A wasted world
- Delbello Lynch Associates (US)
It is still legal under American law to dump waste products in any country whose government consents to accept them. Many developing countries accept waste exports for a per ton charge. It does not matter to them whether the waste is hazardous, toxic, nonhazardous, or nontoxic. Nor does it matter to them whether or not they have the technology for the safe disposal of wastes. In some nations there is little or no thought about the long-term consequences of unsafe disposal of hazardous wastes to their land, air, water, quality of life, crops, animals and children. Some of the main culprits in the U.S. have been surprising: the Pentagon, other federal agencies, state and local governments, the American business community in general, and, of course, various brokers and entrepreneurs have all been documented, time and again, as exporters of hazardous waste to the Third World. And then there are the illegal waste shipments, perpetrated by hustlers and nice people alike in many industrialized nations. Here is a sample: In September 1987, Italian ships unloaded 10,000 steel drums of hazardous waste in the Nigerian port of Koko and stored them in a vacant residential lot. The press learned of it in June 1988. The Nigerian government ultimately imprisoned 54 people, including Italian nationals, and formally expressed outrage to the Italian government. The Italian government responded by sending a team of experts to arrange removal. A West German ship was loaded with the waste and went back to Ravenna, Italy, but Italian protestors prevented the ship form docking. It attempted to dock in Spain, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, without success. Finally, a home for the waste was found in an unidentified Italian port in mid-September.
- OSTI ID:
- 7000851
- Journal Information:
- Waste Age; (United States), Vol. 22:3; ISSN 0043-1001
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
WASTE DISPOSAL
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
FRANCE
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
ITALY
LAWS
NETHERLANDS
NIGERIA
SPAIN
TOXICITY
UNITED KINGDOM
USA
AFRICA
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
EUROPE
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
NORTH AMERICA
WASTE MANAGEMENT
320305* - Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization- Industrial & Agricultural Processes- Industrial Waste Management
290300 - Energy Planning & Policy- Environment
Health
& Safety