Morocco, First African Country with PCB Waste Treatment Platform, UN Official

Rabat, 06/06/2017 (MAP) – Morocco is the first African country to get a platform for treating PCB waste (polychlorinated biphenyl), said UN resident coordinator and interim representative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Philippe Poinsot.

The implementation of national program “PCB secure management and elimination / Pillar II” puts Morocco at the forefront of emerging countries in fighting for environment protection, given that it was the first African country to get a platform for treating PCB contaminated equipment, said Poinsot at the program closing ceremony.

He said that by ratifying the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, Morocco pledged to respect its provisions, notably those related to a PCB rational and ecological management seeking to stop the use of PCB contaminated equipment by 2025, and eliminate their waste by 2028, said Poinsot.

The UN official also noted that this program, set up by the Secretariat of State for Sustainable Development with the financial support of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), in collaboration with UNIDO and UNDP, is based on two complementary pillars that have been carried out simultaneously.

The UNDP-backed Pillar I has contributed to national capacity-building for a safe PCB management which led to the elimination of more than 1,000 tonnes of PCB contaminated equipment, he said, adding that the UNIDO-backed Pillar II helped to identify PCB contaminated mineral oil transformers and establish a rehabilitation and treatment platform for PCB contaminated equipment which allowed the decontamination of about 450 tonnes of contaminated equipment.