the toxic truth - Greenpeace

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the toxic truth Clean-up and deContamination “ Toxic wastes stayed long and I’m worried about what may happen to us in the long term. Toxic waste removed elsewhere have been stored in our village. I’m worried for our lives and the lives of our children in the long term. ” M N’TaMoN N’DrIN Farmer, Djibi 625 The clean-up On 14 September 2006, almost four weeks after the dumping took place, the Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire announced that a clean-up and decontamination process would begin on 17 September. The Ivorian government contracted Tredi, a French company, to carry out the work. On 16 September 2006 Tredi sent a team of 25 people to Abidjan to undertake the clean-up. 626 Full details of the contract between Tredi and the Ivorian state have never been made public. However, some details of the content of the original contract emerged during subsequent reviews of the clean-up and decontamination process. According to this information, the amount of waste and polluted soil covered by the contract was estimated to be approximately 2,500 tonnes. 627 Experts work to remove toxic waste at a contaminated site near Akouédo, 20 September 2006. © ANP/EPA/LEgNAN KouLA Those in charge of the decontamination process faced a number of challenges. Firstly, as previously described, the waste had been dumped at a number of different sites, and, while some were readily identified, it was not clear where all of the waste had ended up. Secondly, each dumping point had different characteristics and required specific cleaning methods adapted to the site’s features. 628 At the Akouédo dumpsite, for example, liquid waste had been dumped in three different locations. At one of the dumping points the waste had entered a lagoon through a stream. This lagoon was treated in situ. At Dokui, an entire ravine had to be dug out to clean the site. The area around MACA prison also presented difficulties as it had three dumping points, one of them being much more difficult to clean because the waste had spread down a slope. 629 145 Chapter 12 French experts setting up a pumping system for toxic waste at Akouédo, 17 September 2006. © ANP/AFP/KAmbou SiA
146 Amnesty internAtionAl And greenpeAce netherlAnds Chapter 12 The clean-up and decontamination work led to further distress amongst people in the affected sites, as the movement of the waste brought a return of the smell. 630 Commenting on the decontamination effort in October 2006, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that: “The sites of Akouédo 1 and 2, Abobo Veneers and MACA have been treated. Despite the end of works on certain sites, odours persist forcing local residents to flee.” 631 As work progressed, it became clear that the volume of polluted material that required removal was far greater than the 2,500 tonnes originally provided for under the contract agreed between Tredi and the state of Côte d’Ivoire. The contract was amended to take account of the larger quantities of contaminated material that required removal. 632 By February 2007 Tredi had removed some 9,322 tonnes of contaminated material from affected sites in and around Abidjan. 633 In March 2007, part of the waste was exported by ship to the French port of Le Havre and transported to the French town of Salaise-sur- Sanne in France, where it was incinerated at Tredi’s facilities. 634 The state of Côte d’Ivoire conducted the export in accordance with the terms of the Basel Convention. 635 However, not all of the contaminated material recovered by Tredi was exported to France, and it is not clear where the remaining material was taken, or how it was treated. Although Amnesty International and Greenpeace asked the government of Côte d’Ivoire to explain how the waste had been dealt with, no answer had been received at the time of writing. However, even with the removal of more than 9,000 tonnes of contaminated material, decontamination was not complete, and several sites required more work. In March 2007 Tredi reportedly submitted a new proposal to deal with remaining polluted sites along Route d’Alépé near Djibi village. However, a new contract was never agreed by the Ivorian state, 636 and the decontamination work carried out by Tredi effectively stopped. Speaking later, in October 2007, a spokesperson for Tredi commented that more than 6,000 tonnes of heavily polluted material was still present. 637 The settlement and Trafigura’s involvement in the decontamination process The reasons for suspending the Tredi cleanup have never been made clear. 638 However, it appears to be related to the out-of-court settlement reached between Trafigura and the Ivorian government on 13 February 2007 (see chapter 11). 639 Under the settlement, of the CFA95 billion (approximately US$190 million) that Trafigura agreed to pay, CFA22 billion (approximately US$44 million) 640 was designated for costs related to the decontamination. 641 The settlement also specified that Trafigura was responsible for identifying any other sites that might still contain waste as a result of the dumping, and the supplementary decontamination of those areas. 642 To that end, both Trafigura and the Ivorian government agreed to commission an audit of the progress made under the Tredi contract. A French company, Burgéap, was hired by the state 643 to conduct the audit, which was to be carried out in three phases: » Phase 1: Collection of existing documents and preparation of a plan for further investigations. » Phase 2: Further investigations at the sites. » Phase 3: Definition of further work to be done regarding decontamination. Phase 1 of Burgéap’s audit was concluded by July 2007, at which point the government and Trafigura decided not to proceed with the planned Phases 2 and 3. 644 Instead, the parties reached an agreement to clean up dumping points at one site on the Route d’Alépé. 645 This decision was reportedly based on Burgéap’s initial investigations at two
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