The last 10 tons of various chemical waste from the now closed chemical factory OHIS in North Macedonia’s capital, Skopje will be sent to incineration in Lion, France. In March, these were supposed to be transferred at Valorec Services in Basel, Switzerland, but the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of borders postponed the shipment. In the meantime, the agreement with the Swiss incinerator expired including the approval for international transportation of dangerous chemicals. It’s about 4.6 tons of initiators and 5.2 tons of unknown chemicals that are stored at OHIS storage packed in an ADR packaging and are ready to be transported. After the export of vinyl chloride at the start of October these are the last quantities of dangerous chemicals that are supposed to be transferred for incineration as part of the “Project for the safe removal of chemical materials from locations and production plants within OHIS plant that will be conducted by the company ‘Ekocentar 97’. The company informs that at the moment there is an undergoing procedure for a new transportation approval and with it, these leftovers will be exported to be incinerated. With it, after a year and a half, the project will be completed.

“The Agreement with the incinerator in Basel has expired and the remaining quantities of dangerous waste will be exported to the incinerator near Lyon, France with which we have concluded an agreement. ‘Ekocentar 97’ has already submitted complete documentation for a Notification i.e. exporting permit to the authorized ministries of each of the transiting states such as Serbia, Hungary, Austria, and Germany including the exporting country, North Macedonia, and the country where the waste is imported i.e. France. Four of the authorized ministries have already provided positive decisions and at the moment the documents are analyzed by remaining authorized ministries,” the company informed.

‘Ekocentar 97′ stressed that the deadline during which these countries will give an exporting permit will depend on their authorized institutions. Even though the permit will have a validity of one year, the company stressed that in coordination with the incinerator in Lyon, they are planning to export the remaining waste as soon as possible, and the exact date will be set after the permit’s approval. With it, 64 tons of dangerous chemicals will be transported from OHIS which were stored at the plant’s yard and buildings and posed great danger for the people’s health as well as to the living environment.

At the start of October, the procedure for exporting and safe transfer of 13 tons of the dangerous vinyl chloride monomer was finished. This chemical was transferred for incineration in Germany. Previously, last year, after 81 tanks and one container which were under pressure and containing chloride were sent to a specialized company in Serbia where the damaged valves were repaired, and the chloride was taken out with desegregation and was properly treated. The tanks were cleaned from any chloride residues and then were returned to OHIS. Then, four out of five planned exports of dangerous waste were made. In January this year, 16.7 tons of dangerous waste containing methanol and acrylonitrile monomer and 17 tons of methanol were exported. And then in February and March, 16 tons of dangerous waste containing methanol, acrylonitrile, and waste containing unknown chemicals were also exported.

In OHIS’ yard, there are also around 60.000 tons of toxic lindane mixed with soil and located in three separate landlines. Outside of the plant’s yard, there is a fourth lindane depot near Pelenica, Drachevo. Even though the agreement for the cleaning of the small lindane depot located in OHIS’ yard has been signed, the name of the company still hasn’t been revealed to the general public.