…But What About Hazardous Waste?

Martin Alegria

Another component of the project will include the closure of the dumpsite and the construction of a transfer station at Burrell Boom. But when you hear chemical waste, it brings to mind the disposal of hazardous wastes. We’ve seen in the past where medical facilities have not been properly disposing hazardous waste. According to Alegria, while this three year project does not include hazardous waste, there is an initiative that will be launched later this year to address that.

Martin Alegria, Chief Environmental Officer

“This specific project we are launching today doesn’t have as a component the issue of medical waste. Yes, we do have a complementing initiative, a complementing project again under UNDP to address specifically medical wastes from all these facilities that you are mentioning. It will include also private sector such as Belize Waste Control, PASA, Belize Solid Waste Management Authority and Ministry of Health, which are the key partners in this medical and bio-medical waste initiative. We are almost at the end of the proposal development phase, which will take some six months between now and when the monies start to flow. But hopefully by the ending of this year, we have a complementing initiative that will assist this specific project.”

Belize is also part of a regional initiative from Trinidad that will address medical waste from an administrative perspective.