Vital Waste Graphics 2

ILLICIT WASTE TRAFFICKING + THE ABIDJAN INCIDENT Crime industry diversifying Despite international efforts to halt dumping of illegal waste outrageous in- cidents occur. Collating relevant data is difficult but there is no doubt about the damage. Toxic waste causes long-term poisoning of soil and water, af- fecting people’s health and living conditions, sometimes irreversibly. It main- ly involves slow processes that must be monitored for years to be detected and proven (let alone remedied). Unscrupulous waste trade became a serious concern in the 1980s due to three converging factors: increasing amounts of hazardous waste; inad- equate processing plants; and stricter regulations in the developed world with growing environmental awareness. Managing special waste streams properly became expensive, apparently too costly for some. Filthy ship- ments started travelling round the world.

Business as usual for (eco)mafia All the investigations confirm that hazardous waste traffick- ing is booming. It is mainly the work of existing criminal or- ganisations, using the same networks and methods as for other “goods”, such as drugs, arms and people. They some- times hide behind a legal front in the waste treatment indus- try. From emission to final disposal this trade involves many other players, including shipping agents and brokers. On the way waste may pass through several countries, making it all the more difficult to pinpoint responsibilities. The prime vic- tims are developing countries (it is hard to refuse a large sum when your salary doesn’t cover your living costs) and conflict zones (trafficking of all sorts thrives on social disorder). In Italy an estimated 30% of the special waste process- ing business is thought to be owned by “ecomafia” outfits, winning contracts quite legally and “taking care” of waste by dumping it on the Campania Region farmlands or in the Mediterranean, in Italy and abroad (mainly in Africa). Le- gambiente, an Italian environmental NGO, estimates that eco-crime in Italy involves 202 organised groups, with €22.4 thousand million revenue in 2005. Though profit is the main incentive, the limited risks are also attractive. En- vironmental offences are not a priority and police pressure is consequently lower.

An international answer to global crime Combating waste trafficking demands international coop- eration and a high-level of scientific expertise (to analyse the composition of waste, for instance). This is primarily the task of customs and port authorities, but initiatives for broader cooperation are developing, such as the European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL), which controls shipments in major European ports. Waste being shipped is not nec- essarily hazardous and may consist of scrapped cars, old fridges, waste plastic (mostly going to Africa) and e-waste (mostly to Asia). Fighting against illegal waste trade also requires har- monised environmental laws and the backing of an inter- national jurisdiction, regardless of which territories or na- tionalities may be involved. ON THE WEB Basel Action Network: www.ban.org Iman Shebaro, Hazardous Waste Smuggling; A Study in Environ- mental Crime, TRACC: www.american.edu/traccc/resources/publications/students/she- bar01.pdf

Trafficking waste stories

Eastern Europe SCRAPPEDCARS

From Europe

New Jersey

China

Baja California

Campania

Nigeria Mediterranean Sea Red Sea

Hongkong

India

Senegal

Mexico

Philippines

Somalia

Asia

Singapore

The 2004 tsunami washed quantities of toxic waste barrels on the Somalian shores.

Côte d’Ivoire

PLASTIC WASTE CABLE WASTE

Abidjan

ELECTRONIC WASTE

Africa

REFRIGERATORS CFC PRODUCTS SCRAPPED CARS

States or regions where illegal waste dumping has been proven (not comprehensive) OECD countries (main hazardous waste producers)

Major current conflict zones

Regions where small arms (related) traffic is particularly developed Major illegal waste shipment routes from Europe (as reported by IMPEL)

Campania

Sources: Iman Shebaro, Hazardous Waste Smuggling: A Study in Environmental Crime , TRACC website; IMPEL-TFS Threat assessment project: The illegal shipment of waste among IMPEL member states , 2006; Legambiente; The Guardian, 14 October 2004; Human Rights Watch 1999 Report, Human Rights, Justice and Toxic Waste in Cambodia ; Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2006; Small Arms Survey 2005.