The late November 2006 Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention is likely to see a renewed push for a total ban of hazardous waste shipments from developed to developing countries.
The new impetus stems from the illegal disposal of toxic substances in open pits around the Ivory Coast’s former capital Abidjan. Contamination from the waste is thought to be the cause of at least seven deaths, dozens of hospitalisations and tens of thousands of medical consultations.
According to Ivorian authorities, the dumping occurred on 19 August, when more than 500 cubic metres of wastes from the Probo Koala – a Panamanian-registered vessel contracted by a Dutch-based energy trading company called Trafigura Beheer BV – were deposited in 14 sites, some of which were near water sources. Trafigura has denied any wrong-doing, and insists that it had obtained all the necessary authorisations to release the consignment to a certified Ivorian processing company called Société Tommy. However, instead of being processed, the waste ended up untreated in ordinary rubbish tips around Abidjan.
It is still unclear exactly where the waste was generated or what its precise nature was. Trafigura maintains that it consisted only of gasoline, spent caustic soda and water, resulting from cleaning the tanks of the Probo Koala. The company said on 24 September that its own analysis of a sample of the waste showed no presence of hydrogen sulphide. An initial analysis by an Ivorian laboratory found hydrogen sulphide and other toxic chemicals compounds in several samples. Hydrogen sulphide is thought to be the reason for the foul smell emanating from the waste, as well as the main cause of the respiratory difficulties experienced by thousands of Abidjan residents.
While the legal responsibilities are still being determined, domestic, regional and international laws are likely to have been infringed. The case is complicated due to uncertainty over the origin of the waste, the exact role played by each of the actors involved, as well as the multiple legal regimes that may apply (see box). Trafigura Beheer BV is registered in the Netherlands, while the Greek-owned tanker chartered by the company sailed under a Panamanian convenience flag.
The incident is being investigated by the Dutch public prosecutors office, Amsterdam city authorities, the Basel Convention Secretariat and the criminal police of the Ivory Coast, where ten people are in custody. On 28 September, Estonian criminal police impounded the Probo Koala in the port of Paldiski to investigate possibly toxic slops it was trying to unload there.
The Basel Convention & Ban
Cross-border trade in toxic waste is regulated – but not prohibited – by the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. The so-called Ban Amendment goes further: it prohibits the movement of any hazardous wastes from OECD member states to all other parties. The amendment was championed by African countries, as well as civil society organisations, due to concerns over weak monitoring, enforcement and/or disposal capabilities. Eleven years after its conclusion in 1995, however, the Ban Amendment has not yet entered into force due to an insufficient number of ratifications, including those of many African, Latin American and South Asian countries. Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand are among the developed countries that have not ratified the amendment. The US has ratified neither the Basel Convention nor the Ban Amendment.
The Ban has been controversial from the very beginning. Its defenders see it as a means to ensure that developing countries, particularly those with weak monitoring capacities and poor disposal facilities, are not used as a convenient dumping ground for dangerous waste from rich countries. In addition, requiring developed countries to treat hazardous waste in an OECD member state, where disposal costs tend to be much higher than in most developing countries, would incite companies to reduce toxic waste generation in their production processes.
• Ivorian legislation dating from 1988 prohibits all acts related to the purchase, sale, import, transit and warehousing of hazardous industrial or nuclear wastes and harmful substances.
• The import of “all hazardous wastes, for any reason” into Africa from non- Contracting Parties is prohibited by the Bamako Convention.
• The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) regulates waste from onboard operations on ships. It covers, inter alia, the prevention of pollution caused by harmful substances, sewage of garbage carried by sea.
• The Basel Convention requires the generator/exporter of hazardous waste to declare the exact nature and quantity of the waste to competent authorities in the importing country, and to obtain their prior informed consent. Each person who takes charge of the waste must sign a movement document upon delivery/receipt of the wastes in question. The disposer of the wastes must inform both the exporter and the competent authority of the exporting country that it has received the waste and, in due course, of the completion of disposal.
• The European Union has already implemented the Basel Ban. All hazardous waste shipments from EU member states to non-OECD countries are prohibited.