its previous decision to carry out the disposal on its own during the crisis. This was after realizing that this could lead to audit objections,” Mayor VK Minimol said.

App-based platforms

The company currently uses mobile app-based platforms Aakri and Suchigo for doorstep collection. While Aakri remains the dominant player, handling around five tonnes a day, Suchigo has been entrusted with 500 kg for now.

“We can only dispose of three tonnes of waste at the KEIL plant, while the operator of Brahmapuram incinerator has started accepting 1.5 tonnes per day since last week,” said G. Chandrasekhar, CEO of Aakri.

KEIL CEO NK Pillai said that if Aakri and Suchigo reach consensus, they can share the capacity allocated for Company waste at KEIL. The facility has a total capacity of 16 tonnes in two incinerators and an autoclave, of which five tonnes is reserved for civilian waste.

Suchigo’s founding director NV Sreejith said the company could scale up to three tonnes per day over time. “We collect around a tonne of biomedical waste from neighboring municipalities and panchayats and dispose of it in an incinerator in Thrissur,” he added.

In a recent council meeting, councilors Priya Prashanth and S. Sasikala had complained about irregular collection of biomedical waste from the house and allegations of bookings being canceled without prior notice, causing serious public outrage.