Hyderabad: GHMC Commissioner R.V. Karnan directed officials to ensure e-waste bio-medical waste collection reaches 100 percent across Greater Hyderabad and warned that bio-medical waste must never be mixed with municipal solid waste.
He issued the instructions during a stakeholder meeting at the GHMC head office as part of the ongoing 99-Day Action Plan aimed at strengthening scientific waste management. The meeting brought together e-waste recyclers, bio-medical waste treatment facility operators and CSR partners.
Karnan said authorities would take strict action against registered firms that fail to collect or dispose of bio-medical waste according to regulations. He stressed that negligence in handling medical waste will not be tolerated.
The commissioner also directed officials to coordinate with Assistant Medical Officers of Health (AMOHs) to ensure hospitals and healthcare establishments comply with bio-medical waste management rules. He further asked stakeholders to cooperate in maintaining environmental sustainability and city cleanliness.
New measures to strengthen e-waste bio-medical waste collection
Officials discussed several steps to improve e-waste bio-medical waste collection across GHMC, Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation (MMC) and CMC jurisdictions.
MMC Commissioner T. Vinay Krishna Reddy said special collection centres will be established in every circle to encourage citizens to voluntarily deposit e-waste. He added that ward-level collection drives will be conducted every Saturday and Sunday across 300 wards within CURE limits.
He also suggested that participating organisations adopt specific circles and wards and deploy representatives at collection points. Companies were encouraged to offer incentives such as coupons or direct payments to motivate residents to hand over electronic waste.
GHMC Additional Commissioner (Sanitation) Ravi Kiran clarified that the municipal body would provide infrastructure such as ward offices and designated centres for the drives. However, pricing, payments and incentives would be determined entirely by the participating firms.
During the meeting, several organisations agreed to offer payments through UPI or cash for collected e-waste, while others proposed distributing redeemable coupons as part of corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Retailers were also encouraged to share information about households that possess e-waste so that coordinated doorstep collection could be organised.
The meeting was attended by GHMC Additional Commissioner (Health) Priyanka Ala, Additional Commissioners (Sanitation) Ravi Kiran and Raghu Prasad, Telangana Pollution Control Board SE Srujana Sri, along with representatives of e-waste recycling firms and bio-medical waste handling agencies.
