Depts hold talks to dispose chemicals

THE Health Department will be consulting the Environment and Conservation Department on possible ways to effectively dispose about 500 cartons of Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethaneor DDT chemical powder scattered at Nonga village, East New Britain.
ENB provincial health adviser Nick Larme said last week amid concerns raised by the Rabaul district administration on packages of the DDT chemical left at Nonga since it was prohibited.
He said the recommended safe disposal of DDT was using high temperature, about 1000 degrees Celsius incineration, and was the responsibility of the two departments.
Larme was in Port Moresby last week and spoke to the Health department which assured that it would be consulting Environment and Conservation to execute the disposal exercise as soon as possible.
He said at the provincial level, the health division’s responsibility was to ensure safe transportation.
It was evident the cartons of DDT lying idle at Nonga had been exposed to sun and rain over the past decade and had begun to filtrate the ground.
The chemical powder was heaped up in an area at Nonga.
Technical health officers from the Rabaul district administration are expected to begin storing the chemical into a big container this week to make way for the new office complex for the Balanataman LLG to be built.
The district administration had allocated K50,000 in this year’s district budget to store away the chemical properly.