the toxic truth - Greenpeace

the toxic truth
The wasTe
arrives in
europe
“ We need support so that the truth is
known. Put pressure on our state and the EU
for its environmental overview and to bear
responsibility. Africa must stop being the
rubbish bin [for the West]. ”
RAchEl GOGOUA
President of the Association of the Victims
of Akouédo Extension 85
As noted in the preceding chapter, Trafigura
was aware, before starting the caustic
washing, that disposal of the waste would be
difficult because there were very few facilities
prepared or able to accept this kind of waste.
This proved to be the case.
During April 2006 Trafigura approached at
least four locations in Europe seeking to
offload the waste: Gibraltar, Italy, Malta and
France. 85 The first two locations – Gibraltar
and Italy – did not have the facilities to
dispose of the waste. A company in Gibraltar
told Trafigura that the flashpoint of the slops
appeared to be too low, meaning that the
waste was too hazardous for them to treat. 86
Malta Shipyards told the company:
“ Sorry, not even Malta Shipyards can accept
these slops due to chemical content. ” 87
Marine Waste Collection Netherlands (MAIN), formerly called Amsterdam Port Services (APS).
© Zeeman Reclame GRoep/eRwin VadeR
On 19 June 2006, Trafigura contacted
Amsterdam Port Services (APS), a company
that processed ships’ waste, and made an
arrangement to deliver the waste to them.
APS was an officially appointed port reception
facility, which means it was authorized by
the Dutch authorities to handle waste from
ships in line with the 1973/78 International
Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from
Ships (MARPOL Convention). 88 However, it
subsequently transpired that Trafigura had not
given APS adequate information about nature
of the waste.
Although Trafigura has claimed that
Naeem Ahmed, an employee of Trafigura
Ltd in London, had described the origin
and composition of the waste to APS in a
telephone conversation, 89 APS denied this. 90
A Dutch court later stated that it did “not find
Ahmed’s statement, that he had fully informed
APS regarding the nature and origin of the
slops, credible”. 91
Prior to the arrival of the Probo Koala at
Amsterdam, Naeem Ahmed sent an email
to APS on 20 June describing the waste as
“Gasoline Slops (Majority is Water, Gasoline,
Caustic Soda).” 92
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Chapter 3