1. Kitengela/Athi River, Kenya - LATIN AMERICA

This hazardous waste incinerator which handles agro-chemicals, medical wastes and hazardous industrial chemicals is located in a residential area. Residues from the incinerator are tipped close to the site without any containment with a high risk of environmental contamination. Levels of POPs were measured in the ambient air during the African POPs monitoring project but, like similar wastes in Africa there is no publically available data on the levels in the residues.

Source categories of waste contamination by POPs:

  Waste Incineration
  Pesticides production/storage
  Landfilling/dumping/open burning of wastes
  Chemical industry
  Metallurgical industry

Data about POPs levels in different environment compartments:

  Air
  Soil/sediment
  Waste residue
  Food (milk, eggs)
  Wildlife (fish)
  Human tissues (breast milk, blood)
  Water

POPs - Persistent Organic Pollutants:

  Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (dioxins)
  Polychlorinated Biphenyls
  Hexachlorobenzene
  DDT – Dichlordiphenyltrichlorethan (pesticide)
  Other OCPs – Other Organochlorine Pesticides