Indian Science Congress pushes for bio-waste legislation
India may introduce legislation to allow extraction of nutritional ingredients from slaughterhouse waste, which will then be sold in the market as protein supplements, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
The national pollution control body, under the environment ministry, is also working on stringent rules to regulate bio-medical waste in the country.
“India generates 0.12 million tonnes of biomedical waste,” said CPCB chairman S P Gautam during the ongoing Indian Science Congress in Chennai. “Of these, about 0.10 million tonnes (72.5%) is treated while about 27.5% of waste remains untreated. It has to be taken seriously as the untreated biomedical waste can cause infection.”
He said the CPCB is developing technology for waste minimisation and management, including the saltless preservation of hides and skins by lypholization.
The Indian Science Congress 2011 was inaugurated on 3 January by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and is being held at SRM University campus. Nobel Laureates Amartya Sen, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Ada Yonath, Thomas Steiesitz, Tim Hunt and Martin Chalfie are participating in the congress, as well as over 7,000 delegates and 3,000 students.
