ALOES COMMUNITY:
WHERE YOU TASTE THE SMELL!
Your urgent help needed in relocating a poisoned community!
The Aloes community of about 1,000 people is in a fight for their lives. This small community, outside of Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Province, is directly affected by a medical waste incinerator and two hazardous waste sites. All of these facilities are no more than a few hundred yards away from this informal settlement. Generations and generations of this community have lived in this settlement. It is estimated that the first people to settle into this area came close to seventy years ago.
About twenty years ago, a medical waste incinerator and a hazardous waste site was built at their doorstep. Now, Enviroserve, the company that owns and operates these two facilities has built a second hazardous waste site called Aloes II. Aloes I is approximately 8,6 hectares while Aloes II is 6 hectares. The incinerator chimney is on the same level as the houses on this settlement so the incinerator emissions fall directly on the community. On certain days, leachate from the hazardous waste sites oozes through the floors of some of the houses. Because the area is windy and dry, the contaminated dust from the site rises and spreads all over. Over the years, people here have been suffering from all sorts of illnesses such as nasal problems, chest infections, and the leading one TB.
The medical waste incinerator has been operating in violation of the permit conditions and departmental guidelines. These violations include, the absense of a scrubber, failure to abide by prescribed operating hours, and the absense of an alarm bell to warn when temperatures have dropped below the required temperature. A scrubber was fitted in 1995, but within a few weeks it exploded and the incinerator continued to operate.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has asked SAEPEJ and GroundWork (a South African environmental justice group) to assist them on this case. We will provide the technical assistance to the SAHRC and use this case to open the debate on incineration in general. The SAHRC is a government-appointed body and thus their cases usually attract media attention. We plan to utilize this attention to discuss South Africa's waste strategy.
Working closely with co-ordinators from the Health Care Without Harm Campaign, we have embarked on an initiative to highlight the Aloes Medical Waste. Health Care Without Harm is a collaborative campaign for environmentally responsible health care made up of more than 250 organizations. Their mission is to transform the health care industry so it is no longer a source of environmental harm by eliminating pollution in health care practices without compromising safety or care.
We feel that this is an important case because it is trying to protect the people's constitutional right to live in a clean and healthy environment. The SAHRC will give the issue the visibility needed to discuss medical waste and incineration on a national level. A new site to relocate the community has been identified. The South Africa Exchange Program on Environmental Justice is committed to raising the necessary money needed for the successful relocation of this community. We are asking you to help us by contributing towards this effort. All tax-deductible contributions can be made out to the South Africa Development Fund.
You can also order a 15 minute video (which includes a longer 41 minute presentation) on the situation at Aloes for $10. This video can be shared with others to spread the word and to help us all raise more money for this horrendous situation.
Contact us for more information.
Posted by Toussaint at October 24, 2005 09:05 PM