UAE Environmental justice relating to Hazardous Wasteby Lohita Swaminathan | 09-07-2018 23:35 |
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Hazardous wastes are any unwanted material that is dangerous or potentially harmful and whose collection, treatment, and disposal pose a threat to human health and the environment. Examples include nuclear waste, industrial waste, medical waste, universal waste and construction waste. Such wastes can be solids, liquids, sludge or gases and come as by-products of industrial processes. Improper storage, transportation and disposal of such waste leads to contaminated surface and groundwater supplies. These wastes are classified on the basis of their biological, chemical, and physical properties. They generate materials that are either toxic, flammable, radioactive, infectious etc. In olden days many hazardous wastes were disposed of in regular landfills, which led to seeping into the ground and entering natural hydrologic systems. Many landfills now require countermeasures against groundwater contamination. Currently, hazardous wastes must often be stabilized and solidified in order to enter a landfill and many hazardous wastes undergo different treatments in order to stabilize and dispose of them. Many hazardous wastes can be recycled into new products e.g., lead acid batteries or electronic circuit boards. The United Arab Emirates signed the Basel Convention in November 1992 and established a legislation called ?Regulation for Handling Hazardous Materials, Hazardous Wastes and Medical Waste. Article 12 of the law states "Transportation and disposal of locally produced hazardous waste through land borders, marine environment limit and air space shall be controlled in accordance with the rules, procedure and controls mentioned and specified in Basel Agreement and in coordination with Federal Environmental Agency". At each emirates level, various legislation were passed to organise the waste management sector in each emirates. Abu Dhabi passed the Law 21 of 2005 concerning Waste Management in emirate of Abu Dhabi. Centre of Waste Management is the Competent Authority to monitor and manage the transportation of hazardous waste in the Emirates. Major hazardous waste streams in UAE are Petrochemical waste, Medical Waste, and e-Waste. To avoid hazardous waste export the cash-rich government-owned petrochemical companies have established centralised treatment facility. Centre for Waste Management (CWM) has established treatment facilities for Medical Waste Incineration, Engine Oil treatment, Tyre Shredding etc. |
