Published Paper Details:

In India, biomedical waste management is a highly important part of the environmental governance and regulation of public health, with the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and the Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016 being the primary regulatory measures. This paper will discuss compliance practices in ten different health institutions of different capacities such as large hospitals and smaller health care centres. A descriptive and analytical research design was applied to collect primary data in the form of structured questions and analyze them with the help of frequency distribution, Chi-square test. The paper analyses segregation procedures, storage systems, disposal, record keeping, training, monitoring protocols, COVID-19-related measures, and institutional issues within the legal system.The results suggest that there is a great deal of formal compliance in segregation, colour-coded storage, training, audits, and pandemic-specific waste management. Nevertheless, the statistical significance was found in the record maintenance by the hospital capacity, and larger hospitals showed better documentation practices. Moreover, bigger institutions were at a greater risk of having problems of illegal dumping by outsiders. Though the regulatory landscape seems to be strong and well internalized, the differences in documentation and operational risks demonstrate that more effective monitoring, digital record keeping, improved security options, and capacity-related regulatory backing are required. This research concludes that appropriate biomedical waste management is not only about adherence to statutory standards but also long-term institutional responsibility in enforcing the rules and regulations of environmental protection and good health.