Yea, though I walk through Valley 3…
All reports by Nokuthula Ntuli – who looks at what Enviroserv is doing at its Highway landfill site which residents say is poisoning the atmosphere
DESPITE calls for Enviroserv’s Shongweni landfill site to be permanently shut down, the waste management company has not been deterred and has now identified Valley 3 as part of its succession plan.
Its operational area, known as Valley 2, has been a source of complaints from neighbouring communities who claim it emits “toxic fumes” which are making them ill.
Speaking to the Sunday Tribune on the sidelines of a site visit by the environmental affairs portfolio committee on Wednesday, Enviroserv’s technical director Esme Gombault confirmed that the company had already identified a spot for Valley 3.
“Valley 3 will have a lifespan of about six years but that, of course, is an estimate determined on current (waste) volumes. If they increase, then we will have fewer years.”
This comes amid public calls for the site to be shut.
The landfill is also subject to a criminal and a civil court matter over the alleged flouting of waste management regulations.
This resulted in the malodour which led to the Department of Environmental Affairs’s decision to suspend operations at the site in April.
“From April 2016, the complaints have been soaring and since then the problem has been identified, a solution found and an 11-point plan put together and worked through with the department and other stakeholders.
“To date Enviroserv’s has spent close to R50 million, and counting, to mitigate the challenge that has risen,” said one of the managers, Thabiso Taaka, during his presentation to the committee.
He said Enviroserv was confident that its recent toxicology report would stand up to scrutiny when it was peer reviewed in coming months.
This comes after the civil group, Upper Highway Air challenged the credibility of the report when it was released it April.
Led by chemical toxicology and human risk assessment specialist, Dr Willie van Niekerk, the Infotox team was appointed by Enviroserv to conduct a human health risk assessment on various communities in the Shongweni area.
“Enviroserv is not run by inherently evil men and women who would sit by while the communities’ health was affected negatively and do nothing about it,” Taaka said.
According to the report, the emissions from the landfill did not pose a significant health threat.
Taaka said science took precedence to “slogan shouting and hyping up the emotions of the people”.
“That is why we have agreed for our studies to be peer reviewed because the truth can be peer reviewed a hundred times but it remains as such because it is science,” said Taaka.
The portfolio committee also heard presentations from the DEA, the SA Municipal Workers’ Union, environmentalist Desmond D’SA and community members.
“There are some health impacts associated with gases from the site but to what extent is subject to further investigation,” the DEA’S compliance officer Grant Walters said during his presentation.
This was, however, disputed by Gombault who said in the 28 years that she had been with Enviroserv, it “hasn’t had any occupational diseases related to chemical waste exposure”.
MP Scelo Mabika, who chaired the session, said it would be scrutinising all the information received then a report with recommendations would be submitted to parliament for further discussion.