Let's all support NEMC in protecting environment
Mandated to protect the environment, the National Environmental Management Council (Nemc) has the bounden duty to ensure that current and future generations are not adversely affected by environmental pollution.
Generally, the term ‘pollution’ describes the introduction into the natural environment of contaminants that cause adverse change in one form or other. Down the years, these have included – but are not limited to – biodegradable and non-biodegradable pollutants.
But, in this day and age of pell-mell technological advances, the situation has been worsened by the introduction of even more hazardous waste whose disposal is highly problematic every which way one looks at it.
By definition, ‘hazardous waste’ is waste that has substantial or potential threat(s) to public health, the environment – or to both. Among these are expired pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Suffice it here to say that hazardous waste is a special type of waste that cannot be disposed of by common means like other by-products in everyday living – and, depending on the physical state of the waste, its treatment and solidification processes might be necessary.
It is in this regard that Nemc embarked upon processes and procedures intended to ensure that functional disposal of hazardous waste are the order of the day: the rule, rather than the exception.
To that end, the Council has already approved and licensed 151 out of 481 institutions that applied to be authorised as disposers of hazardous waste in Tanzania.
As we reported in these pages yesterday, Nemc remains on top of the game – so to speak – directly supervising and verifying the activities and performance of licensed hazardous waste disposers, as well as holders of environmental impact assessment (EIA) certificates, and producers of hazardous waste, such as hospitals and miners.
All in all, Nemc is doing a relatively wonderful environmental protection job under most difficult circumstances – and we should give it all the support it needs in its noble tasks.
