Britain slammed for dumping toxic waste in Brazil

The British government has promised immediate action will be taken after several different types of toxic waste material were discovered in nearly 90 containers that were shipped to Brazil earlier this year.

And as Brazilian authorities continue their investigation in to how exactly over 1,400 tonnes of the waste, said to have arrived in two separate shipments of first 64 and then 25 containers, made their way to three different ports in the South American country, Britain faced further embarrassment still when it emerged that a discarded computer from its Ministry of Defense had been found dumped on the outskirts of the Ghanaian capital Accra. Whilst the Independent newspaper reports that the firms thought to be responsible for shipping the waste are actually owned by Brazilian citizens based in the English town of Swindon, that is unlikely to appease authorities in Brazil who fear that their country could find itself being treated as one large "dumping ground", in much the same way as some African countries have. Ibama is the agency with responsibility for protecting the environment in Brazil and its President Roberto Messias has made his feelings on the matter abundantly clear:

We will ask for the repatriation of this garbage. Clearly, Brazil is not a rubbish dump of the world

Syringes, condoms, nappies (diapers) and batteries were among the items found in the first shipment that arrived in Brazil, whilst the second shipment was said to consist of considerable amounts of hospital waste, supposedly including bags of blood. One container allegedly contained dirty toys which, the London Times states, were accompanied by a note written in Portuguese instructing the recipients of the container to wash the toys before giving them to "poor Brazilian children." The import companies in Brazil who received the shipments, and maintain that they did not know the true nature of the contents, believing them to be recyclable plastic, have been fined sums of between £60,000 ($98,000) and £150,000 ($245,000). But it is the Britain who faces the sharpest criticism in the matter. Its Embassy in Brazil has already promised to take "immediate steps" to address the situation but it is Hilary Benn, the British Environment Secretary, and the Environment Agency for England and Wales who must investigate the matter fully and make certain that a repetition does not occur. The website for the latter organization declares that "Our principal aims are to protect and improve the environment, and to promote sustainable development". And part of their task within those aims is to ensure compliance with the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, commonly referred to as the Basel Convention, which specifically bans the movement of hazardous waste, of the kind that has arrived in Brazil and Ghana, across international borders. Coming into force in May 1992, the Basel Convention is the main international "body" whose responsibility it is to ensure that the world's so called developed countries do not use the so called less developed countries of the world as a dumping ground for their hazardous waste. With pressure being applied by the international community on some of those less developed countries, who are now rapidly developing and industrializing, for them to be mindful of the impact their activities are having on the environment it is imperative that those countries applying the pressure are seen to be "practicing what they preach". Which does not appear to be the case here.