The International Export of Hazardous Waste: European Economic Community, United States, and International Law

• Author: by Captain Peter D.P. Vint
• Pages: 06

1. INTRODUCTION

   The export of hazardous waste across national borders has become an mternational problem' In the United States and other countries. there LS a scarcity of hazardous waste treatment facilities, and few countries want new facilities >leanwhile, facilities that do exist for treating and disposing of hazardous waste are reaching capacity, and few new facilities are being built *

   This article reviews the international law and the U.S domestic law that governs the exporting of hazardous waste The United States and other countries are beginning to c~ntrolthis problem. and have adopted mer31 laws and treaties m an attempt to protect the world's environment

   MILITARY LA\V REVIEW [Yo1 129

   11. EXPORTING HAZARDOUS WASTE: A DANGEROUS PRACTICE

   1. THE PROBLEM

   L-"fortunatel). market mentiies encourage business to dispose of hazardous \Taste unsafely through "midnight dumping' Generators of hazardous waste can escape regulatory and physical constraints by shipping the waste to other countries In particular, generators of hazardous %aste can aroid stringent environmental regulations in their home countries and m e mane] b? shipping it to other

   POUntneSi

   Although some erpmt of hazardous naste may be necessar? for various reasons. It poies a significant threat to human health and the enrronment First there is a potential far spills or accidents durmg transit. which xould release hazardous waste directly into the environment Second. the waste may nor be taken to an approved disposal facilit) upon leaXing the generator countri rhus creating an environmental hazard Hazardous wastes thar are incompletelr or Improperly discarded may contaminate not only the dispmal site, but also may contaminate aaacent countries Furthermore The damage may not become apparent until much later. making cleanup more difficult .

   The quaiitineb of hazardous waste produced are enarmow The ental Protection Agenc) (EP.4) estimates that million metric tons of hazardous wasie are

   produced and most of it is disposed of m ways that cause sigmfi-cant environmental damage EP.4 also estimates that millions of tons of hazardous waste are disposed of illegally ever? year, mcludmg ex-ports across narmnal boundaries a This includes hundreds of tons of hazardous waste smuggled annually out of the Lmtcd States alone

   Greenpeace. an en\ ironmenrallr~cancerned organization Claims to know of plans by American parries, with or without authonra

   l990l EXPORT OF HAZARDOUS WASTE

   tion, to export hazardous waste to forty-four Greenpeace has also verified over 150 actual and proposed attempts to dispose af hazardous waste over a threeyear period in eighty-sn countries?' It estimates that over three miihon tons of waste move around the world each year?%

   Officmlly, more than 600,000 tons of hazardous waste are exported annually from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. However, the actual quantity is emmated to be twice this a m o ~ n t ? ~

   According to OECD. each year Western

   Europe has approximately 100,000-120.000 international shipments of hazardous waste, equalling about 260,000 tons. Of this, 80% goes to other Western European countries, 15% to Eastern Europe, and 5% to developing countries." These shipments are increasing as a result of a lack of disposal capacity in generator states and lower disposal costs m other countries, often due to less stringent enrironmental protection regulanansI5

   Not more than 20% of exported hazardous haste moles from developed countries to developing countnes, while the rest moves between developed countriesJe For example, the largest amount of hazardous waste exported from the United States goes to Canada" Australia and New Zealand ship hazardous waste to Great Britain. and Belaurn has become a specialist in recycling hazardous waste, including toxic chernicalsIB Some developing countries also export hazardous waste; for example, Bahrain exports to Great Britain, and Singapore exports to Thailand

   The United Nations Environment Program (UKEP) estimates that inter-European transfen of all waste. including hazardous waste, constitute about 800.000 tons of waste annually, of which West Germany

   accounts for over 600.000 Much of West Germany's hazardouq waste is shipped to a single facility in East German) To earn hard currency, East Germany has been accepting one to two mlllmn tons annually of household wste from all over Europe at fifr? to eighty doilars per ton Hundreds of trucks daily deliver thls haste to a 500~acre open-air dump in Schonberg. right across the border irom Lubeck, West Germaw. The CIIIZBIIE of Lubeck are now wnrned ahout this waste contammatmg their water22

   The mqor problem. however, 1s the export of hazardous waste from developed countries to developing countries. particuiarl) some of rhe poorer counrries in Africa. the Middie East. and Latin America 23

   There have been several notonous incidents mvolvmg the export of hazardous waste to the third world, particularly to West Africa 24

   In some instances. the waste has been secretiy dumped. For exam-ple. Madagascar has found barrels of toxic u-aste dumped off KS

   beaches z5

   In other cases. an agreement IS involved. In several African dump ing schemes documented by Greenpeace, companies disposed of hazardous waste by delivering it to people clearly unqualified IO

   dispose of It In one scheme, from 1987 to 1988 an Italian firm paid the owner of a small constructm firm m the tiny Kigerian pon of Kako SI00 per month to rent his yard Subsequently. 8000 leaking barrels of hazardous waste were found in the yard and severai peopie uere arrested 26 And in 1088 a Norwegian shipping company dumped 15,000 tons of so-called ran mareriaifor bncks an rhe island of Kassa m Guinea. When Greenpeace informed the Guinean gaiernment that the wute might he hazardous m Guinea's wet climate. and vegetarmn on the island suddenly started dying. It was determined that the material u-as really tom incinerator ash from the Cnited States Authorities arrested the Kiarweaan consul-general who had authorized the import. and ordered the u-aste removed zi

   19901 EXPORT OF HAZARDOUS WASTE

   In perhaps the most notormu incident recorded by Greenpeace, the ship Wian Sea tried to port in fifteen countries on five cantinents to unload incinerator ash from Philadelphmza The ship tried to pass off the ash as fertilizer to Haitian farmers. but was exposed by Greenpeace ?OIt managed to unload about 20,000 tons before be-ing ordered to leave with about 10,000 tons still an board. After being refused entry by numerous countries during the course of over a gear, the ship changed owners and registry and twice changed its name The ship finally reappeared off Singapore with 11s holds empty.30

   One of the main techniques used by hazardous waste exporters is to characterize the waste disposal plan as a deieiopment plan. For exampie, in 1088 a United States company proposed to build an incmerator in Panama to burn one-third of New York City's garbage, about 9,000 tons daily. The plan was worth $12,000.000 per year and w-odd hare created 600 jobs in an economically depressed region However. there were seieral discrepancies. The plan called for generating eiectricity with heat from the plant, which was impossible, and the waste began arriving three months before building of the incinerator commenced When the Panamaman health minister threatened to resign. the plan was finally rejected J1 Bribery LSanother technique A Panamanian government official stated that he was offered a beach house if he would approve a project to import huge piles of ~ncrnerator ash. including highly toric dioxin. from the United States.3s

   €3. INTERNATIONAL REACTION To THE PROBLEM

   The exposure of hazardous waste export activities has led to a tremendous reaction worldwide In several cases, the importing countries have required the re-export of the hazardous waste 33 For ex- ample, in 1987, after Italian hazardous waste was unloaded inVenezuela, some barrels began leaking, endangering local water services and causing beaches to be closed. Venezuela ordered the waStes

   remaied They were subsequently unloaded in Syria. which also re-quired re-export Finally, the wastes were returned to Italy, where port workers struck m In another case in January 1989, 14,000 barrels of hazardous waste were returned to Italy aboard the Karin B. months after the5 were illegally dumped in Sigeria The Italian government estimated the cost of disposal at $8,000.000. and stated that ads 15% of Italy's refuse IS disposed of properly. \\ith the remaining 85% being dumped in illegal sites throughout Italy and the third brorld 36

   An additional reaction has been the cancellation or outrlght re^

   jectmn of deals for export of hazardous aaste by de\eloping coun~

   only $150 million per year, cancelled a contract to accept twelve million tons of hazardous waste mer fhe years at Sll0 miillon per year.36 41so m 1988 the government of Benin canceled a $12 3 million deal with a European company to accept export of hazardous waste from the United States and Europe Despite these actions, the governments of deieloping countries haw recognized that the? simp I?do not hare rhe mechanisms to control the import of hazardous waste 35

   tries in ioaa, G ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ B ~ with a gross natlonai product of

   Because of the growing problem of export of hazardous waste several ~ ~ l ~ t i o n i ha\e been proposed Greenpeace has stated that the only real solution to toxic pollution is to pre\ent production of toxic waste in the first place 39 Aiternatireli Greenpeace has propo~eda strict worldwide ban on the export of hazardous wasre. since it maintains that no system can adequately safeguard human health and the environment j''

   The Luxembourg minister of the environment has noted, haxeier, that it would be impossible to stop shipments immediately, and that to do so could lead to black marketing Rati~er,he called for a reduc~ tion m generation of hazardous waste...