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

• Lindaco Ltd., Delaware, U.S. Lindaco, formed in March 1988
by A. Robert Zeff, was the U.S. broker in this venture and was to
have been responsible for shipping over 4 million tons of wastes
from the U.S. to Guinea Bissau. A Detroit News article describes
Zeff as “a Detroit lawyer with a background in oil and gambling
but not in running a waste company.”
• Processamento de Residuos Industrias of Portugal, was to
have been responsible for the offloading and final disposal of the
wastes in Guinea Bissau.
According to a Lisbon radio report on April 14, 1988, wastes
would also have been imported from Australia.
In an April 1988 letter to the U.S. State Department, Guinea
Bissau’s minister of natural resources wrote that, “an ‘agreement
in principle’ for the receipt of wastes was signed between our
government and two European agencies/firms of export; one of
them being associated with an American export agency.” The
minister said that his government would grant final consent to
receive the wastes once a technical study on this project was
completed, and asked for technical information and assistance
from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In early 1988 Guinea Bissau’s health minister, Andre Atchade,
sent a confidential memo warning his President that waste import
schemes represented “a real threat to the security of our resources
and people.” He also noted that “even a small rumor of pollution
would be sufficient to hit our tourist industry.”
In May 1988, international aid workers in Guinea Bissau
obtained contracts and other official documents related to this
deal. The documents were distributed by European
Parliamentarian François Roelants du Vivier, and the scheme was
immediately decried by numerous environmental groups and by
European and African government officials.
In a mid-June 1988 telegram to Richard Zeff of Lindaco, Filinto
Barros, Guinea Bissau’s minister of natural resources and
industry, expressed his regret that the project was postponed.
“An international campaign was launched against Guinea Bissau
with negative domestic reaction,” wrote Barros. “Thus faced
with this campaign, we regretfully took upon (ourselves) to
suspend all activity and negotiations undertaken within the scope
of this project ... due to a pressured situation.”
In early July 1988, the trade and tourism minister for Guinea
Bissau explained why his country was reluctant to postpone the
waste import deal: “We need money,” he said. 98
98“Africa: The Industrial World’s Dumping Ground?,” African Business, July, 1988, pp.10-11; Agence France Presse, May 20, 1988, May 31, 1988; “Donors to give $300 Million
to Guinea Bissau,” Reuters News Reports, July 5, 1988; “The Dumping Grounds,” South, August, 1988, p.38; Letter from Andrew S. Roy, PPS Ltd., to Greenpeace, July 27, 1988;
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