The pet incinerator installed at the pet cemetery in Nehru Nagar, Pimpri, is not yet operational despite being installed over a year ago owing to the delay in finalising monetary decisions for laying pipelines for CNG.

Apparently, Maharashtra Natural Gas Limited (MNGL) and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) are both adamant on not compromising on the investment in the project for laying pipelines on the 800 metre stretch.

The need for an incinerator was felt when the burial ground went out of space. It has close to 3,000 pets buried on the premises.

The incinerator machine was installed about 14 months ago at the pet cemetery, the only corporation-run cemetery in the State. The veterinary department of the PCMC has successfully got all permissions and is now waiting for the CNG pipeline to be laid as fuel is the prime need for operating the machine.

Dr Satish Gore, Chief Veterinary Officer of PCMC, said, “The problem is that all other options apart from CNG will increase the cost of a single incineration by 3-4 times. For example, using LPG will cost at least 1,400 per incineration, while CNG will cost Rs 300-400.”

MNGL officials said that a proposal has been sent to the veterinary department and that the PCMC has to take a call on it. Dr Gore said the cost was high and is expecting some concession or subsidy, since it is not for a completely commercial purpose. He said, “It is difficult for a smaller department like us to invest so much on laying pipelines. We have even written to the Union  Government to look into the matter.”

However, MNGL officials said, “We have been paying the rights of usage of

Rs 5,000 per metre to the PCMC. The proposal sent to the veterinary department includes this cost. If the PCMC is ready to waive this amount for their own department, the cost will come down by 30 per cent. The laying of pipelines will then cost close to Rs 2-3 lakh.”

A single Ebola patient treated in a U.S. hospital will generate eight 55-gallon barrels of medical waste each day.

Protective gloves, gowns, masks and booties are donned and doffed by all who approach the patient’s bedside and then discarded. Disposable medical instruments, packaging, bed linens, cups, plates, tissues, towels, pillowcases and anything that is used to clean up after the patient must be thrown away.

Even curtains, privacy screens and mattresses eventually must be treated as contaminated medical waste and disposed of.

Dealing with this collection of pathogen-filled debris without triggering new infections is a legal and logistical challenge for U.S. hospitals now preparing for a potential visit by the virus.

For states, it is an even worse waste-management nightmare.

While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends autoclaving (a form of sterilizing) or incinerating the waste as a surefire means of destroying the microbes, burning infected waste is effectively prohibited in California and banned in several other states.

“Storage, transportation and disposal of this waste will be a major problem,” California Hospital Association President C. Duane Dauner warned Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., in a letter last week.

Even some states that normally permit incineration are throwing up barriers to Ebola waste.

In Missouri, the state attorney general has sought to bar Ebola-contaminated debris from a

St. Louis incinerator operated by Stericycle Inc., the nation’s largest medical-waste disposal company.

Because of restrictions on burning, California hospital representatives say their only option appears to be trucking the waste over public highways and incinerating it in another state — a prospect that makes some environmental advocates uneasy.

Under federal transportation guidelines, the material would be designated a Class A infectious substance, or one that is capable of causing death or permanent disability, and would require approval from the Department of Transportation, hospital representatives say.

“These are some pretty big issues, and they need some quick attention,” said Jennifer Bayer, spokeswoman for the Hospital Association of Southern California.

“We fully expect that it’s coming our way,” Bayer said of the virus. “Not to create any sort of scare, but just given the makeup of our population and the hub that we are, it’s very likely.”

The Ebola virus is essentially a string of genetic material wrapped in a protein jacket. It cannot survive a 1,500-degree scorching within an incinerator, or the prolonged, pressurized steam of an autoclave.

“The Ebola virus itself is not particularly hardy,” CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said under questioning on Capitol Hill recently. “It’s killed by bleach, by autoclaving, by a variety of chemicals.”

However, CDC guidelines note that “chemical inactivation” has yet to be standardized and could trigger worker safety regulations.

Dr. Thomas Ksiazek, a professor of microbiology and immunology of the University of Texas Medical Branch, has said he believes there’s been a lot of overreaction on the topic of Ebola medical waste.

“There are other ways to deal with the waste; autoclaving would be chief among them,” Ksiazek said. “The problem is, most hospitals don’t use it for most disposable items. They’re quite happy to bag them up and send them to a regular medical-disposal company.”

But Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said incineration is simple and effective, and should be available to hospitals to help dispose of the mountain of waste.

Hershkowitz said states began to crack down on medical waste incineration years ago because many materials that did not need to be burned were being sent to combustors and were emitting dangerous pollutants.

“There’s no pollutant that’s going to come out of a waste incinerator that’s more dangerous than the Ebola virus,” Hershkowitz said. “When you’re dealing with pathogenic and biological hazards, sometimes the safest thing to do is combustion.”

The first of many public meetings concerning the disposal of more than 15 million pounds of M6 propellant at Camp Minden drew close to 150 concerned citizens and officials to the Minden Civic Center Thursday night.

There, they learned the agreement reached between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army, which will fund the $28.5 million clean up of the illegally stored material left by Explo Systems, Inc., calls strictly for open air burning.

“Local contractors, the Maddens, designed a device,” Webster Parish Sheriff Gary Sexton, who set up the meeting, said. “For some reason, that device is not being considered in this clean up process.”

“We’re disappointed,” James Madden, owner of Madden Contracting, said. Madden’s son, David spent time and money researching and building a prototype that would’ve allowed closed incineration of the product. “We considered we built a better mousetrap.”

However, Madden may not be out of it yet. The Army must first design a bid package and go through a process required by law to find a company to take on the project.

“The Maddens can throw in a bid on the open tray process,” Sexton said. “They certainly have the right to come in and I think they will do that.”

State Sen. Robert Adley said while discussion concerning responsibility was taking place, the Maddens developed a plan to deal with it. Adley, along with others in the local delegation, attended a demonstration of the incinerator at Camp Minden last January.

“It looked good to us,” Adley said. “We’re not professionals, but under law, by their interpretation, the EPA cannot use that process. I regret that, but it’s where we are at this stage of the game.”

Adley said that under existing law, the Louisiana Military Department and Maj. Gen. Glenn H. Curtis are required to take bids from whoever provides one.

“At the end of the day, he (Curtis) can sit down and decide who’s qualified, who has the experience and if they have the financial backing to do it,” Adley said. “All of those things will be taken into consideration. It would be wonderful if it ended up being someone who, when they finish, will be sitting here breathing this air with us.”

David Madden seemed resigned to the EPA’s decision after attending an informal meeting with officials earlier in the day.

“I’ve studied this process and, yes, I did work for an incinerator,” he said. “I met with EPA officials and other experts not associated with the EPA, and they are going down the right path with the open trays.”

Madden said his change of heart hinged on the haste with which the disposal must take place to avoid more degradation of the product, which makes it more dangerous.

“It is important this get started the first quarter of next year,” he said. “I have looked at the air quality plumes (from open tray burning). Only 10 percent of this fallout will go to Doyline. There’s an equal amount going toward Bossier and going north. Our business is about a mile and a half due east. We’re all going to get some of this.”

District 10 State Rep. Gene Reynolds said, going forward, communication is key.

“On my website and in my office, we will keep all of the completely updated materials,” Reynolds said. “We’re going to keep (the public) informed with everything that comes out from this point forward.”

Sexton stressed the importance of the public’s help.

“Help us calm the fears of the people in the community about what we don’t know is going to happen with the destruction of the M6 propellant,” he said. “We may all speculate on things that may happen, but we don’t need to talk about what we have to worry about. The people who are going to be responsible – whoever the contractor is – the people that are going to be disposing of this product, keep them in your prayers because something could happen to the people who are responsible for going out there and opening those bunkers, picking this product up, moving it and destroying it where we can live in a safer community.”

The next public meeting is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 16. Time and location have not been decided.

by: http://press-herald.com/open-tray-burning-wins-out-over-closed-incinerator-for-m6-propellant-at-camp-minden/

The stench coming from the room is nauseating. Its not the typical smell of rotting cabbage leaves or chicken intestines.

It’s human waste and decaying body parts.

Tonota clinic is facing a serious health hazard. For seven months the incinerator has not been working and piles of red waste disposal bags are bursting from the room housing the defunct engine.“Do you know what’s in these bags?” asked a clinic employee who is so fearful for his health that he has risked being identified and sacked in order to expose the appalling conditions at the clinic.

“It’s human placentas and dirty pampers from patients suffering from chronic diseases. It’s disgusting,” he says, furrowing his eyebrows to emphasis the point.

“There are worms as big as my index finger and the stench is unbearable, but no action is being taken,” he adds.

The employee (name withheld) confirms the incinerator has not been operational for the past seven months.

He maintains that authorities both at District Health Management Team (DHMT) and Ministry level were informed, but no action has yet been taken.

According to the concerned employee, the trouble started when responsibility for the clinic was transferred from the Ministry of Local Government and placed under the Ministry of Health.
The malfunctioning incinerator has also affected clinics in villages surrounding Tonota who use the facility. “I was in Mmandunyane recently. The situation is also bad there since they have nowhere to dispose their clinical waste,” said the source.

Clinics in Mandunyane, Semotswane and Shashe rely on Tonota for disposal of their waste.

Adding to the woes of employees it is said that they last received uniform and protective clothing in 2011.

“There is also acute shortage of accommodation. Staff flats that were gutted by fire in 2011 are yet to be fixed,” the worker revealed.

He claimed that there are nurses who were transferred to Nyangabwe Referral Hospital, who were paid their transfer and hotel allowances but are still occupying staff houses in Tonota.

“All this is happening because there is lack of leadership. I believe only the President can help employees, but when he was in the area last weekend for a rally he neglected to come here.”

The source took The Voice on a tour of the clinic and showed us the dilapidated staff flats, damaged emergency fire pumps and tattered sheets in the maternity ward.

“What kind of a health facility, home to bed ridden patients, operates without an emergency fire pump?”
Efforts to get a comment from the clinic Matron Thatayaone Moitebatsi did not bear fruit as she referred all questions to a certain Dr Ayele at DHMT.

When contacted for comment Dr Ayele asked for a face-to-face interview but later called to cancel the appointment.

“We are aware off the situation in Tonota, but you know I don’t have the authority to talk to the media.

Please send a questionnaire and I will forward it to the relevant people,” was all Dr Ayele was prepared to say.

Sales and marketing manager Paul Niklas said they had more than a hundred orders from global organisations and aid agencies, including the United Nations and the Red Cross.

He also said most of their workforce was dedicated to manufacturing the incinerators.
The larger ones can burn up to 1,000kg of waste an hour, smaller ones up to 400kg per hour.

Mr Niklas said: “We feel very proud of the fact that they have come to us and that we have a product that is part of the solution.

“Because this has to be contained at the source.

“As soon as you start trying to move waste, it can spread further and further.

“Our incinerators burn at 850 degrees Celsius which burns the toxins, then in the second chamber they burn the gases from that at 1,200 degrees so what is coming out of the chimney is clean.

“And our incinerators are mobile, too, so they can be taken to the source.”
Calls for the incinerators started a few months back when the Ebola crisis was just emerging. Since then they have manufactured and sold more than 120 incinerators to be shipped out to West Africa.

“Their engineers usually go out to help with installation but because of the Ebola threat, engineers employed by aid agencies and organisations are being sent to be trained up at the plant in Canning Road Industrial Estate instead.

Mr Niklas added: “They first contacted us when the outbreak began a couple of months ago. But we are geared up for these things, anyway. The last time demand was like this was the Iraq War. We’ve set up a separate plant so when it does happen we can manage it.”

British Army medics were sent to Sierra Leone yesterday as global leaders promised to step up the international community’s efforts to halt the spread of the disease which has so far taken more than 4,000 lives.

THREE options are on the table for disposing off Tinian solid waste: incineration, Fukuoka method or off-island disposal.

The Marine Forces Pacific recently held an ad hoc committee meeting with the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality, Environmental Protection Agency, Tinian Mayor’s Office, Department of Public Works and Administration representatives at the BECQ office on Middle Road to map out the directions to take relating to the potential solid waste solutions beneficial for both the military and the civilian population.

In light of the ongoing National Environmental Policy Act process on the construction of ranges and training areas on Tinian, the Marine Forces Pacific examined these options and discussed these with the CNMI.

In analyzing these options, the U.S. military held the assumption that the current dumpsite located at Puntan Diablo on Tinian — the area where the Chinese group of investors is planning to develop into an integrated resort — will be closed and that a transfer station is being considered.

MARFORPAC environmental specialist Sherri Eng said the dumpsite is not something that the military will be able to use.

Just by looking at the requirements and the benefits of the options explored, Eng said that the easiest would be the off-island disposal.”

In choosing the off-island disposal option, the parties will have to look into the capacity of the Marpi landfill to accommodate the waste coming from Tinian — both military and civilian waste.

Eng, in a meeting with the local regulatory agencies and officials walked them through the three systems being considered.

Option 1: Incineration

Eng said the system that calls for the use of incinerator or waste-to-energy system requires a “properly sized incinerator,” fenced site, ash landfill, wastewater disposal, trained operators and secondary disposal site for C&D or construction and demolition waste, green waste, recyclables and white goods.

She said that this system could lead to significant waste reduction and energy production.

However, there are challenges to be met: siting and permitting, maintaining consistent operations, the need for sorting and waste monitoring, high initial cost, high maintenance cost and long timeline for construction.

“Construction timeline is long. It is not something that we can set up tomorrow,” said Eng.

Department of Public Works Secretary Martin C. Sablan mentioned about the CNMI getting an incinerator which it never used owing to the difficulty of permitting through the regulatory agencies.

“Permitting was a problem,” said Sablan.

Option 2: Fukuoka Landfill

The Fukuoka landfill is a new approach to handling solid waste. It is a semi-aerobic landfill with a leachate collecting pipe set up at the landfill floor that drains the leachate to a treatment facility.

This method does not require a synthetic liner.

But if this were to be pursued, Tinian will need an additional 15 hectares and the use of specific construction material.

The MARFORPAC representatives said they have conducted research on this method.

It was done in Palau, Yap and American Samoa but nowhere else in the continental United States due to permitting.

“We have to get some kind of waiver,” said Eng citing that it is not a permitted system in the U.S.

But with Fukuoka method, there is a potential to convert the existing dumpsite on Tinian.

As for leachate, the military is considering to upsize its waste water treatment facility to accommodate this if this were the option to consider.

As the Fukuoka landfill will need clay, Eng said their research showed the lack of this material on Tinian; however, it was suggested there’s a source in Papago.

Option 3: Off-island disposal

This option proposes to utilize the existing Marpi landfill.

With this option, Eng said there will be no additional land requirements.

She said this centralizes waste management system on Saipan.

But Eng was quick to point out that among the challenges will be how to deal with the perception that Saipan becomes a dumping ground.

The military also sees the need to upgrade shipping infrastructure.

“We’re willing to accept military waste,” said DPW Secretary Martin C. Sablan.

He said they had excavated the ground to construct the third cell of the landfill facility.

With this option, Eng assured that “whatever we do, we are going to take the Tinian waste with us.”

Asked by DPW if the military were to foot the bill for shipping and transfer of the waste, Eng said, “We agree to find the solution and hope to find the solution.” She said she could not commit to anything.

Sablan said it will cost less for the military to bring their waste to Saipan but the municipality will be needing assistance.

Feasibility study for three options?

Eng pointed out that the options has to be brought down to two.

“I don’t think we have the time and money to do all three,” she said.

Transfer station is key

As they mulled the potential solutions to Tinian’s solid waste issues, Eng said it is assumed that there will be a transfer station.

“Transfer station is important in all these sytems,” she said.

Closure of the dumpsite

Tinian Mayor Ramon M. Dela Cruz pointed out that it is not the responsibility of the developer to close the existing dumpsite at Puntan Diablo.

He, however, said that Alter City has committed to providing up to $5 million in assistance.

Asked by CIP’s Elizabeth Balajadia if they could continue to use the dumpsite for five more years, Tinian Mayor’s Office chief of staff Don Farrell said “five years is too long.”

Mayor Dela Cruz said three years would be reasonable.

“That will allow the developer to work on the adjacent property,” he said.

Alter City Group is proposing to build a golf course at the current site of the dumpsite.

Alter City committed to assist

At a hearing before the CNMI legislature last week, Alter City’s legal counsel Rober Torres said, “Investor is motivated to assist in its removal.”
But he said the government too has to pitch in.
by: http://www.mvariety.com/special-features/business-edge/70491-tinian-solid-waste-where-to-go

In a bid to bring a partial relief from the mounting waste disposal issues, a new incinerator will begin functioning at the Kozhikode Medical College soon. Authorities say that the new incinerator will become operational by the first week of August.

The incinerator has been installed using the fund from the Hospital Development Society (HDS).

HDS member Saleem Madavoor told ‘City Express’ that the society has allotted `15 lakh towards the expenses that will be acquired for the installation works. Kerala Small Industries Development Corporation Limited(SIDCO), a state government undertaking has been entrusted with the works.

An official of the medical college said that an expert team, deputed by SIDCO, has visited the medical college to review the primary arrangements.

The work order has been given to SIDCO and an agreement was signed between the medical college authorities and SIDCO officials three months back.

The medical college official added that the works of the incinerator are completed and installation works will start within few days.  When the new incinerator begins operating, the waste disposal issues will be partially addressed. The incinerator which has a capacity of burning 150 kg of waste, will dispose of the residue generated from the medical college hospital.

Meanwhile, the medical college will continue to grapple with the waste being generated from the Institute of Maternal and Child Health (IMCH) and Super Specialty block as the incinerator for these blocks, which have been proposed at a cost of `63.5 lakh by the state government still remains on papers. If the incinerator becomes a reality around 5,000 kg of waste can be disposed everyday.

info from: http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/Waste-Woes-Medical-College-Gets-Partial-Relief/2015/07/17/article2924500.ece

ADJUMANI.
The incinerator at Adjumani Hospital, which was built four years ago, has burst due to overheating.

For the past four months, support staff at the hospital have been dumping medical waste within the enclosure of the incinerator instead of burning it.

The hospital administrator, Mr Michael Ojja, told Daily Monitor on Wednesday that the incinerator broke down due to continuous burning of accumulated waste from the hospital.

“The waste has increased due to the overwhelming number of admissions and people visiting the outpatient department. But we need to find solutions to protect the staff and environment,” Ojja said.

The hospital medical superintendent, Dr Dominic Drametu, said they had asked the government for construction of a new incinerator.

He said the incinerator was too small to dispose of the hospital’s voluminous medical waste.

Patients admitted to the general ward next to the incinerator expressed fear of infections arising from poor disposal of hazardous medical waste.

According to the 2013-2014 annual health sector performance report, Adjumani Hospital registers 11,731 in-patients, 83,953 outpatients and 1,695 deliveries.

Scientific facts
Incineration of heavy metals or materials with high metal content (in particular lead, mercury and cadmium) releases toxic metals to the environment and the burnt medical waste contains micro-organisms that are potentially harmful to human beings, according to WHO.