designated waste disposal site on the road to M-Dock which says: “Waste Oils are not allowed here, consult EQPB”. That is a very important public notice, which all the residents of the island should follow. We assume that in addition to used oil effluents other toxic materials such as acidic waters from standard car batteries are also not allowed to be disposed at the public dump. But does EQPB, or any other Governmental entity that has the responsibility of overseeing the proper disposal of poisonous materials, have instructions to the public on how these dangerous materials should be disposed of? And is there a collection point where toxic materials should be brought for proper disposal?
While walking through town the other day, I saw numerous old or used car batteries lying in many places. They could be seen in house yards, under house floors and in most areas near residential homes such as outside car and boat buildings. I even saw a couple of them lying on the edge of the dock at T-Dock. At first I thought someone had forgotten his batteries and would come soon to collect them. But those old batteries have been there for many weeks. Two playful shoves by curious youngsters would dump those containers of toxic and dangerous materials into the water. And if those old batteries were to leak their acidic contents into the water, most living things near that section of T-Dock, including corals and shell fishes, would die.With so many old batteries discarded or abandoned everywhere on our islands, the danger that their acidic contents would spill and seep into our freshwater supplies and our lagoons become very real. The EQPB should make every effort, at all times, to prevent this from happening in Palau. We recall that some years back the builder of the Compact Road, Daewoo E&C Inc., on its own initiative, made arrangements whereby its supply ships bringing construction materials to Palau from quarries in Indonesia and the Philippines would collect used batteries on Koror and transport them to the Philippines for proper disposal. The EQPB or an appropriate government agency dealing with such problems should institute a similar public program to clear Palau of all discarded car batteries and other toxic materials.Public parks and garbage disposal sites should be maintained and not allowed to become health hazards to the Community. While we are still on the subject of community cleanliness, we would like to point out that some sections of the wall of tin-roofing’s on the road to M-Dock which separate the public garbage disposal site from the public road, has sustained some damages that must be repaired as soon as possible. If those damages are not repaired soon, we run the risk of having careless people throwing their trashes from their vehicles supposedly to the disposal ground. Of course the majority of those trashes would simply fall on the side of the road and, before long; there would be mounds of garbage blocking the road. Finally, garbage deposited in trash containers located in public parks and dock areas should be collected regularly. Otherwise those trash containers would be overturned by animals and their contents spilled all over the place, becoming sources of health hazards to the public. Let’s keep our islands clean at all times!
