Author: Aaron Ehasz
In Catalonia there are still housing about two million tons of asbestos. It is in some boxes in corrugated iron corrugated plates in pipes … This material whose use has been banned since 2001, it is safe while you are in good condition. Only when it begins to deteriorate should be withdrawn, it may be carcinogenic. The legal form and safer to do so, through a specialist company, has a high cost. To prevent many citizens try to get rid of the material underground, the Catalan authorities have opened two sites for individuals. Is it the best system? There is no guarantee that citizens comply with security measures, recognize the agencies involved, also misinformation about the process less dangerous.
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“We need to improve communication systems,” says the BMA
An individual has five cement plates at home. Want to get rid of them. The load on your own car. If you call 010, your attention to the citizen, will tell you (or at least that was what happened in two calls made ??by this newspaper) which may lead to any landfill. Wrong. It is a toxic material that requires spaces enabled. If the individual gets a brochure from the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona on the handling of asbestos, think you can lead them to the landfill (also called green dots) or Cerdanyola Vall d’Hebron. Wrong, because when it comes, will tell you that five plates are too many and you will go home with them (toxic waste) in the car and call a company that specializes in asbestos removal. Only if you have a plate of less than five kilos and call an authorized landfills before going to collect material security with which to pack the piece, avoid taking many risks and spend money.
“On the green dot is the optimal system, it is true. But we had to do something. Remove an object with asbestos, as a gardener, it costs a fortune. People were not willing to pay, so I left him on the street or mixed with other debris in the container, “explains Joan Miquel Trullols, director of prevention and waste management Barcelona Metropolitan Area (BMA). Thus the environmental agency charged the public company Tersa enable two green dots (soon to be four, with the Gavà and Badalona) that “only individuals may leave remains small.” Manuel Arias, Assistant Manager of Tersa , believes that, if you follow the prescribed safety measures, there is no risk. Add to know that landfills There is limited to citizens. “It should not. If a citizen comes to asbestos, be admitted, whatever,” he says. The quantity and weight restrictions, explained several sources related to the project, actually respond to the need to prevent employers “from sneaking” in the green dot to save money it costs to industrial landfill in Anoia.
Trullols, meanwhile, acknowledges that “we must work information systems” as “may fail.” These systems are based on a booklet with information that is inconsistent with the directions given in the dump and call 010 and 012. For starters, what can be the green dot? According to the official document with the seal of the WBA, the Catalan Waste Agency, the City of Barcelona and Catalonia, “boxes, corrugated sheets, tanks …” . However, landfill operators reported, as this newspaper found, are indications that support a maximum of only five kilos in one or two small pieces per person.
The Catalan Waste Agency of the prospectus is cleared, which bears his stamp. “We have not seen,” says a spokeswoman. Add to understand that the green dot flower supports. But plaques or deposits, insists that calling a company is the safest.
Is not it dangerous to encourage individuals handling asbestos? “More dangerous is that citizens grind and hide,” he insists Trullols. “It is true that the green dot is not the ideal system, “says Lara Trujillo, expert and contributor to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at Work. “But it’s not logical operators work in a factory special costumes to remove an asbestos roof and you can pass through the side with the child. Everything has a certain inconsistency with asbestos, but you try to create systems that control the risk the greatest, “he explains. Trujillo participated in the development, in 2001, a report that gives an account of asbestos was placed in Catalonia: nearly five million tons of plates and tubes. The ideal system would be that, for large quantities, call citizens to specialized companies, and small, workers paid by the Administration came home to retire with security. In that match all the experts consulted. “But economically viable is a system,” said Trullols.
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