In the sterile silence of a hospital, life is often saved — but quietly, and often invisibly, something else is born. A trail of waste. Sharps, soiled bandages, plastic tubes, amputated limbs, and pharmaceuticals past their use. Every effort to save a life leaves behind remnants that, if unmanaged, may end up costing others theirs — a paradox that shadows modern medicine.
I have seen what medical miracles can do. But I’ve also seen what happens when what we discard in the process — the biomedical waste (BMW)— leaks into rivers, seeps into soil, or lands into the bare hands of a sanitation worker without gloves.
In India alone, over 700 tonnes of biomedical waste are generated every single day. That’s not counting the invisible waste — antibiotics leaking into water, hormones altering aquatic life, and PPE kits choking landfills. As a forensic medicine expert, I witness the consequences not just on charts but in real lives — children growing up near burning incinerators, workers with hepatitis infections from unsterilised needles, and a planet that breathes in our discarded care.
We are, without realising it, healing some — and hurting many more.
The Hidden Cost of Care:
Every drip of saline, every injection, every surgery, leaves behind materials that don’t vanish when the wound heals. And often, the handling of this waste is done not by trained personnel in robotic suits but by underpaid, unprotected humans — mostly women, often marginalised, working in the shadows of healthcare.
When incinerators burn unsegregated waste, they release dioxins, some of the most toxic compounds known to science. These pollutants can travel miles in the air and settle in the placenta of pregnant women, in the milk of feeding mothers, and in the dreams of future generations.
Yet, the problem isn’t just scientific — it’s systemic, cultural, and above all, ethical.
What If Nature Could Help Heal Itself?
Not all solutions require laboratories. Some lie in forests, ponds, and fungi.
- Constructed wetlands, for instance, use aquatic plants like cattails and bulrushes to naturally filter hospital wastewater. What looks like a serene garden is actually a powerful bio-purifier.
- Phytoremediation, using plants like vetiver grass and sunflowers, can detoxify heavy metals from contaminated soil.
- Mycoremediation, the magic of fungi, can break down stubborn pharmaceutical chemicals and even plastics.
Imagine a world where every hospital has a backyard wetland, not just for aesthetics, but as a living organ of its waste system. Where banana-fibre bandages and bamboo-based PPE kits decompose gently into the earth, instead of lingering in landfills for centuries.
These aren’t dreams. They are already in practice — just not widespread.
And What If Artificial Intelligence Could Be an Ally?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) — so often seen as sterile and distant — can in fact be a potent ally in making waste visible, trackable, and manageable.
- Smart segregation bins powered by AI can detect whether an item belongs in infectious, plastic, or sharps waste — correcting human errors in real-time.
- Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-tagged waste bags can be tracked from the point of generation to disposal, preventing illegal dumping and ensuring accountability.
- Robots and drones can take over hazardous collection tasks, protecting human workers from infection and exposure.
Technology must be guided by ethics, by empathy, and by an unwavering commitment to justice — environmental and social. Along with Artificial Intelligencewe need Emotional Intelligence from humans because AI alone cannot clean what our values keep polluting.
A Circle, Not a Line:
We must reimagine biomedical waste not as a line — from use to disposal — but as a circle. One where waste feeds gardens, not gutters. One where a hospital’s exhaust becomes its own energy. One where healing is holistic — to both people and planet.
If the Hippocratic oath says “Do no harm,” then our responsibility doesn’t end at the patient’s discharge. It extends to the waste we leave behind — and the world it will touch.
Words for Action:
Nature-based treatment zones in all hospitals
Biodegradable medical supplies in government purchases
AI and RFID tracking for waste monitoring
Safety and dignity for waste workers
Public awareness campaigns to make BMW a household topic.
Because in healing, there must be harmony. Between man and microbe. Between machine and mycelium. Between medicine and Earth.
And because caring means not just saving a life — but also ensuring that in the process, we don’t silently take others.
Posted 04/09/2025
