What is hazardous waste?

directly in the environment using methods such as simple burying, crude open dumping and effluent discharge into water bodies as well as accidental spillages.
As the Environmental Management Agency, we are mandated to regulate and monitor the generation, storage, transportation, treatment and disposal of hazardous waste throughout the country.
The main types of hazardous waste in Zimbabwe include: Agricultural waste — agro-chemicals such as pesticide residues and containers discarded mostly during the fumigation of commercial crops like coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco, flowers and vegetables notably on large estates.
Hazardous effluent from tanneries, breweries, textile industries and manufacturers of soaps and detergents.
Waste oil including oil filters from manufacturing industries and informal vehicle workshops and railways, transformer oil, which contain PCBs and used oil.
This type of waste is often burnt or dumped illegally. Pharmaceutical and medical apparatus also form another type of waste.
These include drugs and chemicals that have expired, contaminated and sub-standard or are no longer required, as well as hospital waste including pathological waste, needles, syringes, scalpels and glass.
Wet and dry cell batteries containing heavy metals such as lead, zinc, mercury and cadmium are another form of waste.
Paint residue and waste from industries that produce water-based domestic paint and decorative oil-based paints and electrical waste that contains heavy metals like lead which are contained in cathode ray tubes of old computers and televisions.
Hazardous Waste Collection,
Transportation and Disposal
Collection and transportation of hazardous waste should be carried out by licensed entities only.
Only licensed waste removal companies are allowed to collect store and dispose of the waste only at designated sites such as sanitary landfills and at authorised or approved dumping areas.
Anyone who stores hazardous waste should ensure that none of it is released into the environment.
Any person who transports hazardous waste is also required to store the hazardous waste in a container, which is designated to contain such waste.
The container should also be constructed or lined with materials that are compatible with the hazardous waste that it is to contain.
Also the transporter should ensure that no two or more hazardous wastes which are not compatible are enclosed in the same container for transportation.
Before transporting any hazardous waste in containers, the transporter should check the container to see if it does not leak and it is tightly secured.
What the law says on hazardous
waste management
The Environmental Management Act (Cap 20:27) Section 140 as read with Statutory Instrument 10 of 2007 (Hazardous Waste Management), is the legislation that regulates handling of hazardous waste, and is the legal instrument used to manage hazardous waste in the country.
Under these regulations, collection, storage, treatment, and transportation is strictly prohibited unless under a licence issued by the Agency.
The regulations stipulate that no person shall generate, store, sell, transport, use, recycle, treat, discharge or dispose of hazardous waste to the environment without seeking a permit or licence from the Environmental Management Agency (EMA).
Who needs a licence?
A licence is required by anyone who generates, stores, uses, recycles, treats, transport or disposes waste containing substances like acids and alkalis, free cyanide, heavy metal sludge and solutions.
Fibrous asbestos, PCB waste, medicinal waste, phenols, halogenated and non-halogenated solvent residues, organic chemicals, explosives and any other waste which contain substances as read in Section 6 Table 1of SI 10 of 2007.
Any person who stores, disposes and transports of any such waste without a valid licence from the agency will be liable to a fine not exceeding Level 14 and the licence is only valid for one year and is renewable.
The licences are granted depending on the level of toxicity of the waste to the environment.
The hazardous waste licences fall in the following classes: Blue licence — denoting the waste is environmentally safe, Green licence — low hazard to the environment, Yellow licence — medium hazard, and Red licence — high hazard to the environment.
If any person wishes to generate, store, sell or transport hazardous waste he/she can acquire a licence by submitting an application for a blue, green, yellow or red licence together with the appropriate fee to the Agency.