WASTE CRIME – WASTE RISKS

Cross border movement and routes
Smuggling, from small-scale to large, occurs all over the world, from waste tourists
in northern Scandinavia to major smuggling hubs in South Asia. Shipping is
the main route for overseas transportation, with millions of containers crossing
borders. Control over the main ports in Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia is
limited. Thousands of containers arriving in Southeast Asia are not claimed, which
suggests that they might contain hazardous waste. Over time, this could cause
serious problems for the environment and human health.
Waste shipment routes
Over the last few decades, cross-continent transport has
increased markedly in volume with new intermodal haulage
methods, such as containerization (the transport of containers
using multiple transport modes, such as rail and truck). The
standardization of container dimensions has made this possible.
Containerization has been a major element in globalization by
making it possible to link different parts of the globe. In 2009,
approximately 90 per cent of non-bulk cargo shipments were
moved by containers on board ships (Ebeling 2009). The rise
of the shipping container has changed the trading fortunes of
entire regions. The shipment of non-hazardous waste from
developed to developing countries takes place largely via shipping
containers. The scale of waste exports and the routes used
closely track the major global shipping routes.
Ships transporting goods from Asia to Europe offer cheap
freight rates on the return leg, as the demand for European
products in Asia is low and ships want to avoid shipping empty
containers. The disparity between Chinese domestic capacity
and domestic supply of resources has resulted in an increase
in commodity prices, which underpins the trade in non-hazardous
wastes within and outside Europe. This change largely
coincides with increasingly challenging recycling targets in
Europe, leading to an increased supply of recyclable waste.
Broadly speaking, there is a hierarchical arrangement of
ports within Europe, with large-scale load centres and
secondary feeder-port facilities. The large ports also have an
extensive network of land (rail and road) and inland-water
feeder services. In northern Europe, larger ports – such as
Main container shipping routes
Main container shipping routes
North
America North
America
North
Atlantic North
Atlantic Ocean
Ocean
Europe
Europe
Far East
Far Asia East
Asia
Pacific
Middle
Pacific Ocean
Middle East
Ocean
Gulf of East
Million TEU 1 in 2010
Aden
South
Gulf of
Million TEU 1 in 2010
America
Aden
Africa
South
South
2
20
Asia
America South Africa
South
Indian
Malacca
52
20
Atlantic
Asia
South
Ocean
Strait
45
Indian
Malacca
Ocean
10 5
Atlantic
Ocean
Strait
45
Ocean
10
1. TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit). This unit is used to describe the capacity of container ships and container terminals, based on
the volume of a 20 or 40 foot-long shipping container. The container circulation less than 1 million TEU is not represented on the map.
1. TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit). This unit is used to describe the capacity of container ships and container terminals, based on
the Sources: volume Lloyd’s of a 20 Register or 40 foot-long and Maritime shipping Strategies container. International The container Ltd. circulation less than 1 million TEU is not represented on the map.
Map Sources: reproduced Lloyd’s Register by courtesy and Maritime of Philippe Strategies Rekacewicz International - http://visionscarto.net
Ltd.
Map reproduced by courtesy of Philippe Rekacewicz - http://visionscarto.net
Pacific
Pacific Ocean
Ocean
53