Toxic Waste Travels
October 18, 2006
Henri Petigan is the man doing the dirty work in Abidjan, the former capital of Ivory Coast. For weeks now, he has been transporting tons of contaminated soil, rocks and mud in the city. Most of the material is in closed containers. Now the next stage is on the agenda: "We're preparing the toxic waste for transportation by sea back to Europe," Petigan said via satellite phone.
That sounds easier than it is.
Analyses have to be conducted to determine what kind of hazardous waste it is exactly and to which European countries the various types of waste can be sent.
Ivorian-based French waste management company Tredi has commissioned Petigan with the task. Ivorian officials have requested that he get the environmental catastrophe under control, but that requires time.
The 500 tons of toxic waste will not be transported back to Europe for another three to four weeks.
But a much greater problem remains.
Tons more toxic waste than before
"We're only talking about the 500 tons of waste that was deposited here and is to be sent back," said Petigan. "But the whole area in Abidjan -- soil, water, concrete -- was contaminated. That has to be transported out of here too, and there are several thousand tons of that," he added.
In other words, Europe will be getting back a lot more of the toxic waste than it shipped off to the Third World in the first place. No one knows yet where the toxic waste can be processed and deposited.
The European Union has around 30 special depositories for toxic waste -- primarily in countries that had nothing to do with the scandal, such as France, Germany and Belgium.
Black market mess
The French government, out of a sense of obligation as the former colonial power of the Ivory Coast, said it was willing to dispose of the waste in special depositories in France.
That, however, does not change matters when it comes to political responsibilities.
"Probo Koala" was the name of the Greek ship that transported the toxic waste. It left port in Amsterdam uncontested, though Dutch authorities should have stopped it, since the EU bans the export of hazardous waste.
Barbara Helfferich, a spokeswoman for the European Commission, is quite clear on the matter. "The political responsibility lays with the EU member states, in this case, with the Netherlands," she said.
"The problem is, we're dealing with a huge black market here, and it is difficult to take action against the culprits," she added.
The scandal reflects only the tip of the iceberg, Helfferich said, and pointed to random tests done at various European ports: half of the waste to be transported -- which was declared "non-toxic"-- turned out to be toxic after all.
Always on the go
Those who try to kick up even more dirt stumble across an obscure web of economic interests and company involvement.
The Probo Koala toxic waste freighter is a Greek ship that flies under a Panamanian flag, but which is commissioned by international raw materials corporation Trafigura, which has its headquarters in Lucerne, Switzerland.
According to news reports, Trafigura has turnover of nearly $30 billion (24 billion euros) a year and 55 offices in 36 different countries on several different continents.
The corporation's lawyers are on the road a lot these days. A couple of months ago, they were in the United States, where Trafigura was fined $20 million for illegal oil exports out of Iraq.
Trafigura appears to be a specialist in risky business deals in raw materials. In a statement, the company claimed to have not sent toxic waste to the Ivory Coast. It said that the cargo was harmless and must have been contaminated by a local transportation company.
Trafigura, however, has offered to send its attorneys to the Ivory Coast.