22 August 2005
Civil society victory for protecting community health
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa: - Considering the dangers
faced by communities as a result of medical waste incineration
and the fact that there has been increasing public opposition
to incinerators, groundWork together with the Wildlife and
Environment Society of SA (WESSA) and Earthlife Africa commend
EnviroServ Waste Management (Pty) Ltd for selecting autoclaving
above incineration for their proposed medical waste facility
in Shongweni. At a meeting held in Shongweni last month, EnviroServ
announced that it was halting its incineration and instead
proposing to develop an autoclaving facility to treat medical
waste generated in KwaZulu-Natal. EnviroServ said they had
chosen autoclaving due to public opposition by communities
and environmental activists. EnviroServ stated that they were
also motivation for autoclaving due to the fact that a paper
released by groundWork in 2002 showed that none of the incinerators
run by the KZN department of Health meet the legal requirements
for the disposal of medical waste due to governments failure/lack
of capacity to monitor and enforce laws governing incineration.
The trend worldwide away from incineration is well documented.
Statistics show that in the U.S.A alone, at least 280 incinerator
proposals were abandoned between 1985 and 1988 due to public
opposition. In Australia, in the past 10-15 years every attempt
to site a hazardous waste incinerator has failed, due to public
opposition.
This bold move by EnviroServ to consider autoclaving is a
sign that companies are noting South African civil society’s
real concerns about the health and environmental hazards posed
by incinerators (see attachment). This is not the first autoclave
to be set up in KwaZulu-Natal. In 2002, Compass Waste Services
set up two autoclave facilities at its premises in Westmead,
Pinetown.
Autoclaving is a common process which uses steam to sterilise
and disinfect contaminated materials. If hospital waste is
properly segregated before autoclaving, no harmful emissions
will result from the process.
A spokesperson for groundWork, Llewellyn Leonard, has commended
industry in shifting towards alternative technology. “We
have to make people’s constitutional right to live in
a clean and safe environment a priority, and this shift by
industry is giving meaning to this constitutional right,”
he said.
According to resident in Shongweni, Lilian Develing, “this
move will no doubt protect community health since autoclaving
reducers health threatening pollutants that would be released
into the environment by an incinerator, we therefore comment
EnviroServ for their positive move away from polluting incinerators”.
EnviroServ has also announced at a meeting in the Eastern
Cape that the company was moving away from using incinerators
to dispose of medical wastes. Instead, it plans to establish
large autoclaves at regional centres to sterilise collected
waste. Morgan Griffths, environmental officer at the WESSA,
Eastern Province stated that this move would prevent the contamination
of the environment by harmful pollutants such as dioxins,
furans, metals and acidic gases which would normally be emitted
by an incinerator.
Over 200 studies conducted worldwide have shown links between
incineration and serious health impacts, including mortality
from various cancers. Research has demonstrated that populations
residing near incinerators are exposed to chemicals through
inhalation of contaminated air or by the consumption of contaminated
agricultural produce from the local area. Some of the emitted
chemicals have been proven to cause cancer in humans. It is
a proven fact that iincinerators do not make waste disappear;
they reduce it to ash and to atmospheric emissions, both of
which are potentially hazardous.
“Earthlife Africa (Durban) urges all other provincial
governments and the national government to commence to set
in place monitoring systems for such technologies”,
urges Bryan Ashe, of Earthlife Africa Durban.
It is hoped, therefore, that other industries and provinces
will follow the example set by EnviroServ in their consideration
of autoclaving.
However, it must be noted that EnviroServ will be retaining
its incinerator in Gauteng, which will burn national medical
wastes such as body parts.
For more information, please contact:
Llewellyn Leonard: 033 342 5662
Morgan Griffiths: 041 585 9606 / 1157
Lillian Develing: 031 7651134
Bryan Ashe: 031 205 2178 / 082 652 1533
WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS AND CONCERNS WITH INCINERATORS?
1. Air Pollution
All types of incinerators, no matter how expensive, cause
some air pollution. One incinerator can release as many as
190 different chemicals into the air. Many of these chemicals
are very dangerous to our health. These chemicals include
dioxins and furans, which can cause cancer.
There are many ways to reduce the amount of pollution coming
out of incinerators, but there is no way to stop all the pollution.
2. Incineration is dangerous to human health
Studies have shown that incinerator workers and people who
live near to incinerator have more health problems. Many highly
toxic substances emitted from waste incinerators (including
dioxins, furans, cadmium, lead and mercury) are known to disrupt
the body’s hormonal (endocrine), immune and reproductive
systems as well as cause cancers. These chemicals can enter
our bodies when we breathe in polluted air, or when we eat
food that has been contaminated. For example: these chemicals
can settle on grass, which is eaten by cows. When we drink
the cows’ milk or eat beef, these chemicals enter our
bodies.
3.Incinerators produce dangerous ash
Fly ash, collected by the incinerator’s air filter
system, and bottom ash collected in the furnace are more toxic
then the original waste which went into the incinerator. This
is because new substances such as dioxins, furans and heavy
metals are created during the process of incinerating waste.
Thus incinerator ash must be safely disposed of on a hazardous
landfill site.
4. Incineration does not encourage waste reduction
Incinerators require a minimum amount of waste to be delivered
each day in order to remain operational. This is a deterrent
to waste minimisation.
5. Incinerators do not make economic sense
Incinerators are extremely expensive to install and run.
Incinerators provide little employment opportunities for the
large capital investment needed. Much local public money leaves
the community and is paid into the hands of large private
sector and or multi-national companies to operate the incinerators.
In contrast with incineration, separating and recycling waste
provide opportunities for employment of local people, and
money so spent remains in the community
6. Most incinerators are situated in poor areas
In SA and many other countries incinerators are located in
low income communities or communities of colour. This is because
incinerators are polluting. This is called environmental racism.
|
