Central Pollution Control Board, CPCB has issued fresh guidelines on disposal of COVID-19 waste. It has directed that masks and gloves used by everyone, whether infected or not, should be cut and kept in paper bags for minimum 72 hours before disposing off them.<br />'' <br />''The CPCB also directed commercial establishments shopping malls, institutions and offices to follow the same procedure with discarded protective personal equipment,PPE from general public.<br />'' <br />''It asked to ensure that general solid waste and biomedical waste generated from quarantine centres and quarantine homes is not mixed and they should be collected separately.<br />'' <br />''It added that leftover food, empty juice bottles or tetra packs, empty water bottles, packaging material, and any other items, generated or handled by COVID-19 patient should be collected along with other general solid waste in bags securely tied for handing over to waste collectors.<br />'' <br />''The CPCB also recommended use of bio-degradable or non-disposable cutlery to minimize waste generation.<br />'' <br />''It directed that isolation wards, including temporary healthcare facilities like rail coaches, must keep separate colour coded bins to maintain segregation of waste and use a dedicated bin to collect and store COVID-19 waste and keep it separately.<br />'' <br />''From COVID-19 isolation wards, used PPEs such as goggles, face-shield, splash proof apron, plastic coveralls, hazmat suits, nitrile gloves must be collected into a red bag.<br />