The excavation of improperly disposed hazardous industrial waste in the area of the former HAK1 and HAK2 factories started on Tuesday in Tuzla, and a solution has yet to be found on what to do with it, more precisely how to remove it.
The Government of Tuzla Canton (TC) has also appointed a team for the analysis of the state of hazardous waste, which will determine which type of waste it is and in what quantities it is in the area of the former factories, as well as the former landfill in Moluhe.
According to Zvjezdan Karadzin, Minister of Spatial Planning and Environmental Protection of TC, the area of the landfill is from 800 to 1.000 m2, and now the actual scale of this problem will finally be determined.
“We have reached the moment when the Government started excavating the crux landfill. What is very important is that we now know exactly where the borders of that landfill are and to what depth it goes. Engineering-geological maps will be ready in a day or two and they will show us exactly how much crux is in this landfill,” told Karadzin.
As he pointed out, after establishing how much crux and other dangerous substances such as crude propylene oxide, ethylene oxide, chlorine, and mercury remained in the area near factories, a proposal of measures for their removal will be given.
“We’ll find some chlorine for sure. I guess it’s small amounts, but chlorine is dangerous even in small amounts. We need to find a way to eliminate it completely. Also, we’ll find mercury for sure. Something’s taken care of and something isn’t. It’s up to us to determine the amount. It is possible for us, but I do not believe we will find certain amounts of toluene diisocyanates, ” stated Franc Andrejas, a professor at the Faculty of Technology who leads the Hazardous Waste Analysis Team.
In any case, the disposal of hazardous toxic waste will cost a lot, and assistance of the higher levels of government is expected.
”After the analysis, the landfill will be buried so that the toxic waste would not endanger the population until the method of disposal is determined. The first method is that if the crux has a harmless amount of chlorine, it is burned in a cement plant, and the second is that if it has it- it first needs to be neutralized. The third method is to completely neutralize that material with the addition of additives and make it non-hazardous waste. The fourth is the most complex and expensive, and that is to export it abroad in the form of waste to one of the landfills, ie incinerators. This method would be very expensive and some estimates say that it would cost 2.5 BAM to dispose one kilogram of that material, so when you multiply it by thousands of tons – that is millions of marks, ” Karadzin told.
This environmental crime, as it is called in this area, has been going on for years now, Nezavisne Novine writes.
E.Dz.
