RAS question
Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016 classify waste into how many categories?
Correct answer: (B) 4 categories (yellow, red, white, blue).
Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016 classify biomedical waste into four colour-coded categories: yellow, red, white and blue.
Explanation
Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016 simplified segregation by moving from the 10 categories used under the 1998 rules to four colour-coded categories. CPCB's annual report on biomedical waste management states that healthcare facilities must hand over segregated biomedical waste as prescribed in Schedule I of the 2016 Rules, in four categories: yellow, red, blue and white. These colours map to broad treatment streams: yellow for incineration, red for autoclaving or microwaving, white for sharps, and blue for glassware. This is why option B is the complete answer: it gives both the count and the colour-coding scheme used for segregation under the 2016 framework.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Ten categories describe the older 1998 framework, while the 2016 Rules reduced segregation to four colour-coded categories.
- (C) Eight categories are not the classification used in the 2016 Rules, which prescribe four colour-coded categories under Schedule I.
- (D) Two categories understate the 2016 classification, because biomedical waste is segregated into yellow, red, white and blue categories.
Concept
This tests statutory waste-segregation rules under Environment and Ecology, especially how regulatory updates change compliance categories. It recurs in RAS because colour-coded biomedical waste handling is a direct, rule-based public-health and environment topic.