Authorities in the Turks and Caicos are facing a persistent solid waste management problem:
The long standing problem of pollutants emitted from the Providenciales dump site has reappeared, as acrid smoke from numerous small fires has drawn complaints from residents and attention to a recently released expert report.
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A report from expert Dr Pierre Auger of the Pan American Health Association, who conducted a survey of Provo’s dump seven months ago, has just been released by the interim government.
It is believed that financially deprived scroungers looking for copper wire are at least in part responsible for the fires that are causing the choking smoke, which Auger says is dangerous to young and old alike. Auger has also cautioned about contaminants getting into the ground water.
A new problem soon to emerge may be the proliferation of the new CFL type light bulbs being promoted as a power saving device. These devices contain a serious pollutant — the liquid metal mercury — which cannot be incinerated or dissolved and is known for entering the marine environment and fish stocks. Mercury can be injurious to children and the unborn.
See the original article from TCI News Now.
And as an aside, that last paragraph raises a concern I’ve voiced before on this site; a national switch to energy-saving bulbs should involve environmentally-sound provisions for the disposal of the mercury that such bulbs contain.
