The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will soon outlaw the burning of car tyres, the Head of the Petroleum Department of the EPA, Mr Kojo Agbenor-Efunam, has stated.
He said the burning of tyres was not only illegal but also emitted poisonous gases into the atmosphere because of the constituents of the tyre.
Mr Agbenor-Efunam told the Daily Graphic last Thursday after a stakeholders meeting with industry, civil society and the media on a new set of regulations to control and manage hazardous and other kinds of waste.
He said “burning of tyres will be outlawed once we pass this regulation. Nobody in the country would be allowed to burn tyre for any reason
“If there is the need for you to burn a tyre, then you have to come to the EPA for a permit to be able to do that and you have to justify why the EPA should give you a permit.”
Stakeholders meeting
The stakeholders meeting was called in line with the requirement by law for the EPA to engage stakeholders to have a look at any new law that is crafted, provide inputs and highlight concerns so that they are incorporated before the law is passed by Parliament.
Mr Agbenor-Efunam said the EPA was working at passing the law by the end of the year, conduct public sensitisation in 2017 and eventually start implementation in 2018.
Burning of waste tyre
Regulation 46 (1) of the soon-to-be-passed law, Waste (Classification, Control and Management) Regulations, 2016, says “A person shall not burn a waste tyre within the jurisdiction of this country unless the person has been authorised by the Agency.
Sub-section (2) also states that “A person who burns or causes the burning of a waste tyre commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction” to a fine, a term of imprisonment or to both.
Justifying the need for the law, Mr Agbenor-Efunam said it would, among other purposes, prescribe the requirements for the establishment of take-back systems and the disposal of waste. He also said the current bye-laws of assemblies prohibited open burning.
Waste Regulations, 2016
Mr Agbenor-Efunam said the regulations being proposed by the EPA was for the management of waste in the country such as used tyres, used electronic and electrical equipment, beverage packages such as plastic bottles, water sachets as well as all other packages that had an end to the usage of the product and had to be disposed of.
The law, therefore, aims to set up a system to appropriately treat the used materials, recycle or reuse them and where those are not possible, send them to the landfill site.
According to Mr Agbenor-Efunam, the regulations provide a room for waste segregation, so that organic waste can be sent to places where they could be composted into fertiliser.
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