Namibia's mines and heavy industries have operated for years with few options for proper hazardous waste disposal. This poses serious health risks for workers in the industry and Namibians living nearby. It also poses a significant risk to the environment, groundwater and biodiversity. As a step in the right direction, and following a rigorous site selection process and environmental impact assessment, a new specialist waste disposal site is being developed 17 km from Arandis.
The new waste management facility will ensure that general and hazardous solid waste along with pre-treated liquid waste will be treated and disposed of appropriately, in accordance with international best practice standards. For reasons that are unclear, the Arandis Town Council has raised objections to the facility after it received its Environmental Clearance Certificate.
Here, we explain why facilities like this are needed in Namibia, why the company that will develop and operate this particular facility can be trusted, and what the residents of Arandis and Namibia as a country stand to benefit from this facility. All things considered, the Namibian Chamber of Environment (NCE) fully supports this project and questions the basis for the Arandis Town Council's objections.
The need for proper hazardous waste disposal in Namibia
The only two options for dealing with hazardous waste used to be taking it to the landfills at either Walvis Bay or Windhoek. The Walvis Bay site was not properly designed and has now been shut down due to lack of compliance with environmental regulations. The Windhoek site (Küpferberg) is better managed, but not fully equipped to handle complex hazardous material, and is near capacity.
Due to the lack of proper disposal facilities, it is difficult for the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) to ensure that mines and other hazardous waste generators dispose of their waste properly. In many cases, mines keep their waste on site. Whether their waste sites are properly managed varies from one mine to the next – from fairly good to environmentally disastrous.
An example of the latter is the widespread arsenic poisoning that people experienced around Tsumeb's copper smelter. Proper waste disposal is important for both human and environmental health reasons. The people who work at mines that dispose of waste on site are especially at risk, as are residents of towns near these mines.
When mines are closed, the hazardous waste is simply left behind. Containers break or rust, and hazardous material enters the environment, blows around with the dust and enters the groundwater. This unhappy situation means that there are hundreds of unknown, uncontrolled mini hazardous waste dumps scattered across the country.
This problematic state of affairs is clearly recognised in the 2017 National Solid Waste Management Strategy. One of its five main objectives is: to plan and implement feasible options for hazardous waste management
. According to the plan, which was approved by Cabinet, at least five such facilities specialising in different types of waste are needed to service Namibia's current and new industries, including industrial processes, mining, oil and gas.
As Namibia looks to industrialise, it needs to attract international investors that will maintain high environmental and ethical standards. The absence of proper hazardous waste disposal sites will deter ethical investors, while those that are fine with contaminating the environment and poisoning Namibians will keep coming. Is this the kind of industrialisation that Namibians want?
Comparing good and bad waste management
While everyone may understand the need for proper waste disposal, some may feel uneasy at the thought of such a site being established in their backyard
. Many local authority landfill sites provide clear examples of bad management – waste is dumped haphazardly, holes in fences and poor security create dangerous conditions for local people, while the wind blows uncovered rubbish in every direction. No one wants to live near such a site, especially if it accepts hazardous waste as the Walvis Bay site did until recently.
Three considerations are therefore critical for good hazardous waste disposal: location, infrastructure design and management. While the location of a site (e.g., far from important water sources, not too close to human settlements) is important, modern infrastructure design and high standards of technical management suited to the types of waste are even more so. A well-managed waste disposal site can operate on the edge of a town without doing any harm to its residents.
Unlike the poorly managed dump described above, a properly managed landfill site is well-ordered and clean. Hazardous waste is subjected to laboratory testing prior to arrival at the facility to determine the kind of treatment and management required to reduce risk related to its disposal. It is then disposed of in specially designed, engineered waste cells that isolate it from the environment, preventing environmental damage and related health risks.
These cells keep the waste out of the soil using layers of impermeable materials, are properly drained and contained to ensure that nothing is leached into nearby waterbodies, and are covered daily with soil to prevent anything from being blown away by the wind. Once full, the cells are capped with an engineered capping system made up of impermeable materials like clay and geotextiles, then covered with soil and planted with natural vegetation to reduce long-term wind erosion and keep rainwater out.
This design of waste cells is used worldwide to prevent hazardous substances from entering the soil, water or air around it for hundreds of years. In addition, monitoring of the local environment and reporting to government forms an integral part of the management of a waste management site.
Who will manage the new waste facility?
An example of a well-managed site is Rent-A-Drum's recycling plant on the edge of Windhoek – it is highly secure, well-ordered and clean. During its 34 years of operation, this company raised the standard of waste management in Windhoek and many other towns across the country.
Since being acquired by the French Séché Environnement Group, Rent-A-Drum started looking into hazardous waste management in Namibia. The new site near Arandis will be managed by a subsidiary of Rent-A-Drum called Namwaste, which was set up to deal specifically with hazardous waste.
Rent-A-Drum's new focus makes sense given the expertise of its parent company. Séché Environnement operates in 17 countries as a specialist in hazardous waste disposal. Over the last 35 years, it has emerged as a global leader in this field. As an international company, it is held to standards of operation that meet global benchmarks. This gives Namibia – that has not developed such standards yet – reassurance that the proposed facility will be properly run.
NCE is therefore pleased to see that a company with both global and local reputations for good management in the waste sector has taken on the task of developing Namibia's first dedicated hazardous waste facility. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) conducted on behalf of Namwaste was thorough, including careful site selection, a clear explanation of how any potential negative impacts would be managed, and included widespread consultations with Interested and Affected Parties (IAPs).
Why is this site near Arandis, and how will it affect people living there?
The new site is located near an existing uranium mine in the Erongo Region that falls within ≠Gaingu Conservancy. Both the Conservancy and the relevant Traditional Authority (!Oe-≠Gan) officially consented to this development on their land. The Communal Land Board has approved the use of 1,500 hectares of land, of which 177 hectares will be used at this stage.
This semi-desert landscape, with no major aquifer used by people for drinking water, is ideal for waste management. Rainwater is the main cause for contaminants from waste leaching into the soil or waterbodies – a dry climate reduces this risk. Even though rainfall in this area is low, the facility will nonetheless include water drainage infrastructure around the waste cells to direct rainwater from occasional storms around the facility. In addition, the cells will be fitted with drainage infrastructure to drain leachate from the cells, preventing leaching of contaminants to groundwater.
The 177 hectares that are earmarked for development will be fenced and guarded to prevent people or livestock from entering the area and endangering themselves. This site is expected to reach capacity after 60 years, at which point it may be expanded (pending a new EIA) within the 1,500-hectare area around it.
The people living in Arandis will barely notice the presence of the new facility 17 km away, except for those who benefit directly by working there. Since many Arandis residents work on mines in the Erongo Region, improved waste management will provide indirect benefits. Mine workers could be exposed to significant health risks on mines that currently store their hazardous waste on site without proper management. Better mine waste management will mean healthier working conditions for hundreds of mineworkers, including those living in Arandis.
Why is the Arandis Town Council objecting now?
It is unclear why the Arandis Town Council has raised objections to this facility, especially since they did not submit any questions during the consultation period. Furthermore, they lodged an appeal outside the EIA appeal process, after it had already been validated by the Environmental Commissioner. The record of consultation recorded during the EIA shows that the Traditional Authority and Conservancy submitted questions and received satisfactory answers. It seems that the Town Council has been unwilling to engage with the process in a similar way.
The Mayor, CEO and CEO Secretary of the Arandis Town Council were all listed as IAPs during the process and therefore received the EIA and all other communication. Namwaste has reached out to the Town Council on numerous occasions to discuss service infrastructure such as electrical and water supply for the project, which is the only part of the project that falls within the town's jurisdiction. They have also offered to take municipal waste, which will greatly improve waste management for Arandis.
It appears that the Council has been unwilling to engage with Namwaste on any of these matters. Instead, they have appealed to the Minister of Urban and Rural Development (MURD) directly to intervene and halt site development.
The only clues as to why the Council has problems with the project come from interviews with their lawyer, Richard Metcalfe, reported in the media. He claims that there are potential negative impacts on the municipality's reputation, health, safety and sustainability objectives.
He further claims that the waste management facility will somehow clash with the proposed green hydrogen plant near the town. It is unclear how a well-managed waste facility will cause any of these imagined negative impacts.
The way forward
Since the Namwaste facility has conducted a thorough EIA, received an Environmental Clearance Certificate, and been allocated land from the Land Board, the only need for cooperation with the Town Council is for the services infrastructure, which would also benefit other proposed industrial development in the area.
Namwaste has demonstrated through various engagements at regional and national level that they remain open to engaging positively with the Council directly to address their concerns regarding any aspect of the project.
Given the urgent need for Namibia to develop hazardous waste facilities, the good reputation of the project proponent, and the quality of the EIA that was produced, NCE fully supports this waste management facility. Namibian mineworkers and their families, people living near mines countrywide, the residents of Arandis, and many other stakeholders stand to benefit from it. Namibia as a country will further benefit by boosting its reputation for environmentally sustainable industrialisation.
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