Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 4: The toxic cradle of productionsource of their hazardous wastes together with various other spent chemicals. TheBerkeley Plastics Task Force notes that producing one PET bottle results in “morethan 100 times the toxic emissions to air and water than making the same size bottleout of glass” [Stover et al 1996: 11]. Some of this pollution is from converters. Theredoes not appear to be any information on this in South Africa. Nampak, one of thelargest packaging firms, gives no information of process emissions or waste in itsSustainability Report [2007]. US data is also limited, according to Stover et al, but itindicates substantial VOC emissions to air. It seems likely that workers get the bruntof these emissions, particularly in smaller and poorly capitalised plants.Box 17: SafripolSafripol is owned by ABSA Bank (49%), Thebe Investments (21%) and Safripolmanagers (30%). The consortium was formed in 2006 to buy Dow Chemical’spolymers plant in Sasolburg for ZAR 1.3 billion and has restored the company’soriginal name.Safripol was originally established in 1972 as a joint venture between Germantransnational Hoechst SA and state backed Sentrachem. Its main plant in Sasolburgwas established in close cooperation with Sasol which supplied the monomerfeedstock. This cooperation was maintained when transnational chemicals giantDow, notorious for its association with the Bhopal disaster, bought the company andchanged its name to Dow Plastics. In 2006, according to Safripol, “Dow’s strategywith regard to emerging markets had changed.” 77 This would seem to reflect Dow’s‘invest-for-growth’ agenda focused on joint ventures with petro-state corporationsand the big emerging economies of China, India and Brazil. 78 Dow will continue tosupport Safripol’s technology development.Further, plastic products themselves emit chemical vapours. As a general rule, the moreflexible plastics emit most. This is particularly significant in respect of food packaging.The migration of chemicals such as phthalates into food and the domestic environmenthas been shown to be associated with declining male fertility because they mimicoestrogen hormones. Other chemicals with potential for migration, including traces of77 At www.safripol.co.za78 See Dow’s 2007 and 2006 Corporate Reports. The 2006 report is notable for its paean to Milton Friedman,the father of neo-liberalism.- 110 - groundWork - Wasting the Nation