By Jacqueline Ong

IN the past, waste management in Antarctica comprised the use of open tips, burning of waste and sea-icing, the practice of dumping rubbish onto the sea ice in winter, which would then float away and sink in summer. And as sewage was either burned or discharged into the sea with little or no treatment, areas around Australia’ s stations and field camps soon became contaminated from soil and chemical spills.

While waste is generated as part of Antarctic expeditions including scientific activities, transport logistics, and operation of Australia’ s Antarctic stations, large volumes of packaging have also been sent to Antarctica. Australia’ s Antarctic program improved its waste management practices in the 1980s, and in 1991, the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty( The Madrid Protocol) was adopted, introducing international rules for the removal of waste from the region.

The Protocol, which Australia is a signatory to, included provisions requiring signatory countries to clean up past waste disposal sites. It also imposed strict requirements for the management and disposal of waste generated from current activities, including the removal of most categories of waste from Antarctica.

“ Historic waste disposal sites usually include physical debris such as building materials, machinery, vehicles and general rubbish, and chemical contaminants, some of which may be in containers, the integrity of which may be compromised, and some of

which may have been released into the environment,” Australian Antarctic Division( AAD) senior policy advisor Dr Phillip Tracey explained.

“ In coastal locations, waste disposal sites may extend into the near-shore marine environment. Seepage and runoff can result in contamination redistributing in the environment, biological uptake and biomagnification. Impacts include reduced diversity in the marine environment, and a reduction in soil ecosystem health on land.”

Australia plays a leading role

Cleaning up legacy waste in Antarctica is a big task that falls on the various generators of these materials. Tracey said in most cases, these were the national Antarctic programs of countries active in Antarctica, although progress on clean-ups varies across the nations.

“ Australia is a leader among Antarctic nations in cleaning up historic waste in Antarctica. Australia’ s main focus is cleaning up the former disposal sites near our Antarctic stations, and the site of the Wilkes Stations, which was formerly operated by Australia and prior to that, by the US,” he said.

Australia has conducted significant clean-up work at its stations to date, including at the Thala Valley waste disposal site near the Casey Research Station. This major undertaking was completed in 2009-10 and required the development of technologies Tracey said had not been previously used in Antarctica.

Research teams have also been developing and implementing technologies since 2009 to remediate fuel contaminated sites on subantarctic Macquarie Island and the Antarctic continent.

“ Australia is committed to the protection of the Antarctic environment, and has led major improvements in the clean-up of wastes and contaminated sites. Australian Antarctic Division scientists are leaders in the assessment and remediation of contaminated sites, and Australia has led work in the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting on establishing international best practice for Antarctic clean-up activities, based on our scientific and practical experience in clean-up work,” Tracey said.

The AAD’ s clean-up strategy

While the major scientific and technical questions needed to advise the options of the clean-up have been resolved through the experience gained over the years in remediating contaminated sites, Tracey acknowledged that legacy issues will continue to require significant resources and these need to be considered strategically.

In 2013, the AAD completed a comprehensive risk assessment of all legacy sites to direct Australia’ s activities in Antarctica and the sub- Antarctic. The assessment considered the environmental risk posed at each site, the likely clean-up resources required, and some priority setting around proposed actions.

“ Some actions have been implemented whereas other actions will require longer-term planning and extensive resourcing,” Tracey said.

“ In 2016, the Australian government released the 20-year Strategy and Action Plan which includes, during the second decade of the Action Plan, the development of an Antarctic clean-up strategy for our legacy waste associated

with cleaning up and remediating old waste and contaminated sites.

“ The AAD has developed an approach to waste management and station planning to prevent the build-up of waste material on stations such as empty fuel drums, surplus building materials and other operational waste,” he added.

Turning to technology

Given the unique waste management challenges in Antarctica, the AAD draws on a range of technologies to aid its clean-up and among them is bio-pile technology that Australia has developed and applied in Antarctica.

This system uses native microorganisms in the soil to remove contaminants and is currently used for on-site remediation of soil contaminated with oil at the Casey and Davis stations.

Tracey also said the AAD is an expert in cold climate remediation and continues to work closely with a variety of external research institutions to refine these techniques and to identify opportunities to adapt new and emerging technologies for use in the Antarctic environment.

More recently, the AAD has turned to a novel technology that could have far reaching benefits back home- unmanned aerial vehicles( UAVs) or drones( more in fact box on page 41).

Late last year, Australian UAV travelled to Antarctica aboard the Aurora Australis with the AAD to assist with a resupply voyage to Casey station. The objective was to trial the ability of UAVs to“ provide eyes in the sky” in order to assist the navigation of the supply ship through the ice. A