29 March 2006
Cement Kilns: South Africa’s New Hazardous Waste Dump
Sites
As South Africa gears up for the building boom in preparation
for 2010, industry and government are proposing to dump South
Africa’s growing hazardous waste production in the cement
kilns which will produce the cement to construct the stadiums
and sport villages for 2010. Holcim, Pretoria Portland Cement
and Natal Portland Cement are all considering such proposals
with the consent of provincial governments in the Eastern
Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo Province, Northern Cape,
North West Province and Western Cape.
Since 2002, groundWork[1] and Earthlife
Africa [2] has repeatedly written to the
Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) to
raise concerns about the burning of waste, including tyres,
in cement kilns. To date, no substantive response has been
received. Civil society has called on government to develop
policy that would guide the destruction of hazardous waste
within South Africa. Government failed to respond to this
call and, as a result, the cement industry is using this loop-hole
to term what is really hazardous waste “alternative
fuel” [3] to run their cement furnaces.
Due to this lack of guidance by the DEAT, provincial governments
who are responsible for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs)
have faced a barrage of applications from cement companies
to burn hazardous waste. As a result of a lack of guiding
policy, provinces are responding differently to these proposals,
and this could result in certain provinces attracting hazardous
waste into their areas.
South Africa is signatory to the Stockholm Convention [4],
which governs the process towards eliminating the production
of dioxins and associated persistent organic pollutants. The
Stockholm Convention identifies cement kilns firing hazardous
waste as one of the source categories that have the potential
for high formation and release of dioxins.
The burning of hazardous waste could possibly start as early
as Monday, 3 April in the Holcim Cement Kiln in Ulco just
outside Kimberley. The Northern Cape government gave permission
for the plant to burn hazardous waste on the 2 March 2006.
This was despite the fact that the North West Provincial government
refused permission for Holcim to do undertake a similar venture
in November 2005. [5]
In a letter to the Deputy Minister on Friday, 24 March 2006,
groundWork, together with the support of other civil society
organizations [6], called on the Deputy Minister
to:
- Give guidance to the Northern Cape Department of Tourism,
Environment and Conservation on this issue which will allow
for them to re-consider their decision;
- Issue a directive to all provincial departments on this
issue and set in place a moratorium on applications for
the incineration of hazardous waste in cement kilns until
a policy, and the necessary regulations guiding the management
of hazardous waste, are developed to protect the public
health;
- Host a meeting with non-governmental and community organisations
to hear their concerns;
- Stop DEAT from issuing new or amended APPA permits for
any of the cement kilns in South Africa until there is an
open and transparent consultation on these permits/licences,
and
- Mandate DEAT to start an engagement with civil society
towards developing a policy on hazardous waste management.
“Allowing the burning of hazardous waste without there
being a robust and transparent public debate on the best mechanisms
for managing and destroying hazardous waste, will result in
the increase of hazardous waste production as well as the
possible import of hazardous waste into South Africa”,
cautions Bobby Peek, Director of groundWork.
“It is also clear that the destruction of potentially
valuable resources for local economic development, poverty
alleviation and job creation is contrary to the letter, intent
and spirit of both the term ‘Sustainable Development’
and our National Environmental Management Act”, said
Muna Lakhani of Earthlife Africa eThekwini. “Attempting
to replace coal with waste that will release pollutants of
higher toxicity is backward looking. Many sustainable alternative
options exist.”
End
For more information call:
Bobby Peek – groundWork: 033 342 5662 / 082 464 1383
Muna Lakhani - ELA eThekwini 083 471 7276 muna@iafrica.com
Footnotes:
[1] groundWork is an environmental justice
organisation working focusing on air pollution, waste and
corporate abuse and works with community organisations living
adjacent to petro-chemical and waste facilities nationally
(www.groundwork.org.za)
[2] Earthlife Africa (ELA) is a membership
driven organization of environmental and social justice activists,
founded to mobilize civil society around environmental issues
in relation to people. ELA Johannesburg (Jhb) branch was established
in August 1988 as the first branch of the organization, which
grew to many branches in the early nineties and is currently
concentrated in three branches in South Africa and one in
Namibia (www.earthlife.org.za)
[3] The cement companies blur this issue
by indicating that they want to use “alternative fuels”.
Hazardous waste is not an alternative fuel. It is simply hazardous
waste.
[4] The Stockholm Convention is a global
treaty to protect human health and the environment from persistent
organic pollutants (POPs). POPs are chemicals that remain
intact in the environment for long periods, become widely
distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue
of living organisms and are toxic to humans and wildlife.
In implementing the Convention, Governments will take measures
to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the environment.
[5] http://www.groundwork.org.za/Press%20Releases/23Nov05CementKiln.asp
[6]Thabang Ngcozela Environmental Monitoring
Group thabang@emg.org.za
Leila Mahomed Sustainable Energy Africa leila@sustainable.org.za
Muna Lakhani Earthlife Africa Durban muna@iafrica.com
Desmond D’Sa Sth. Dbn. Community Env. Alliance sdcea3@mail.ngo.za
Maya Aberman Earthlife Africa Cape Town olivia@earthlife-ct.org.za
Richard Pocock SolarWorks edufun1@iafrica.com
Zini Mokhini Earthlife Africa JHB zini@earthlife.org.za
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