BMC admits tannery is a pong

SYLVIAH DISELE
Correspondent | Thursday May 16, 2013 00:00

This concern was expressed by the Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) manager of the BMC, Modiri Garenamotse, who has acknowledged that industrial chemicals used in tanneries do have adverse effects on human health and the environment. Nevertheless, Garenamotse says the BMC is unlikely to close the tannery on account of environmental concerns because it is averse to the idea of completely losing the resource that leather is.

Speaking at a workshop on leather dyeing and finishing in the COMESA/SADC region that is taking place at the President Hotel in Gaborone yesterday, Garenamotse said the BMC tannery consists of the tanning plant, a wastewater treatment plant (currently not functioning), evaporation ponds, a sludge disposal area and a sludge disposal dump that is currently on Lobatse Town Council (LTC) land. 

He said although the boric acid used in tanning is weak, it is not harmless because risk assessment has shown the possibility of workers ingesting, inhaling or coming into contact with it through unprotected skin or eyes.Busan 1046, which is also used in tanning, can lead to irritation of the skin while prolonged exposure may affect the central nervous system, the cardio vascular system and kidneys.Garenamotse noted that Alkylbezylammonium Chloride can cause serious damage to eyes and the reproductive system, while it is toxic to aquatic life.

However, because the BMC has a responsibility to protect its tannery employees, all 29 of them undergo medical screening twice a year to check how the chemicals they use may have affected them.Garenamotse this week admitted that there are problems surrounding the BMC tannery because Lobatse is a catchment area for Gaborone Dam. Until 2006, when the council put a stop to it, sludge from the tannery was disposed of on a site measuring approximately 100 x 150m in the hills to the west of the High Court. 'This was because there was no Waste Management Act at the time and no one cared about sustainable development,' Garenamotse said before describing establishment of the BMC tannery as short-sighted, even though it is unlikely to be closed.

At the time the tannery was built, it was on the eastern outskirts of town. However, due to the expansion of the town over the years, it is now in the middle of developing residential areas and the smell of hydrogen sulphide is causing health and other problems. Garenamotse told the workshop this week that hydrogen sulphide reduces property values. 'The public believes that health problems, such as asthma and other breathing related illnesses, may be caused by the emissions,' he said.

Concern is also widespread in Lobatse that there is significant ground and surface water pollution affecting streams and boreholes. Garenamotse said people residing around the tannery want it relocated because pipe breakages can also pollute the environment.'At the moment, we are burdened by such a legacy of pollution (and) we have to clean up our mess from the past, and it is quite expensive,' he said.