POPs IN AFRICA HAZARDOUS WASTE TRADE 1980 - 2000 ... - Arte

REGIONAL WASTE TRADE SCHEMES
Waste import schemes: Scheme: Zatec Targets African Countries
Date: 1988
Type of Waste: Chemical and Industrial Wastes
Source: Unclear
Exporter: Zatec Services (The Netherlands)
Pretext/Fate: Building of Landfills
Status: Apparently abandoned
18Christian Science Monitor, July 1, 1988.
A Dutch firm, Zatec Services, planned to ship “chemical and
industrial wastes” to three unnamed African nations where an
unnamed British contractor would build landfills. The first
landfill, according to the president of Zatec, was to be ready to
accept foreign wastes in late 1988 or early 1989. 18
Scheme: ODM Targets African Coastal Waters
Date: 1988
Type of Waste: Radioactive and Asbestos Wastes
Source: Belgium, Germany, France, Denmark, Italy, UK, the
Netherlands, Switzerland, USA
Exporter: Ocean Disposal Management (ODM)
Pretext/Fate: Sub-Seabed Disposal
Status: Proposed
On 7 December, 1995, at the 18th Consultative Meeting of the
London Convention (LC) 19 Greenpeace denounced the fact that
the company OCEANIC DISPOSAL MANAGEMENT INC.
(ODM) had sought authorisation from South Africa’s nuclear
agency to construct and operate penetrators for the disposal of
high-level radioactive wastes into the seabed, in the vicinity of
Cape Town. These plans were in violation of the London
Convention, which in 1993 had banned all activity of this type. 20
It was also a violation of the Basel Convention as well as African
policy as reflected in the OAU waste trade resolution, Bamako
Convention and Lomé IV Convention.
The Preliminary Project Explanation sent to the Atomic Energy
Corporation of S. Africa (AEC) on 26 May, 1995 by Mr. Giorgio
Comerio, technical director at ODM, refers to Belgium,
Germany, France, Denmark, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands,
Switzerland, and the USA as potential client countries for this
sub-seabed disposal venture. According to Comerio, a similar
project was under negotiation with the French government and a
shipyard on the French Atlantic coast.
ODM envisaged a maximum yearly construction rate of 540
penetrators. Profits would be around USD 660 million per year.
19 The London Convention, the global treaty regime which addresses ocean disposal issues.
20 Fax from ODM to the Atomic Energy Corporation of South Africa Ltd. Earth and Environmental Technology Dept., 26 May,
1995
20