December 16, 2002

To this end, a draft Environmental Order had been prepared where the issues of hazardous waste management are covered under Part V Water Pollution Control, Part VI Land Pollution Control and Part VII Hazardous Substances Control.

However, the draft Environmental Order is to be finalised, informed sources said.

Meanwhile Brunei Darussalam through the Environment Unit had done its best to protect the environment ever since the formation of the unit nine years ago.

Presently the only Brunei Darussalam law applicable to toxic chemicals is the Poisons Act, which regulates pharmaceuticals and pesticides through a regulatory system requiring the import, sale, dispensing or application of the chemicals in the poisons' list to be licensed. The Act only applies to the substances listed in the schedules, which are deemed to be poisons within the meaning of the Act.

There is presently no waste classification system in Brunei Darussalam and apart from the occasional arrangements for special disposal of hazardous wastes, waste generated are either disposed together with household refuse and common landfill sites or discharged in waste water to water courses.

At the moment only some of the known sites where dumping have been documented are being monitored for their impact to the environment and potential threat to public health and safety. As it is, the Poison Act also cannot be used to regulate handling, transport and disposal of hazardous goods and wastes.

This is of particular concern as Brunei Darussalam has plans to diversify the oil and gas industry through the development of downstream activities such as oil refinery and export oriented petrochemical industry.

This is in addition to the country's economic diversification policy to promote the industrial, agriculture and fishery sector, observers pointed out.

Hence there is a need for a comprehensive law to cover the entire life cycle of chemicals from the time of their manufacture, import, sale and use, classification, labelling, packaging, handling, storage, transportation and disposal, they added.

Toxic, Hazardous and Difficult Wastes is defined in the Brunei Darussalam Master Plan: Part 11 - Solid Wastes Management as "wastes requiring special measures for storage, transport and disposal because of the potential risks they present to public health and the environment".

According to observers the oil and gas industry has been known elsewhere to be a significant generator of 'hazardous wastes' that include oily sludge, waste oils, emulsions, waste drilling mud, produced waters, mercury, oxazolidone, spent catalyst, contaminated sludge and washings.