Solid Waste Management in
|
Introduction The increased affluence of the mauritian
society over the last decades has meant that greater quantities of waste are
generated per year. Unfortunately for decades the main method of waste disposal
in the country was open air dumps. In 1997, the first and only landfill
became operational at Mare Chicose which is now
being filled to capacity. With little recycling and little composting of
waste carried out presently, it is clear that waste facilities have not kept
up and are now becoming inadequate to cope with the load. The proper
management and disposal of solid waste is definitively one of the most
important environmental issues facing the Republic, whether on the |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Waste Generation,
Collection and Disposal The Era of Open Air Dumps Till the early eighties,
waste collection was undertaken solely by local authorities consisting of 5 municipalities
for urban areas and 4 district councils for rural regions. In 1991, local
authorities had 145 vehicles with manpower of 2500 people to handle waste in Throughout the eighties
and nineties there were an unspecified number of unauthorised dumps
throughout the island. Though illegal, the authorities turned a blind eye
because of the lack of appropriate structures to deal with all the wastes
generated on the island. Government acknowledged
that that such waste disposal methods could not continue for long. The dumps were
overflowing with heterogeneous waste causing emissions of air pollutants and
odours whilst seepage contaminated water tables and aquatic resources like
rivers and lagoons. As far back as 1988, British consultants advised that the
best solution for the country was a landfill, together with recycling and
composting. The dumping site at
Poudre D'Or, in the north east of the island, is a very good example of the
obvious environmental hazards of open dumps. It was about 5 acres in size and
received 80 tonnes of waste daily. Situated close to the Poudre d'Or village,
the St Antoine Sugar Estate and on the shoreline, the dumping site
permanently smouldered resulting in numerous complaints by the local
inhabitants from the nearby village because of smoke and odours. The sugar
estate also complained because of loose waste such as plastic bags that were
being carried away by the wind and deposited in the sugar cane fields close
by. The adjoining lagoon was being polluted with all types of solid waste
such as old tyres, broken glass bottles, plastic containers whilst being
contaminated with leachates. This open air dump was
eventually closed in 1998 when the Mare Chicose
land fill became operational.
The Poudre D'Or dumping site – The Roche Bois dump also
situated close to the shore received domestic, commercial and industrial
waste from the Amid complaints, the
Beaux-Songes dump is closed in November 1994 and
waste redirected to In 1996, Government came
up with the National Solid Waste Management (NSW) Plan, the first time the
overflowing problem of waste was to be tackled nationally. This plan was
based on the work of consultants from Scott Wilson and Kirkpatrick in 1994.
By then the country was generating 800 tonnes of wastes per day or 290,000
tonnes per year, approximately. About 600 tonnes were municipal wastes and
200 tonnes industrial or commercial wastes. The consultants noted that at
that time less than 1% of wastes generated were recycled. They advised on the
gradual closures of open air dumps, waste compacting and landfills. They also
advised to apply a “returnable deposit scheme” on plastic bottles
and to legislate to reduce the use of plastic packaging. Compost plants,
recycling, waste separation at source and public awareness campaigns were
also strongly recommended. In accordance with the
NSW plan, the Roche Bois, In 1997, British consultants
advised that the country will have to consider urgently waste incineration as
a long term waste management solution in addition to make waste collection
and disposal a paid service. They also advised for a centralised waste
composting project at Throughout 1999,
Government was faced with many complaints by people living and working close
to open air dumps, such as those of Solferino. This
open air dump was close to agricultural lands and to residential buildings.
Amid much protest from local inhabitants, the Solferino
dump was closed in June 1999. In January 2002, it was
the turn of the inhabitants of Richefond in the
east of the island to protest against the open dump situated close to their
village. They closed off the access roads demanding that this open air dump
be closed. Very quickly the authorities decided the temporary closure of this
dump. Faced with increasing
volumes of wastes, Government had little option but to go for landfill sites
as a means to eliminate solid waste on the medium term. In 1990, up to 18
sites were identified which could potentially be used for a landfill. In
1992, two sites were selected, Mare d’Australia
in the north and Mare Chicose in the south. At Mare
d’Australia 74 hectares were identified for
the landfill. Amid much opposition from local inhabitants the project was
downsized to 28 hectares only and by 1993 Government decided to give priority
to Mare Chicose in the south instead. In August
1996, the Mare d’Australia project was
quietly abandoned in favour of the smaller project in the south. The
Mare Chicose Landfill Project: An Environmental
Catastrophe? Situated in the south,
close to the Mare Chicose village, the landfill covers
an area of 20 hectares. Compacted waste from all over the island is sent
there where it is further compacted by bulldozers prior to be covered with a
layer of clay. Leachates are collected by an
underground network of pipes and pumped to an onsite treatment plant. The
project was hailed in The Mare Chicose landfill became operational in November 1997 with
a capacity of 3 million cubic metres. According to government figures, 300
tonnes of waste per day would fill the site within 18 years and at twice the
rate of 600 tonnes per day, the site will be filled in a mere 9 years. In
2005, the Mare Chicose land fill was extended and
now will be filled with waste in about 3 to 5 years. As there are no further
plans to open up new land fills and space being a major constraint on such a
small island, it is clear that Mauritius is once again facing acute problems
of solid waste disposal. According to the Central
Statistics Office, the following tonnages of waste were collected and
land-filled:
Source: Central
Statistics Office: http://statsmauritius.gov.mu In spite of being hailed as
an example of sound environmental engineering and management, very quickly
the landfill was a cause of significant nuisance and pollution. In may 1999,
the first reports of odour problems were reported by the press. As early as October 2000
there were reports of water pollution, bad smells with increases of rodents
and stray dogs in the vicinity of the landfill. The rivulet “Ruisseau Tranquille” was
being polluted from leachates. Residents of the
Mare Chicose village began protesting about odours,
vehicular traffic and rodents. Throughout 2001, local inhabitants complained
repeatedly against the landfill, and repeatedly Government came up with
measures to mitigate nuisances. In January 2002, the suggestion was aired
that the 500 persons of the Mare Chicose village be
relocated elsewhere. During the same year, the first reports of skin and
respiratory problems by the inhabitants appeared in the press. The private
company managing the landfill issued a press communiqué whereby they
declared that the landfill is not polluting the area and that all nuisances
are due to the transit of wastes to the landfill only. In 2002, the landfill
was receiving 1000 tonnes of wastes per day, carried by 150 lorries. By
February 2002, the inhabitants of Mare Chicose
agreed that relocation to Rose Belle, a few miles from their village was the
best solution. In September 2003, a
tender was launched for the extension of Mare Chicose,
the value of which reached Rs 1 billion (US $ 30
Million approx.). In the meanwhile local inhabitants continued to complain
about smells and dust contaminations causing skin and respiratory ailments.
It is only fair to mention that Government did undertake a number of measures
to mitigate environmental problems. A road to the landfill bypassing the village
was built and each day’s waste dumped into the landfill was immediately
covered with a layer of soil or covered with plastic sheets in case of heavy
rains. Nevertheless, odour problems still persisted at times. By early 2005, the
villagers were still complaining of odours, polluted streams, and noise
pollution from lorries to the landfill and skin disorders. From press
reports, it appeared that odour problems were caused by untreated leachates because the onsite treatment plant did not work
as planned. By October 2005 it was announced that an extension to the
landfill was becoming inevitable so that it would continue to receive wastes
for a few more years. In January 2006, Government announces that Mare Chicose would be the only land fill in Hazardous Waste Management In line with the National
Solid Waste Management Plan, in April 2001, Government proclaimed new
regulations for hazardous wastes under the Environment Protection Act 1991.
Presently hazardous wastes must be disposed of at Mare Chicose
landfill. They are land filled in separate cells designed to accommodate
hazardous wastes only. In 2001, according to Government figures, the country
generated 20,456 tonnes of toxic wastes. Waste
Incineration and By 1997, consultants were
advising waste incineration as a long term solution for our waste management
problems. The National Environment Action Plan II (NEAP II) also advocated waste
incineration for the country. They suggested that the country would generate
around 500,000 tonnes of waste yearly by 2010 and that 1 or 2 incinerators
would be required. In 2000, Government declared in Parliament that it would
opt for incineration at this stage and that it would cost between Rs 4 to 5 Billion (US $ 150 million approx). In spite of
a change in Government due to the July 2000 elections, in 2001 the new regime
once again opted for incineration. At the same time, it announced that it would
go forward with a compost plant for the production of 10,000 tonnes of
compost per year. In 2001, on several
occasions the local press mentioned that a European Consortium was interested
in building and operating an incinerator in view of generating power for the
grid. By January 2002, the situation at Mare Chicose
landfill had deteriorated to such an extent that Government confirmed that an
incinerator would be fully operational by 2004/2005 and this would ease the
situation at Mare Chicose, furthermore, the World
Bank, via a “Carbon Fund” would fund part of the project.
Throughout 2002, an incinerator project was mentioned on and off in the local
press. In March 2003, Government announced that it had abandoned the
incinerator project. Economic and ecological reasons were stated. Yet around February 2006,
Government announces that it is considering a waste incinerator project which
will also generate around 35 MW of electrical power. The incinerator project
is a joint venture between a local company Gamma Energy and an American
company Covanta Energy. It proposes to incinerate 300,000 tonnes of wastes
and generate 35 MW of electrical power. Immediately, a number of local
citizens’ organisation begin to organise themselves to oppose this
project. It is worth noting that in March 2005 foreign consultants advised
that “incineration was not feasible in On the 24th of
May 2009, a march is organised to oppose the incinerator project. Up to 2000
people take part. It is unprecedented for Our
organisation (IELS) has taken position against this project and the reasons
for doing so are detailed in this article: LETTRE OUVERTE AUX
MAURICIENS Incinération,
Recyclage et Compostage de déchets
http://incinerationmauritius.com/chapter1.html a very detailed site with information on the
proposed incinerator project in The
Composting of Organic Wastes In 1988, consultants had
proposed composting as one measure that could help to alleviate the volume of
waste going to landfills. In 1998, the National Environmental Action Plan
advised the same measure. Different reports
prepared by consultants from the nineties onwards nearly always promoted the
composting of organic wastes as a powerful method to reduce the waste flow.
Over the years, Government regularly announced the imminent opening of
compost plants, indeed by December 2003 two such plants were to be
operational with a combined capacity of 30,000 tonnes of compost. In February 2006,
Government announced that a local company together with an Indian company
wanted to set up a large scale waste composting facility in La Chaumière, in the west of the island. In July
2008, Government decided that 300 tonnes of wastes would be allocated daily
to the composting facility and 900 tonnes to the Gamma Energy incinerator
project. In 2009, it was
announced that the La Chaumiere composting should
be operational in 2010. By November 2010 the facility was still not
operational. No prospective dates for its opening have been made public. All throughout the late
eighties till now, it is apparent that for Government the only way to deal
with wastes is to favour large projects that require advanced technologies
and are market based. Humble methods such as home composting coupled with
home gardening are largely ignored and considered to be of marginal
importance. Yet 50% of our wastes are compostable and can easily be
transformed into compost at the home level which can subsequently be used in
home gardens. The production of fruits and vegetables from home gardens
fertilised, at least in part with home produced compost, could have a
significant impact on our food security. Furthermore, the use of
home compost for home gardens have the potential to alleviate poverty via the
production of quality fruits and vegetables for the kitchen, thereby saving
money, or sold or exchanged to people in the neighbourhood thereby creating
an income for poor families. The local production and
use of compost also has the advantage of recycling nutrients into the soil
thereby contributing to increasing soil fertility. The many interactions
between compost, home gardening, soil fertility, nutrition, nutrient
recycling and poverty alleviation seem to be lost on authorities. At the IELS we have long
recognised those interactions and we believe that the road to sustainability
requires that, where ever possible, families be given all means necessary to
embark on small scale home composting and gardening. In that respect we have
published in French a short leaflet on home composting. It can be downloaded here. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Rodrigues There is one open air
dump at Roche Bon Dieu. No figures are available on
the quantity of solid waste generated on Rodrigues
island. But as the average waste generated by a mauritian
is about 0.6 Kg per day and assuming that the average person on Rodrigues generates only half as much waste, the population
being of the order of 33,000, a simple calculation would show that around 10
tonnes of waste should be generated each day. Over a year that would amount
to over 3000 tonnes, far from being insignificant. It would be interesting to
find out what happens to this waste and where it ends up. At present, Rodrigues supports little industry and there are few
tourists visiting the island. Considering that it is government policy to
encourage some form of light industrialisation and tourism, both set of activities
generating significant waste, it is definitively of utmost importance to
consider how the waste generated by these activities will be disposed of. It would be a pity if the issue of waste management in Rodrigues is left last, as a side issue, to be solved at
a later date. Then, the same mistakes done in |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The 3R’s in The 3R’s have a
long way to go in Although people took up
to bring their wastes, there were considerable problems as sometimes wastes
were thrown into the wrong compartments or simply dumped next to the
container. Currently, Mission Verte is having
transportation cost issues and a number of companies that accepted the waste
for recycling no longer do so. The future of this programme is now uncertain.
Paper Only a small fraction of
the waste generated is recycled in Plastics Only one company is
currently engaged in the recycling of plastic waste. Presumably they can
process only a mere fraction of the total. Over the past decade, there has
been an explosion in the use of plastic bottles for soft drinks and bottled
water. It has been estimated by soft drink manufacturers themselves that in
1998 close to 32 million PET bottles and approximately 14 million of PVC
bottles were put into circulation each single year. By 2011 those numbers
must have doubled. These plastic bottles
came into use when manufacturers of soft drinks decided to gradually phase
out the older system of glass bottle consignment whereby the empty glass
bottles were collected by the manufacturers at the point of sale to be
returned to the factory to be cleaned and refilled. Presently, the
overwhelming majority of soft drinks sold are in plastic bottles. Most, if
not all, of these bottles eventually either find their way in the Mare Chicose landfill or scattered all over the island. To remedy the situation
in 2001, the Mauritius Soft Drink Bottlers Association launched a recycling
programme for PET bottles. PET bottles are collected against a small fee by a
company set up for this purpose that then proceeds to export the PET bottles
abroad for recycling. Ten years later this programme is still on-going.
However, only a small faction is collected and recycled. Metals A couple of companies
re-export scrap metal and vehicle carcasses. There is one company that recycles
scrap iron for the manufacture of construction bars. In 1996, a local brewer
introduced aluminium cans of beer and it is expected that some 200,000 such
cans will be sold each year. Only a small proportion of those discarded
aluminium cans are collected, packed and exported abroad for recycling. Most
of these cans will simply go straight into dumps, landfills or end up as eye
sores all over the place. Electronic wastes Discarded computers are
not recycled and they end up at Mare Chicose land
fill at best. There exist one or two companies that will recycle old hard
disks but not much more. There is little done for the recycling of
batteries. Be it on References (1) Figures or reports quoted in this article are sourced from multiple press articles unless specified otherwise. (2) National
Environmental Strategies for the (3) State
of the Environment Report – 1991 – Government of (4) Central Statistics Office http://statsmauritius.gov.mu |
Date on the web: 22nd
of January 1998
Last update: 15th
October 2011