Illegal dumping case resumes
Tuesday, 27 July 2010 |   |  1 comment

Several people accused of dumping large amounts of medical waste in the Free State in 2009 will appear in the Welkom Magistrate's Court on Tuesday. Former chief executive officer of Wasteman, Olivier Meyer, was expected to appear with Welkom businessman Gavin Brasher and five other men.

On Monday, the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA) came out in full support of the investigation by the Green Scorpions on the matter.

"IWMSA supports the strongest punishment by the court of those found guilty for the illegal disposal of medical waste at a few sites near Welkom," said Vincent Charnley, who was until recently president of the IWMSA.
He said the medical waste dumped in Welkom was a national environmental disaster for South Africa as it never happened on such a large scale.

Newly elected IWMSA president, Stan Jewaskiewitz, also deplored the behaviour of dumping medical waste through "negligence and profit-driven greed".

Meyer was charged by the Green Scorpions for the illegal disposal of medical waste and is out on bail.

Earlier, the Department of Environmental Affairs said Wasteman was instructed to remove the dumped waste and rehabilitate the Maximus Bricks site by the end of July 2010.

The illegal dumps at the Welkom Showgrounds and the Jonkersrus game farm near Virginia should be removed and the sites rehabilitated by the end of September 2010.

Maximus Bricks, a business in the Welkom industrial area, belongs to Brasher.He had a contract with Wasteman to transport medical waste. IWMSA has in the meantime suspended Wasteman Holdings as a patron member.

Charnley said the Welkom case was the first of its kind after the formalisation and promulgation of the new Waste Act which was signed into parliament in 2008. The guilty parties may be fined up to R10-million. - Sapa