Melinda Franklin, Patrick Ketwaru & Denise Simmons
SEES Research Series • First published: 2013
Abstract
Environmental pollution that results from oil spills can be described as one of the most visible forms of pollution. Research has shown that a spill of used oil as little as one litre can contaminate as much as one million litres of freshwater. It is also one form of pollution in which the damages accrued can never really be valued in monetary terms. The absence of legislation governing the management of waste oil has resulted in management among waste oil generators being so poor that pollution has resulted. Although the Environmental Protection (Hazardous Waste Management) Regulations, 2000, of Guyana prohibits the improper disposal of hazardous waste, there is no formal system that allows for suitable disposal methods by outlining a safe method of doing so. The Regulations explicitly state that it does not apply to recovered oil and used oil filters.This research assessed the waste oil management practices among mechanics in Linden through the use of pre-tested questionnaires, with the aim of determining whether these practices were satisfactory. The overall practices were found to be generally poor since compliance with best practices for handling and disposal was well below 50% and contributed to unsatisfactory overall management practices.
Keywords: waste oil, mechanics, waste oil management
This work is an extract from the digital reproduction of the SEES Research Series publication. Click below to view the full length article or access the 2013 publication.
