Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
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Chapter 4: The toxic cradle of productionSapref, owned by Shell and BP, is <strong>the</strong> country’s largest crude refinery and is just onekilometre away from Engen which is <strong>the</strong> second largest. South Durban is <strong>the</strong> mostactive centre of local environmental justice activism and both corporations now report<strong>the</strong>ir environmental impacts. The refinery wastes appear small by comparison withSasol. The latter’s coal based process is undoubtedly <strong>the</strong> filthiest way of producing ei<strong>the</strong>rfuel or chemicals. Never<strong>the</strong>less, it should be noted that Sasol’s figures largely represent<strong>the</strong> integration of extraction and production whereas <strong>the</strong> refinery figures exclude <strong>the</strong>appalling costs of oil extraction in o<strong>the</strong>r countries, as reported in The groundWorkReport 2005. Engen claims that it produced no high hazardous waste (H:H) in 2006but does not report H:h waste. Sapref avoids specifying what proportion of its wasteis hazardous.Table 8: Wastes from selected petrochemicals (tonnes).PollutantSasolGlobalSasolSynfuel(Secunda)SasolChemicalIndustriesNatref Sapref EngenAir 2006 2002 2002 2002 2006 2006Carbon dioxide 60,009,000 52,164,000 7,100,000 819,000 978,000 930,385Sulphur dioxide 223,000 189,923 26,000 19,140 4,015 4,668Nitrogen oxide 162,000 148,300 22,000 1,380 1,301 1,935Particulates 7,560 8,000 3,000 1,150 NR 255VOCs 461,000 409,783 42,000 NR 3,529 971Hydrogensulphide78,000 - - -Solid Waste 2006 2006 2006 2006 2006Hazardous 270,000 NR 5,755 880 NR NRGeneral 1,126,000 NR 11,557 NR NR 2,391Unspecified 6,335Compiled from industry sources. NR = Not Reported.<strong>Wasting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nation</strong> - groundWork - 105 -