The Only Losers on the Capacity Building Day Held on 17Th May Were Those Who Could Not Attend

Review of the Central Branch Capacity Building Session hosted by the

Health Care Waste Interest Group

held at DBSA, Midrand on 17 May 2006

The only losers on the Capacity Building Day held on 17th May were those who could not attend! The spirited debates and discussions that were initiated by the excellent presentations were interesting and informative.

The afternoon began with a presentation from Ray Lombard that gave an overall view of the technologies available for the treatment of health care risk waste. His incisive knowledge of the industry is well known and there were interesting discussions on the non-burn technologies and the long process that was followed to get the autoclave accepted as a viable technology for the treatment of health care risk waste. he debate was taken further with the next presentation by Anèl Nagel who very capably filled in for Dr. Christos Eleftheriades. The retorting technology has been used for many years for the treatment of highly hazardous material and is now being used for health care risk waste in the Limpopo Region.

Clifford Durrheim gave an interesting talk on incineration. Incineration has had a great deal of criticism over the past 10 years or so, particularly with regard to the pollution aspect. The new incinerator in Boksburg has therefore had to go to a great deal of additional expense to ensure that the plant is clean-burning and deals effectively with the waste. The long process that involved the Environmental Impact Assessment and finally – 4 years later – the record of decision to operate has been completed and the incinerator is now operational

Beauty Mazibuko of Bazizo rose above a technology glitz that prevented her from using her presentation. She spoke well about the project that they are presently involved with in installing a small autoclave in the Ramotshere Moiloa District that will treat the infectious waste locally. The questions and discussion centered on the difficulties that the rural areas experience in managing their health care waste.

The afternoon was wrapped up with a spirited feedback from Khanyi Duka on the activities of the Health Care Waste Interest Group and an appeal to those who are not members to join the Interest Group.

The following presentations can be viewed:

·  Ray Lombard

·  Anèl Nagel

·  Beauty Mazibuko

·  Khanyi Duka