Government, through The Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI) is set to destroy over 60 tonnes of expired fertilizers and pesticides, The New Times has learnt. This is in a bid to reduce public exposure to harmful chemicals in ensuring adequate environmental and public health. According to the Rural Sector Support Project (RSSP), the products were collected over the years since 1960 and two weeks have been set aside to have them fully disposed off in an exercise that will take place at Nyanza dumping site in Kicukiro District. The chemicals are currently in a storage facility at the RSSP headquarters in Kacyiru, Gasabo District. “Because of the renovations and refurbishments going on at our offices, it has necessitated a speedy removal of the products from the facility,” Jolly Dusabe, the project coordinator of RSSP said yesterday by telephone. The decision to destroy the products was reached following a report by a team of experts who analysed the impact and suggested suitable methods of getting rid of them with out negatively affecting the environment. The stocks of obsolete pesticides and fertilizers pose a serious environmental hazard to the personnel working there and the neighbouring residents, according to the officials. Some of them appear on renowned international Conventions on chemical products of which Rwanda is a signatory. These include the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and 1998 Rotterdam Convention on international trade in hazardous chemicals and pesticides According the report by the team of experts led by Dr Fabien Twagiramungu, the products which are to be sealed in plastic drums to hinder exposure to the environment will be disposed in a specially constructed facility. The facility will be constructed of reinforced concrete and adequate security will be enforced to bar interference from and protect the public and animals. Recommended international practices require that obsolete chemicals are incinerated in dedicated high temperature toxic waste incinerators which are considered temporary stop gap measure. In the mid 1990s, Rwanda is on record for having carried out the disposal of over 230 tonnes of the hazardous Mancozeb fungicide, according to a report by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). The disposal is being done in collaboration with Kigali City Council (KCC) and the Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA). Ends
