German company disposes of outdated pesticides in Transnistria

The German company SAVA starts this week the disposal of outdated pesticides in Transnistria, said deputy minister of agriculture, natural resources and environment Iurie Ursu in an interview with the first TV channel of the region.   

He said that the disposal of dangerous chemicals has been discussed for several years now. Yet, the state budget was not envisaging any proceeds to this end.   

“Now, we made some headway in this respect. The Transnistrian side, the OSCE Mission and the international donors reached an agreement on a program for disposing of outdated chemicals. After long-lasting and detailed negotiations and after searching for financing sources, an agreement on the matter was concluded and the German specialists will start disposing of chemicals already this week,” said Ursul.  

In his words, the preparations for the repacking of pesticides have already started.

The manager of the German Company Bechim Blacai said that this is not the first experience in the work with dangerous chemicals.

“For instance, we removed from Belarus about 1,500 tons of toxic chemicals. The most important goal of this company is to clear this territory and the environment, in order to ensure the safety of people and of the future generations,” he said.   

The chemical pesticides from the Transnistrian region will be taken to a special depot in Voronkovo. After repacking and after preparing special containers for them, these chemicals will be taken out of the Transnistrian region.  

The representative of the ministry of agriculture said that the first consignment of chemicals will consist of about 86 tons. “With the help of our foreign partners, we hope to take out of the republic about 150 tons of chemical pesticides,” he said.  

Infotag’s dossier: About 0.5 million tons of pesticides, of which 22 thousand tons were forbidden in 1970, were used on the Moldovan territory during the Soviet period. Starting from 2004, with the support of NATO and other international organizations, over 1.3 thousand tons of toxic chemicals have been disposed of and over 2 thousand – have been repacked. 

Adapted from Infotag