Slashdot Mirror
Brazil Demands Repatriation of UK Hazardous Waste
Peace Corps Online writes "BBC reports that Brazilian authorities are demanding the return of more than 1,400 tons of hazardous British waste found in about 90 shipping containers on three Brazilian docks. The waste, which includes syringes, condoms, and bags of blood, has been identified as being of UK origin from the names of British supermarkets and newspapers among the rubbish. Reports in the UK media say the waste was sent from Felixstowe in eastern England to the port of Santos, near Sao Paulo, and two other ports in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. The British government has launched an investigation into how and why the waste was sent to Brazil and the British Embassy in Brazil has said in a statement that it was investigating and would 'not hesitate to act' if it was found that a UK company had violated the Basel Convention on the movement of hazardous waste. Meanwhile Brazil is demanding the immediate return of the rubbish to the UK. 'We will ask for the repatriation of this garbage,' says Roberto Messias, head of the Brazilian environment agency. 'Clearly, Brazil is not a big rubbish dump of the world.'" Two UK companies named by Brazil as suspected exporters of the waste are owned by a Brazilian, based in the UK, who says that anything that was in the containers other than the expected recyclable plastic is a problem to take up with his suppliers.
Why is this on Slashdot ?
Douglas Adams himself would have a difficult time thinking up something so blunderingly, amazingly stupid and steeped in political dumb-fuckery. I find myself compelled, forced even, to complete a piece of fan fiction regarding a massive garbage freighter being sent repeatedly back and forth between two planets like a giant, stinky and half-rotten tennis ball because two governments couldn't get it straight which one of them tossed out the first banana peel. I think it has merit.
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
who says that anything that was in the containers other than the expected recyclable plastic is a problem to take up with his suppliers.
Did he ship it? Did his company sign the manifests and declarations? Did his company pay the mooring fees? Sorry, that's the cost of doing business. It's his problem.
"I didn't know what was in the bag" doesn't work for smugglers.
I hear that the Port of Buenos Aires was sent 31 shipping containers of British food.
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
This is why we should make a giant ball of garbage and shoot it into space!
When comming from supermarkets, i believe the correct term for a bag of blood is a black pudding.
I don't know much about garbage, but 1.400 tons doesn't sound like an enormous number, considering the USA produces 220 milion tons a year.
Plus, it seems like a simple problem of foul play between companies, why does the government get involved?
I know waste disposal is a huge problem, but this sounds like attention-whoring.
oh my god... it's full of stars!
The Mobro 4000 was a garbage barge that had to cruise back and forth between the U.S. and Central America back in the '80s.
Space game using normal deck of cards: http://BattleCards.org
You obviously didn't order the mushy peas or the "curry sauce". Tons of flavour, tho probably not to your taste.
"Welcome to our world. We are the wasted youth. And we are the future too." Yes, I know these are stupid lyrics.
Since the article does not touch on it, and the information i will be presenting IS related to technology, i will hope that my lack of account (i just don't have one) will not be too much of a hindrance.
Sending one country's waste to other countries may seem like a fluke, but in fact it's a pretty big illegal industry. PBS FRONTLINE/world did a show on how old computer and technology hardware was being sent to third world countries in bulk and outside of legal channels. For those looking for the connection to 'news for nerds' this is probably as close as you can get. The old hardware is given to recycling companies who then give it to 'other companies' which ship it to third world countries where it's essentially dumped on the poor. Think parts of India, Ghana and China. The citizenry then break/corrode/melt the materials (out of necessity) using extremely toxic and unsafe means in order to sell the various valuable pieces. Furthermore, many of the hardware pieces are still in near working order, things like harddrives specifically can still be hooked up and read accurately (at one point in the show they get a harddrive from one of the dumps and it has a whole album of family photos on it, as well as financial information).
Anyways, if anyone is interested in how this practice works and why it exists, here is the link to the story as well as the video: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/ghana804/
This is how First World countries grow and control the world, by shitting Third World countries. It's a nice article about how UK doesnt give a f*** about other countries. And this is in slashdot because they sent their waste to the "wrong" country, this happens all the time in Africans and poor Asian countries, but you just dont hear of it.
http://twitter.com/bash_history
OK, OK, let's clarify something. The UK Govt. did not send this waste to Brazil - if they had it would have ended up in Borneo, but I digress - a private company did.
Yes, there are rules about this sort of thing, but they are actually relatively difficult to enforce.
The fact is that some private company in Brazil, probably owned at least in part, by some very senior Brazilian officials, contracted to receive this waste, knowing full well what it contained. They got busted, and of course, claimed innocence.
"Medical waste, Oh, we thought it was Medical paste, WTF, send this stuff back !"