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

Inc., a U.S. waste broker firm based in Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey (phone number 201-969-1816). This firm was working in
consortium with Interspace Products Inc., a shipping firm based
in western New York.
The American firms were working with two European firms –
Van Santen B.V. of Moerdijk, Netherlands (a shipping firm) and
Bauwerk A.G. (a broker firm) of Liechtenstein. West Africa
magazine reported that Van Santen was to have paid the
Congolese government an average of $31 per ton of wastes
delivered, with the entire contract worth $176 million over eight
years. This deal would have brought over 5.5 million tons of
wastes to Congo over that time period.
Van Santen was preparing the first shipments of wastes from
Europe (via Rotterdam) to commence in September.
The wastes were to be dumped in Congo’s Diosso Gorge. The
New York Times described Diosso Gorge as “a stunning gorge of
plunging, pink cliffs draped with green Central African jungle.”
The types of wastes that were to be shipped included solvents,
paint and pesticides sludges from the U.S. and chemical wastes
from Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and West
Germany.
On April 26, 1988, Interspace Products sent a letter to waste
generators in the U.S. Peter Hurd, Interspace president (phone
number: 716-823-3841), wrote, “Export Waste Management and
Interspace Services are prepared to export your hazardous wastes
TODAY. We will be accepting material ... delivered dockside
Georgia Port Authority, Savanna, Georgia, or Port Authority,
Richmond, California. We are presently accepting orders for
June loading and space is on a reserved basis.”
Greenpeace does not believe that the June loading occurred. In
mid-May 1988, Congo informed the U.S. government that it was
retracting the agreement.
In late May, the Congolese government arrested five people,
including Dieudonne Ganga, advisor to the prime minister;
Marius Issanga Gamissimi, environment director; Abel Tchicou,
external trade director; Alexis Vincent Gomes, lawyer; and Jean
Passi, artisan and Italian businessman, for their involvement in
ascheme to set up a sham waste importing company. Passi was
subsequently banned from Congo.
Shortly after Congo cancelled the deal, Information Minister
Christian Gilbert-Bembet strongly denied that such a deal had
ever been planned, stating that “Congo, known for its moral
grandeur, prefers to stay poor with honor.” But on July 20,
Bembet was dismissed from his ministerial post for his role in
advancing the $84 million Diosso Gorge dumping contract.
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