The metal construction and safety tent in which the digging of the lindane and its isomers will occur have been set up in the small landfill in OHIS
07.03.2020 Skopje – In the period January-February 2022, within the frame of the project “Removal of Technical and Economic Barriers to Initiating the Clean-up Activities for Alpha-HCH, Beta-HCH and Lindane Contaminated Sites at OHIS, 100122”, regarding the small landfill in OHIS, all of the planned activities for the preparatory phase were completed.
The metal construction, which is the basis for the protective PVC cover and the tent cover itself, was set up at the end of February. The next step is to connect and stabilize the tent cover to the metal construction, as well as to set up additional covers, especially in places with the largest worker turnover. These reinforcements of the tent cover will be set up precisely on the planned tunnels (a total of 3) where there will be an entry of equipment and personnel which will work on the excavation, and an exit of the excavated and packed quantities of HCH, lindane, and contaminated soil.
In the next phase, the impenetrability of the tent material will be tested, which is necessary for achieving the conditions needed for negative pressure, which in turn is needed for the minimization of the emission of dust and contaminated material during the implementation of the operational activities.
So far, as part of the preparatory phase of the excavation of HCH and lindane, staff was provided for fieldwork, as well as mechanical equipment and machines for setting up and reinforcing the metal construction.
These activities have been completed, and their implementation took a period of around 60 days, given the changing weather conditions and the inability to work under conditions of strong wind and rain.
At the beginning of the operational phase, the contractor POLIECO will conduct trainings with the personnel on the excavation and handling of HCH waste, on the process of digging, storing, as well as restoration of the location. The dynamics of the excavation activities will depend on the available capacity of the contractor.
The excavation and packing of about 650 tonnes of contaminated soil and lindane/HCH is expected to be completed by mid-May.
The work of the contractor POLIEKO will continue to be monitored by both the State Inspectorate for Environment and the supervisory company TAUW.
The final phase of the whole process is the transportation of the waste to the facilities for final disposal, leaving from North Macedonia, through the neighbouring Republic of Grece, to France and The Netherlands/Germany, where the incineration or remediation of the waste materials and soil will take place.
In all phases of the cleaning process, independently of the performance of the employees and contractors of the contracting firm POLIECO, there will be active monitoring of the state of the environment, through the monitoring of the quality of the performance, of the air, and of the underground waters and the generated wastewater.
All data will be made public after the completion of the measurements during the removal of lindane, and the details of the research will also be shared in public debates. The Macedonian Ecological Society (MES) is also preparing a documentary video on the whole process of the removal of lindane from the small landfill in OHIS.
Within the multi-year project “Removal of Technical and Economic Barriers to Initiating the Clean-up Activities for Alpha-HCH, Beta-HCH and Lindane Contaminated Sites at OHIS, 100122”, MES is implementing awareness raising activities regarding the significance and the impact of lindane on human health and the state of the environment. The project is financially supported by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), implemented through UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) and implemented in coordination with the Office for Non-Degradable Organic Pollutants (POPs) of the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning.
