AS the conclusion of the Upper Highway toxic air investigation is in sight, the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has warned the public that if the Shongweni Landfill’s licence is suspended or revoked, it will still take a few months to address the odour issue.
Highway Mail‘s sister newspaper, The Citizen reported on 22 March that the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) held a press briefing in Durban on the same day. According to the report, Mark Gordon, the department’s Deputy Director-General for Chemicals and Waste Management, said a decision concerning the licence or closure would be made “within the next few days”.
In the article he said: “The reality is that if the site has its licence suspended or if it is shut down, the odour won’t just go away. EnviroServ said they will be able to re-mediate things within four to five months.”
“To deal with the odour will not be an overnight thing, it will take a few months.”
Gordon added that the department was “in full agreement” with EnviroServ that a drop in pH levels led to the fostering of a sulfur-reducing bacteria, but denied that this had anything to do with changes in regulation, as the company contends.
“EnviroServ should have known this would happen. The pH trend should have given them the signal,” said Gordon.
He said there were enough early warning safeguards built into regulations to avoid such situations, and the onus was on the company to manage the site within legislated parameters.
Gordon said other facilities have been investigated to accept the landfill’s waste should it be closed or have its licence suspended.
The court case is set to commence on Tuesday, 11 April 2017.
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