On Wednesday, the 21st of August, we had visited enviro vigil which was located behind our hospital. There we had learnt about hospital waste management,  vermicomposting, and much more.

To get money by recycling waste is the mission of enviro vigil. The bio-medical waste of nearly six hundred hospitals in Thane city is disposed off using scientific methods.

 The baais, aayaas and those responsible for waste disposal in the hospital are taught to segregate the waste  in coloured bags of 3 different colours - yellow,  Blue and red.

Black bags
This bag is used for collecting dry waste material which is not infectious.  Materials like paper, plastics, cardboard boxes, and other dry waste generated in hospital office or in the wards are disposed in this bag. This is notBiomedical waste. This waste goes into the incinerating machine. The gases released through this machine are devoid of carbon thus making it environment friendly. The ash formed is used for landfilling. 

.Red bag:This bag is used for the disposal of plastics collected from OTs, ICUs and wards.
The plastic waste in red bags goes through segregation and shredding and then sent for recycling. 

.Yellow Bag:This bag is Used forhighly infectiousitems like pathological waste, human anatomical waste such as body parts, amputated parts/organs, tumors, placentas, aborted or dead fetuses,blood soaked cotton bandages, animal tissues, organs, carcasses etc.

Blue or White Opaque Bag:This bag is used for collecting the segregated metal sharps such as needles, blades, saws, scalpels and glass pieces.*.These bags must be puncture proof.*.A metal box or a plastic canister should be used for collecting the metal sharps*.It is strongly recommend that even metal sharpsand broken glass articles should be segregated.*.Broken glass sharps should be collected in blue/ white bags. They are emptied, treated with hypogloride acid and sent for recycling process.

Dr.Harganis the President, Dr.Walawalkar the General Secretary and Dr.Sanjay Joshi the Secretary officially started the Bio-Medical waste treatment unit on 1st March 2003. It was started with the help of Thane Muncipal Corporation.  The organization is also involved in projects related to conservation of the environment. The members conduct seminars, lectures and exhibitions at various levels to create public awareness.

A monthly magazine “Aaple Paryavarn” (our environment) is being published since 15thAugust 2004. The magazine highlights the various environmental issues, the need for environmental conservation and the activities of the organization to create awareness in public”. The subscriptions have exceeded the three thousand mark.  

“Paryavaran Shala” (Environment School) was started to create awareness amongst school children. Lectures are held at New English School at Ram Maruti Road in Thane west. Students from std VI to std VIII attend the school for two hours on every Saturday. Apart from lectures, the students also have outings, bird watching sessions, excursions etc. The students are felicitated and given certificates on 26th January, 2005. 

Vermi-composting takes place behind the office building where Bio-degradable waste from the canteen and the hostel is used to prepare manure. Part of the manure is used in gardening.  The remaining manure is sold in the market. 

Kagad Shilp or  paper craft Takes place where Old calendars collected from various companies, organization and public.  The papers are cut and sent in the Thane Mental Hospital. They get the paper bags done from the patients, and thus the mentally challenged also get a means of earning.

Enviro vigil occasionally takes up campaigns to avoid tree cutting for holi, use environment friendly colours for holi,  encourage rain-water harvesting, celebrate pollution-free and noise-free Diwali, etc.

We also visited a room on the first floor where there were hand made things such as toys, mugs, masks, etc. Being sold at affordable prices. They were painted with non toxic environment friendly paints.

We really enjoyed ourselves and wish that such visits keep happening again and again.