More than 10 tons of hazardous chemical waste were stored within the premises of the Public Health Institute (PHI) for over a decade, posing a big risk for the people’s health and security.
As the Institute’s director Marija Andonovska informed Thursday, the waste has currently been safely removed and will not remain in the country, but will be burned outside.
These are leaks from laboratory analyses, chemicals of different types and in different aggregate states.
According to Andonovska, the waste was very volatile and flammable, which is why it posed a great potential danger.
“We did not have instructions for waste management, but we immediately alerted the institutions. Fortunately, we avoided a major accident and removed it. I expect accountability,” Andonovska noted.
According to technologist Trajche Srbinovski, who was part of the team working on the waste removal, there are many such hotspots in the country and the danger from them is very great.
