the toxic truth - Greenpeace

the toxic truth
The COD data is not the only problem with the
email sent to WAIBS. It makes no mention of
the fact that the waste had been generated by
a caustic washing process.
Using data, the origin of which is unknown,
Trafigura told Compagnie Tommy that most
of the waste was MARPOL waste, and only
around one third of it was to be considered
chemical waste. Neither APS, nor the Dutch
police, nor any other body had given Trafigura
reason to believe that most of the waste
was MARPOL. Amnesty International and
Greenpeace have asked Trafigura to explain
how it came to this conclusion. The company
did not respond.
Trafigura’s statements about
the waste after the dumping
After the dumping, Trafigura continued to give
false or misleading information about the
waste. In its verdict against the company in
July 2010, the Dutch court stated:
“ It was also Trafigura that had refrained
from the very start to speak openly about the
nature of the slops in the media and the manner
in which the slops had originated. The press
releases published by Trafigura in September
2006 bear witness to this. In its annual
report for 2007, it had even confined itself to
describing the slops as ‘comprising a mixture of
gasoline, water and caustic soda’. In its contact
with the press in 2006 and 2007, Trafigura
adopted a defensive attitude when it came
to the nature of the slops, even though it was
possible to provide much more clarity regarding
the precise composition of the materials and
the potential consequences for man and the
environment. For example, in a press release
dated 6 September 2006, Trafigura stated
the following: ‘Trafigura can confirm that the
waste (slops) is a mixture of gasoline, water
and caustic soda.’ Among other information, in
a ‘press statement’ dated 24 September 2006,
Trafigura reported the following: ‘It maintains
that the composition of the “chemical slops”,
gasoline, spent caustic and water is a normal
by-product from the cleaning of gasoline
blendstock cargo. The slops are entirely in
line with industry practice and international
411
regulations. ”
The court also noted that on 24 September
2006, in responding to a draft version of a
Trafigura press release, a director of Trafigura,
stated: “I would not mention the acid at all.” 412
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Chapter 7