Environment ministry presents immediate and long-term solutions to rectify landfill situation |29 May 2017

Complaints of the ‘foul odour’ coming from the Providence landfill two weeks ago forced district representatives, environment principal secretary Alain Decomarmond and respective authorities to go on site and they found a 30 diameter pit filled with fish carcass left exposed in the sun and sludge uncovered.

During the visit, the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change as well as the Landscape and Waste Management Agency (LWMA) found out that there were inadmissible operational practices taking place on landfill 1. These practices include: no control on the type of dirty water coming in the landfill, carcasses were being dumped in two huge pits which were ‘left uncovered’ and the sludge which supposedly needed to be covered with saw dust was not.

According to a communiqué from the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change (MEECC), legal actions have been taken against Star Seychelles who has the contract to operate landfill 1 and landfill 2 at Providence as under the EPA Law the MEECC served the contractor a prohibition notice.

Nanette Laure, director general for waste, enforcement and permit section, explained in an interview that “alongside the prohibition notice, Star Seychelles was given six instructions to follow and if it is unable to do so, it will be fined a maximum of R100,000”. 

Mrs Laure also stated that “a prohibition notice is the first step and afterwards an enforcement notice follows if Star Seychelles does not comply with given instructions”.

Last week, the two pits were covered with dirt and landfill operators are not allowed to use them. Other immediate solutions include the digging of small trenches in a buffer zone (piece of land between landfill 1 and landfill 2) of a depth of 5 metres to be used as ‘sludge pits’. Moreover, these trenches will be specified, that is each trench will be assigned for a specific waste disposal for instance there will be a trench only for the disposal of sludge and another only for the disposal of carcasses.

However, LWMA chief executive Michel Vielle pointed out that the small trenches are short- term solutions and can be used until November this year. Sewage waste which are compatible to the PUC sewage system will no longer be dumped on the landfill but disposed in the central sewage treatment plant.

Since the incident, an operation called ‘sniff operation’ is being done daily by an LWMA officer whereby the officer drives around the landfill, Pointe Larue airport and Cascade district and identify any foul odor coming from the landfill. This operation is done between intervals and recorded.

According to environment principal secretary Alain Decomarmond, the MEECC is in discussion with Indian Ocean Tuna (IOT), one of the main contributors of the sludge and carcasses of fish on the landfill, to invest in a biogas plant. The biogas plant is expected to become operational in February 2018 whereby sludge will be converted into electricity. In relation to the long-term solutions, the MEECC will be presenting to the cabinet of ministers a list of solutions for approval. THE MEECC and LWMA are also encouraging business owners and companies which produce these types of waste to consider in investing in waste treatment facilities.