the toxic truth - Greenpeace

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the toxic truth Vridi, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, 4 December 2006. The Ivorian national water company SODECI sent workers to clean up the ditches alongside the streets in the Vridi industrial district. The ditches had been contaminated by the toxic waste discharged from the Wasteel courtyard, which had spread on to the streets via the overflow hole. The men were working inside the ditches. According to a local business, PKL, the workers initially wore gloves but no masks. After a few days they refused to work because they were too ill. According to PKL they were then replaced by others, described as “poorer people”, who did the work with no gloves or no mask, no cap or no shirt. Some did not even have shoes. © m. KoNAtE 147 Chapter 12
148 Amnesty internAtionAl And greenpeAce netherlAnds Chapter 12 Biodegradation Doubts have been expressed by experts as to the suitability of the technique of biodegradation for cleaning up the dumping sites near Djibi village. 653 Biodegradation, or land farming, is generally achieved by inserting oxygen into the affected soil. Oxygen is needed for the aerobic deconstruction of chemical substances. However, with this technique, mercaptans and other volatile substances can easily escape. In addition, this technique uses microorganisms, which generally do not function well under conditions with a high pH. This may be the case for the deeper parts of the affected soil near Djibi. For this technique to be used appropriately, the affected soil would need to be made more acidic (to lower the pH). Apart from doubts about the suitability of biodegradation as a cleaning method, there are also other concerns, which relate to the ongoing environment in which people from Djibi village must live. People remain concerned about the safety of soil exposed to Probo Koala waste, even after bioremediation. Given the scale of the health effects in the aftermath of the dumping and the fact that there has never been a complete disclosure of the content of the waste, the fears about working with waste-affected soil are understandable. locations at d’Alépé, which had found ongoing impacts related to the waste dumping, most notably bad smells. 646 This was the same site that Tredi had earlier identified as requiring further decontamination. Burgéap recommended biodegradation to treat dumping points along the Route d’Alépé, which meant treating the waste on site, rather than removing it. This was different from the process proposed by Tredi, which was to remove the contaminated soil from the area. 647 A Canadian company, Biogénie, was then contracted to carry out the on-site biodegradation process. 648 Canadian company, Biogénie, was contracted to carry out the on-site biodegradation process. © AmNESty iNtErNAtioNAL In April 2008, approximately seven months after the start of the Biogénie biodegradation process at d’Alépé, Trafigura stated that it was agreed by all parties that only a limited amount of additional decontamination work was required. According to Trafigura “a thorough risk analysis has already been carried out, together with the majority of agreed remediation operations”. 649 On 4 April 2008, under an endorsement to the original settlement, Trafigura paid an additional sum of CFA10 billion (approximately US$24 million) 650 to the government of Côte d’Ivoire. 651 Of this, CFA1.5 billion (US$3.6 million) was to cover the cost of operations to be carried out by private Côte d’Ivoire companies to remove polluted material, CFA1.5 billion was to pay the cost of biological treatment of the polluted land by the Canadian company Biogénie, and CFA2 billion (US$5 million) represented the cost of environmental monitoring over a four-year period.
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