Expired pharmaceutical products burned in the open air

At Kumusenyi site, where expired pharmaceutical products are burnt

At National Road 1, only 4 kilometers from Bugarama center, in the place commonly called ‘ Kumusenyi’ one sees a plume of smokes generated by the destruction of unused and expired pharmaceutical products, declared not to meet standard by the Burundi Central purchasing department of pharmaceutical products (CAMEBU). About 12 tons of expired pharmaceutical products are being burned in a ditch of about 15 meters deep, 2 meters from the tarmacked road RN1 Bujumbura-Kanyaru.

People met at the site are aware that they are exposed to respiratory diseases. “I have come to see what is happening here. I do not know why our leaders have decided to burn these pharmaceutical wastes in this area. But I think that these overpowering smells will cause us diseases”, says a young man.

A resident who lives at 2km away from the destruction site indicates that they smell unpleasant odours, especially during the night. “I fear for the health of my children”, he says.

A 60 year-old man living at not farther than 500 m from the site says that they have to close the house from 7pm to avoid those heavy and toxic smokes emitted from the place. “We hope that our doctors have provided means to treat us in case of respiratory diseases.”

Inadequate system to destroy such products

According to Prof. Patrice Bigumandondera, lecturer at the University of Burundi, Environmentalist and expert in waste water and waste treatment, the system used for burning those expired pharmaceutical products, classified in category of hazardous products is not adequate. First, they are burned in the open air; second, the temperature needed to destroy these kinds of wastes is not reached.

“Such wastes should be burnt at a minimum temperature of 850°C to make sure that toxic substances contained in those expired products were totally and properly destroyed to avoid any negative impact on human health,” explained Bigumandondera.

This expert suggests four appropriate techniques to destroy those products. To return these drugs to manufacturers because they have the capacity to destroy the products which have not been used. This technique is too demanding as the Basil convention governing cross-border transfer must be respected. The second technique that can be applied is incineration at high temperature above 1200 ° C or average temperature of 850°C. The third technique is to have a controlled landfill where these wastes can be burned or buried under strictly controlled geological conditions.

He also proposes the solidification technique, which consists of neutralizing the wastes before putting them in a landfill to contain the contamination of air and groundwater.

For Servilien Mpawenimana, the CAMEBU Managing Director, the choice of ‘Kumusenyi’ site for destruction of expired medical products was made jointly with the management and staff of the environment ministry.

“We used to destroy those products at Buterere rubbish dump, like other urban wastes. We realized that it was not good to destroy the bottom because the site is very close to Lake Tanganyika and at Buterere the phreatic table is located very close. So, it is not an appropriate place to burn those products since doing so can cause the pollution of the lake. “We decided to destroy them at Kumusenyi site, because the ground is rocky and impervious to water,” says Mpawenimana.

For him, this choice of Kumusenyi site was made because it is a place where few people live, unlike Buterere where inhabitants live near the dump. The site is also close to the forest that can mitigate the negative impacts on human health by absorbing the CO2 produced during the destruction of those these products.