The Seattle-based Basel Action Network (BAN) non-governmental organization (NGO) is attempting to intervene to prevent two container ships carrying more than 800 metric tons of what it calls hazardous waste from docking in Cape Town, South Africa, or moving from there to Thailand.
According to BAN, two container ships operated by Denmark-based ?Maersk are en route from Albania to Thailand with among their cargo including some 100 containers carrying “toxic steel furnace dust collected from pollution control filters.”
Steel mill furnace dust directed toward bag houses, including at recycled-content electric arc furnace (EAF) mills, is filtered and collected to prevent air pollution. Several companies, such as Spain-based Befesa SA, operate regulated facilities to properly handle the dust, creating recycled content metal oxides and disposing of the residuals.
BAN says, however, that some mill operators are instead exporting furnace dust to nations including Thailand. BAN quotes representatives from both South Africa and Thailand as urging a stop to the practice.
"We demand that this renegade ship and the next one, be intercepted, the containers analyzed here to ensure no other Southern country or ocean be at risk of the dumping of this toxic waste,” says Musa Chamane of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa-based GroundWork.
“If they are found to contain toxic waste, they must be returned directly to the sender at their own cost and never be allowed to remain in Africa or dumped in Thailand,” adds Charmane.
Remarks Penchom Saetang of Nonthaburi, Thailand-based Ecological Alert and Recovery–Thailand (EARTH), “Under no circumstances will Thailand accept being the dumping ground for the rest of the world’s toxic industrial waste. We call on our government and the government of South Africa to take the necessary actions to stop this offensive trade dead in its tracks.”
In Saetang’s nation, BAN says imported filter dusts may be spread on agricultural fields or otherwise dumped in Thailand.
The August alert from BAN says the Maersk Campton vessel, carrying 100 containers of what the NGO thinks is filter dust, originated in Albania, was scheduled to dock in South Africa and then proceed to Thailand.
According to BAN, following an alert from it to the government of South Africa, “The ship's Automatic Identification System (AIS) GPS beacon was switched off on July 31, and it failed to make its scheduled August 1 Cape Town docking. South Africa reportedly searched diligently for the missing vessel in their waters many hours in vain and as of this [news] release the ship remains at large.”
The accusation is a serious one as, according to BAN, the International Maritime Organization's SOLAS Convention dictates the AIS beacon should always be turned on when vessels are underway or anchored.”
“We can imagine no other reason for this behavior other than an effort by Maersk, to avoid arrest or delays due to the likelihood of their ship being involved in trafficking in hazardous waste,” says Jim Puckett, BAN’s executive director. “We call on Maersk to cooperate immediately in assisting the international community in preventing illegal dumping of hazardous wastes.”
States BAN, “The transport of hazardous wastes without the approval of the exporting country (Albania) the transit countries (such as South Africa) and the scheduled importing country (Thailand) is illegal waste trafficking under the terms of the Basel Convention. Already it has been confirmed that Albania was never informed about the export by the exporter and Thailand has not received any notification. Transit countries like South Africa have also not been informed prior to shipment.”
Another vessel that BAN says may be carrying 60 additional containers of furnace dust is the Maersk Candor, which the NGO says it is “expecting to round Africa toward Thailand.”
Earlier this year, BAN says it knows of a case in which a similar shipment of dusts waste was stopped when it arrived in China. “Chinese authorities found that shipment to contain more than 8 percent of toxic lead,” according to BAN.
BAN says it, Groundwork and EARTH are calling on governments to intercept the two ships. “The shipping line Maersk [is] called upon to immediately halt the shipments so they can be returned to the country of origin: Albania,” states BAN.
Courtesy : recyclingtoday.com