South African delegates with UNIDO, DENR and local partners inside the Non-Combustion POPs Facility in Mariveles, Bataan.
A delegation from South Africa, which currently implements the GEF-funded project “Environmentally Sound Management and Disposal of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in the Republic of South Africa,” visited the Non-Com POPs Facility in Bataan on June 9, 2023 as part of its learning mission.
The delegates were affiliated with the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE), and the Africa Institute for Environmentally Sound Management of Hazardous Wastes and Other Wastes.
It can be recalled that in May 2023, Dr. Joseph Molapisi of Basel and Stockholm Convention Regional Center in South Africa requested UNIDO and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for a site visit to any non-combustion POPs facility in the Philippines for South African delegates to learn about technologies that could be adapted for the South African conditions in fulfillment of the objectives of the project.
Ms. Ma. Rosalina “Sally” Ablang of the Foreign-Assisted and Special Projects Service of the DENR welcomed the delegates to the facility. They were treated to lectures on existing policies on hazardous wastes management and projects related to the Stockholm Convention on POPs and the management of PCBs. As they toured the facility, they also learned the different processes involved.
“We understand the PCBs are a challenge to dispose of and that is what we are trying to implement. The knowledge that we got here will assist us a lot. We hope that in the near future, we will be able to face that mountain. We really got a sense of how to treat PCBs which is the same as what we saw in France,” Mr. Mfanuwenkosi Mathebula, one of the delegates, said. (UNIDO/ Myeka Trinidad)
