by Mr. Paul Whylie

In February, 1993, the Governmental agency responsible for protection of the environment in Jamaica (NRCA) established a Joint Technical Committee to develop methods and safety criteria for the handling, storage and disposal of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). Among the findings of the committee were:

• The primary holders of PCBs were the national power company (JPSCo), the Caribbean Cement Company, the Telecommunications Company, the Sugar Factories and the Bauxite/Alumina Companies.

• Most of these companies were unable to provide detailed information on the quantity and concentration of PCBs in use or in storage.

• Most of the companies surveyed indicated that PCB oils are no longer being used, and have either been disposed of, or are in storage awaiting disposal.

• The three main options for disposal of PCB are storage/landfill, chemical destruction (retrofilling) and thermal destruction by incineration (in Jamaica or abroad).

Based on the options available to Jamaica, the Technical Committee made the following recommendations among others:

(a) All holders of PCBs should identify and quantify the amount and concentration of PCBs in their equipment currently in use; and discontinue their use within the next 12 months.

(b) All PCB containing equipment which is not in use should be stored in sealed containers. These inventories should be reported to the NRCA.

(c) Holders of PCBs should export their PCB wastes to a selected facility capable of final disposal under the Basel Convention.

(d) Further importation of PCB containing material and equipment should be banned effective October 30, 1993.

(e) The JPSCo should consider providing a service to other smaller holders of PCBs with respect to collection, storage and preparation for disposal on terms to be agreed on by the JPSCo and the parties involved; and with the approval of the NRCA.

Based on preliminary assessments, it is estimated that the total quantity of PCB waste in Jamaica stands at approximately 30 tons with concentrations ranging from 50-200 ppm. Of the recommendations outlined above, an inventory of waste PCB was to start in 1993. A form was designed and the implementation should begin before the end of 1998.

Since 1993, the JPSCo and a Bauxite Company have both exported PCB waste to PEC Tredi in France, after the Government of Jamaica signed an agreement with the Government of France allowing these exports for final disposal in France. It should be noted that Jamaica is not yet a Party to the Basel Convention.

Even though PCBs are not officially banned in Jamaica, the Companies that are most likely to import such chemicals have all taken the corporate responsibility in refusing to import any further PCBs into the country. Therefore, there has been no known request to import PCBs into Jamaica over the past three years, except as a constituent of an alternative fuel.

Given the persistence of these chemicals and the sensitive nature of an island ecology, it is not feasible to dispose of PCBs in Jamaica by landfill. The cost of acquiring a suitable incinerator is prohibitive and leaves only the option of shipping the waste to an approved incinerator overseas. It is expected that with time, the disposal of all the PCBs in the country will be done by this method dependent on financial constraints. In the interim, the concentration of efforts will be to identify and quantify the stores that presently exist and ensure that in the short to medium term, the risk to health and the environment is minimized.

In Jamaica, approximately 80% of the pesticides used are imported as finished product. Since 1992, a concerted effort has been made to tighten the control of importation of pesticides through an upgraded registration procedure for pesticides with a rigid licensing system for imports.

With the expected reduction in unwanted pesticides entering the country, the Pesticides Control Authority in 1995, embarked on a programme to inventorise all the large stores of unwanted pesticides in the country. The inventory unearthed about 2,000 Kgs of mosquito coils containing 7% DDT. This product along with small quantities of Lindane and other organophosphates involved a total quantity of approximately 8,000 Kgs of obsolete pesticides.

Some of these chemicals were over 30 years old and posed high risks to the public and the environment.

In one case, there was a large store of Endosulphan and Naled in very deteriorated condition located only 50 metres from a popular public beach with a very fruitful mango tree rooted below the ground of the bunker housing the chemicals.

In conjunction with waste disposal experts from FMC Corporation - which is a chemical manufacturer in the USA - the waste pesticides were repackaged into UN certified drums. This exercise reduced the risk posed by the chemicals and readied the waste for disposal by incinerator.

Negotiations are now advanced toward having the chemicals shipped to an approved incinerator for final disposal. However, the important factor for sustainability beyond the clean-up exercise is that the necessary safeguards are in place to prevent any further build up of unwanted chemicals given the control of importation and the careful monitoring of large stores presently carried out in Jamaica.